cudak888 

At least three of mine have been with me for about 15 years now. I like things to last, and once I've cleaned something up, the most I want to deal with are tire swaps and occasional polishing. Loose rivnuts a decade down the road? No thanks.

Either way, I prefer not to be the one to create a frame modification headache that might be regretted by a future owner, if I can help it.

Case in point, here's a Raleigh Super Grand Prix that I was forced to pick up in a lot from the LBS to get a Professional frame. Looks half decent...



...until you get to the water bottle cage carnage:



Yes, these were most definitely not in line. Someone tapped right through the tubing. In retrospect, grinding the lower hole larger and to the left might have worked to allow a rivnut to be installed centered in the frame.

I'm not saying one shouldn't do what they want to do with their own bike, but anyone not fully intending to live with the modification should at least consider the future owner before committing to this.

-Kurt

smontanaro 

This. I'm no stickler for originality, but I draw the line at making irreversible frame modifications, especially to "nice" bikes. Peugeot UO-8? Maybe, if no other option is available. PX-10? Nope. My Frejus or Automoto? No way.

Brad L 

This is what I’m dealing with on my 1947 Ciclo Piave. Someone added cable guides and bottle cage bosses sometime in its past. The cable guides can be easily removed, but my framebuilder friend says I’d need to replace the downtube to remove the bosses. Of course, then I’d need to rechrome the head lugs. These mods definitely created a lot of work for me.

Brad L 

IF I were to use rivnuts on a frame, I’d do with the bottom bracket removed. I don’t like the thought of the metal shavings getting into the bottom bracket bearings.

gaucho777 

If I came across this issue with holes slightly out of alignment, I think I would try to expand the holes on the water bottle cage itself to see if I could fix the issue that way before trying to expand the frame holes.

cudak888 

I wonder if the braze-ons could be drilled out and the DT sleeved with rings sent up the bottom bracket.

-Kurt

gaucho777 

Coincidentally, I just came upon these Elite cage brackets today which I haven't seen before. They seem a bit more elegant than some of the other options.

https://www.deporvillage.net/elite-v...e-cage-bracket


In addition, I notice they also offer a vintage-style, Eroica-branded bottle cage for the handlebar (currently on sale for $25.60):

https://www.deporvillage.net/bottle-cage-elite-eroica

cudak888 

That looks promising, pity that it's a 3D render and not a picture of the actual part.

I remember when some repop bottle holders ran as much as the real thing, so that L'Eroica piece isn't too bad a deal. Pity the base isn't a bit more encapsulating for bottles that aren't strictly rigid though.

-Kurt

GamblerGORD53

Looking at all these other klutzy dodads, my klutz is looking more and more genius. LOL.

1simplexnut

Classtime 

I like the look of those elite clamps. https://www.elite-it.com/en/products/vintage

But I don’t want to interfere with “Peugeot” at the moment. Minoura to the rescue. Bonus is that it fits over the center of the stem and leaves the tops clear for my hands.

73 PA-10e

Brad L 

I'm currently running this reproduction on the Piave.

1simplexnut

. In this increasingly litigious world you can never be too careful !!

bulgie 

That's serious overkill. I have filled H2O boss holes several times, it was easy and reliable. The tube inevitably has a weakened spot there from tempering, but no weaker than any other spot on a bike frame that got a braze-on. I silver-brazed in a plug and then filed/sanded it flush, but it can be done rapidly enough that only a little paint is ruined, possible to just respray that one area if concours-level paint isn't needed.

Your Piave is gorgeous and well worth that concours-level paint though, so I expect you would want whatever it takes to look perfect again. But I'd advise against rechroming, that is liable to do more damage than filling the holes would.

I made the plugs with a flanged cylindrical part sized to fit the hole, just long enough to reach through the tube wall and a little more (~1 mm) for an inside fillet of silver. The flange on top is just barely there, just big enough to prevent the plug from falling through. All the flange is filed off after brazing.

The brazing must be done by someone well-versed in thinwall bike tubing, not a muffler repair shop! The filing step is equally tricky because if the file tilts to one side or the other, it can nick the tube. This is the thin unbutted part of the tube, so any file marks are to be avoided. On such a fine frame, I would use only my finest files (fine here meaning opposite of coarse) and work slowly. I have seen fairly horrible coarse file marks left in frames from even hero brands like <redacted> or <redacted> (no need to name names here!), so don't assume a framebuilder is good enough at filing. Some might be skillful, but in too much of a hurry. You want someone slow for this job!

I am not angling to to do this repair, I am retired, all my framebuilding was more than 25 years ago.

Mark B