Doug Fattic Build
 

As mentioned previously, I have gotten to know Doug Fattic. Doug's daughter, son-in-law, and grand daughter live in Durango, CO. It is a small world! Last fall Doug let me try one of his older frames that found its way back into his hands. The frame was in the raw and I built it up with a mix of components. I enjoyed riding it and decided to buy it and have Doug paint it for me. However, I decided to take a different path with the build this time around. I'm a traditional Campy guy full stop, but decided to try a weight weenie build following the lead of classic bike guru and friend Bob Freeman.

If one searches eBay, there are a bunch of lightweight parts being made for Brompton folding bikes including headsets, bottom brackets and cranksets. The parts are nicely made and very light, and they don’t look out of place on a classic steel bike. I used a Brompton style crankset, Ti bottom bracket, and Headset. I also used an American Classic seat post, Flite saddle, 3ttt Ti stem, ITM lightweight bars (205 grams), lightweight tubular rims (315 grams) on Campy Chorus hubs with Ti skewers, CLB brakes (half the weight of record brakes) and early Dia-Compe aero levers. The Suntour Cyclone derailleurs, which I had in my stash, weigh the same as the Campy SR I used last fall. The Cyclone derailleurs shift very well, and I decided to save the Campy derailleurs for another build. I'm using 48/36 tooth chainrings for a compact style drivetrain.

Last fall the bike weighed 21.5 pounds. The weight as shown is now 18.2 pounds, which is a pretty good weight savings. Doug uses stencils for his graphics, which are understated, and he did a lovely job applying the pearl white paint. I'm pleased with the results, and plan to put some miles on the bike this week.


https://cimg9.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...6f26bb61e.jpeg
unpainted raw steel
https://cimg0.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...d2746c3f9.jpeg
Now with some paint
https://cimg1.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...e1a84e897.jpeg
Compact drivetrain
https://cimg2.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...65283dbe2.jpeg
Lovely fastback stays
https://cimg3.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...5992a7496.jpeg
Nicely thinned lugs
https://cimg5.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...55fecf0b5.jpeg
CLB brakes
https://cimg7.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...98e2d6340.jpeg
I weighed the rims before I built the wheels and they came in at 315 grams. Still light.
https://cimg1.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...afae07ad5.jpeg
https://cimg4.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...6ba4239aa.jpeg
Trying to catch some pearl sparkle in the sun.

Wow, very neat build and lovely paint. That’s a stunner. Enjoy!

Very very nice, Andy!
Bob has been getting a few other locals here (Steve, and Lynn for example) on the weight weenie bandwagon this year on Vitus frame sets. Yours is much prettier...

weight weenie-ness
 

Hey Matt,

Yes, I have been keeping up as best I can from Durango with what you guys have been up to. Bob is always sending me photos, which gave me some inspiration for this build.

THANK YOU for the kind words.

Cool bike. 18.2 lbs is very light for an old school steel bike. The cyclone derailleurs will shift better than the campy.

Well now. Weight-weenie Brommie parts on a Fattic? Sure, why not? Looks great too. Kudos!

Should anyone be interested, here's what's involved in weight-weenieing a Brommie:

https://www.atob.org.uk/superlight-brompton/

Where did you get that crankset from?

BTW 18.2lb is crazy light for an 'all metal' build!

Wow, that looks great! You really nailed the details, it all works so well.

Very nice. Looks like some very tight geometry, how does it handle?

the only element that looks surprising is the gap between the front tire and the downtube
not sure what is going on, maybe more trimmed off the bottom of the lower head lug and maybe a slightly short top tube and touch lower bottom bracket.

handsome bike, I had a more radical criterium bike I the mid 70’s- this bike does not look scary just expertly planned.

A weight-weenie C&V project that does not have a Huret Jubilee RD? Color me mildly surprised.

The new build looks great and the Brompton cranks are intriguing, I may look in to set of those. I’m curious to hear how the CLB brakes perform. I bought a frame years ago that came with one CLB brake caliper, and yes they are super light. I searched for a another for a while but ended up selling it, and never got to see how they worked.

Beautiful bike!

Those rims are so low profile!

There appears to be very little tire/frame clearance. Is it so?

Nice bike! My question is: are you comfortable riding it for long distances on ~300gr rims?

Beautiful build. The pearl color is gorgeous and works really well with all the red touches. Intrigued by the Brompton cranks, too.

Wow, that's a beaut.

There are 2 ways to design a frame. The most common is to select what the company or builder thinks will make the best handling bike. The rider now fits himself into its cockpit. In other words he adjusts his body to fit the frame. This is most common when top performance is the purpose of the bicycle. Comfort takes a back seat to biomechanics and aerodynamics. The 2nd way is how I do it. I find the customer's (or student's) best possible bicycle position (the pedal, seat and handlebar relationship) and then place the frames's tubing to hold that position. In this case comfort normally trumps other considerations. In addition the design will adjust its other factors to handle as well as possible. In fact all frame design is some combination of compromises. This frame that Andy now has was built to a specific person for a specific purpose. That is why I recommended he try it out before he bought it and then I could repaint it like he wanted.

Back in the 70's when we American builders were young, we had to show how our frames were superior to our European competition. That meant shaping and thinning lugs (and making all the joints look good) so the extra work and care we put into making every aspect of the fame somehow visible in some way. It used to be that Bicycling and Bike World magazines would point out superior custom builder's frame details so consumers could identify some ways to judge the quality of a frame. Eventually as bike magazines got more profit oriented, they realized that advertising money came from corporations and not self employed craftsman so they mostly stopped writing articles on products that were competition to those that really did pay their bills. With that demise came the loss of education to the general cyclists on what was fine craftsmanship and how to identify it.

My congratulations to Andy for outfitting one of my frames beautifully!

100 mile update
 

I have 100 miles on the bike since I finished building it last weekend, and it has been great. The bike tracks straight as an arrow, is easy to ride no hands, but is very nimble. The CLB brakes have exceeded my expectations with good stopping power. They work great with the Dia-Compe aero levers. The wheels have done their job without issue. Our Durango roads consist of a lot of chip seal and are in fair condition. The rear wheel needed some touching up after the first couple of rides, but has been good since. These are lightweight wheels and I wouldn't use them on a daily basis. In my youth, they would have been my race wheels. The front steering geometry is aggressive and the top tube is short at 53cm for a 56cm frame center to top. I measure the frame angles with my digital gauge is 75.5 degrees for the head tube and 74 degrees for the seat tube. The frame was originally built for a woman, which likely explains why it is short. The good news is I prefer a 53 or 54 cm top tube. At 56cm center to top, the seat tube dimension is 2cm longer than I normally ride, but it gets the bars up a little higher, and makes the bike a little more comfortable. I'm a rider and collector, this build was a weight weenie experiment, and will not see a lot of miles. I'm more than pleased with how it looks and rides and it will become part of my normal bike rotation.

https://cimg7.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...6326e4e27.jpeg

Super neat bike, thanks for sharing!

It's clear that you put a good deal of thought and effort in. the before and after is really cool to see, especially since it was almost a blank canvas to start.