avecReynolds531

Thought to be the work of Bill Gray during the mid to late 1950s

steelbikeguy

does it count if I took the photos??

At the 2015 NAHBS, Mark DiNucci had an unpainted frame on display. It clearly showed some of the really cool details that paint would tend to obscure or distract from.
Honestly, it just stunned me! (...for whatever that's worth...)











Steve in Peoria

avecReynolds531

That's absolutely beautiful - such finishing!

Last ride 76 

Yeah, it counts! Those details are fantastic. Out of this world beautiful!
​​​​​​Eric
​
PS I have just one quibble... I think the one straight line hard angle, (slightly under 90°), of the head tube lugs on the head tube, are not in keeping with the rest of the lines. But that's a teeny point.

jeirvine 

Chapman Cycles is a good follow on Instagram. .

obrentharris 

I think Mark must have come to the same conclusion. Here's one that he built in 2018: The corner of the lug has been cut back farther to make a more acute angle and allow more of a curve which follows the parallel curve where the lug meets the top tube.




Brent

merziac

This rack stay always does it for me, then most every lug Jim put a torch to.

bulgie 

Another guy doing out-of-this-world work is Nestor Czernysz. His Flickr is fun to follow. Here's an example: https://flic.kr/p/2hEmK2N
Like DiNucci, he has a unique vision that not everyone is going to get. Even further out there than DiNucci is, from the mainstream or traditional shapes. Downright wacky sometimes. Check out this album of photos of him making some rack braze-ons for a fork. I think he may have spent more time on those two braze-ons than a lot of builders spend on a whole frame. There are about 100 photos of those braze ons, a part most of use would take maybe 5 pics of, but you can't accuse him of under-documenting his procedure.

Lately I think he must have cabin-fever from being cooped up, because he's been making decorative wing-nuts for his Var Third-Hand tools, and decorative washers for a chain tug for a track bike. Washers that will be hidden once you install the axle nuts. Speaking of nuts...
Here's the Var Third-Hands; notice the two different decorative styles: https://flic.kr/p/2iEgM1F

Oops, I just remembered this is supposed to be C&V. Never mind!

Mark B in Seattle

Bianchigirll 

repechage

that design decision does make me want to alter that too. But, it shows up in many of his frames, a bit of a metalwork signature.
i can not afford his current stuff, especially right now.

avecReynolds531

before & after

I've very much enjoyed the contributions so far - thanks - such work & beauty!

Doug Fattic 

I'm always showing off details of work my students have done in my frame building classes. Here is a picture of a frame I'm making for my nephew. The lugs started out as blanks before being carved into that design. I've learned a few tricks along the way to make the process easier. Since the frame isn't finished, the head tube has not yet been trimmed to length.

obrentharris 

Thanks Mark!
Some beautiful work and amazing details. I just wish his Flickr site had some photos of complete bikes so we can see how all those details come together.
Brent

79pmooney

My Peter Mooney is due for a repaint. I should see if I can get some photo time with it naked. (And there will be time. I'll have Dave Levy move the RD cable guide from the chainstay side to just under so my Pedros Trixie fix gear wrench doesn't chip the paint every wheel flip if I don't pay attention. Maybe under the DT WB bosses also. Little things I never considered 40 years ago.

Now Pete (the bike, not Peter the builder) isn't one of Peter's showroom models. I was one a tight budget so no fancy touches. Canti brakes, yes. ($65 posts and calipers. Long run - very cheap to keep running and excellent brakes.) Nervex lugs because the Fuji Pro I raced, loved and was replacing with this had Japanese Nervex-like lugs. This could have been Peter's last Nervex bike.

Sad to think the paint that served this bike so well is going to get stripped off. Ed Litton painted it in 1984 after I crashed and bent the fork. He straightened it and I rode it while Peter built me a beautiful new one with his then new tooling for a very gentle and long bend. Still love that fork! And Ed's paint job, a single color metallic orange-burgandy was gorgeous and almost perfect. (One pin-prick inside the right chainstay at the tire. Once ridden and dirtied, I never found it again.) Paint is now beat up and scraped in many places, but every one of those is earned.

The non-C & V bike I got to hold naked and beautiful was my ti fix gear. I was at TiCycles and Dave handed the frame almost finished to me to inspect. What nice welds! Of course, except for decals it has stayed typical ti naked (unlike my first frame he built which is painted back to the mid-stays).

Of course, none of my bikes are as gorgeous as those shown above. The builders I've dealt with all know I have bikes built to ride, not be show pieces.

Ben

repechage

Echoes Of Carpenter?
It is near impossible to be 100% unique
Lugs | www.carpenterbikes.com

Doug Fattic 

You are right that almost everything as been done before. There were quite a few English builders in the early classic era that did some sort of fancy lugs in their upper end models. They were able to convince men to buy them by saying the extended lug edges distributed stress over a wider range so they would be less likely to break. My primary influence for something other than a plain spearpoint lug was the fairly simple Hetchins I bought from Alf in 1969. In this case (the frame I'm making for my nephew), the design was entirely created from scratch but was influenced by a Pacenti fork crown's shape. Several students have had a hand in its creation and can be used by someone not wanting to dream up something on their own when using that particular fork crown.

gugie 

Pretty much anything that Brian posts is worth dropping everything and drooling over.

gugie 

Yeah, over the top details! Those rack braze-ons will never, ever come off - so much surface area to silver in!

avecReynolds531

...mid to late 1950s, London made...

grizzly59

I could never own bikes like these. Fuji, Trek, and Giants I buy off Craigslist or yardsales last me forever, any of these beauties would immediately be wrecked, runover, stolen, etc. I can't have nice things

Slightspeed

Here's a couple.

Not my bike, but a friend's beautiful Merlin, spotted on a club ride.

When I stripped my '73 Super Course i was so taken by the almost medieval blacksmith look of the lugs, that I was tempted to leave it unpainted.


In the end, I did get it painted.

obrentharris 

Some very nice bikes on that "small island!"
Brent

noglider 

@Slightspeed, I love the medieval blacksmith comment. Have you seen the 1947 film on the making of Raleigh bikes? They put brass sleeves under the lugs and toss the whole frame into a hearth. I wouldn't expect it to work as well as it did, but it helps explain this look.

Slightspeed

Yes, I have seen it. Great film. I had no idea that they made so many components in house, in these days of off the shelf componentry. These are Capella lugs, of course, but the making of the garden variety Raleigh lugs is impressive in the film.

merziac

The "blacksmith" analogy is one I use often, all framebuilders walk a tightrope between blacksmith and jeweler and are the best of both literally threading a needle with a hammer IMHO.