cudak888 

Those of you who follow the bottomless pit of beautiful British bikes in the C&V 3-speed fetis- uh, appreciation thread might remember thumpism's valiant rescue of a 21" 1981 DL-1 from his closing local co-op back in February, complete with one fork blade rotted completely off.





He stripped it down and kept the parts he needed, and graciously sent what remained to yours truly, mad scientist Dr. Frahmenstein.



"Hello, I'm a Raleigh DL-1. What's left of it."

First...blast the DHell-1 out of it with fire. After all, why fix it the easy way when you can fix it the interesting way?



This didn't exactly work, as the nails were still holding fast to the tubing despite grinding the tubing up to the crown reinforcement. I drilled them out since; we plan to try again.



But in the meantime, I got the next brilliant (yea, right) idea: Stick a huge Sturmey-Archer RXL-RD3 in the rear dropouts. Also known as "how to stick 135mm worth of hub in 110mm worth of rear triangle."



"I've seen this show before."



Before I pulled on it hard, I heard a bit of a creak. I discovered the chainstay bridge had already split sometime in the past. I'll either have Mike braze it, or I'll go into "get it done" mode by cleaning up the affected area, giving it two MIG tack welds, and calling it a day. The opposite side is clearly not that well brazed to begin with on top, so a bit of sloppiness here isn't going to make much difference. Nor will a rattle-can touchup matter either, whether MIG or brazed.



I went ahead with the cold setting, which really doesn't affect the chainstays at the bridge too much. 135mm achieved. Centered and with frame ends square:



I was also lucky enough to have this Alexrims DR13 front wheel on hand. Someone drilled it for Schrader, so it's fitting for a DL-1, even though it's no longer ideal for a road bike. I'd really like to find a matching or similar box-section 36h hoop to lace the Sturmey hub into - that's one of the main things missing from the build.

The tire came off an Electra Loft i7 I parted out quite a while back.



Meanwhile, I ordered some modern, black, pseudo-Lauterwasser bars off Amazon. This should prove to become an pretty funky build if I can get a pair of replacement blades shoved onto that fork. Pashley Guv'nor on the cheap.

-Kurt

Insidious C. 

DHell you say?! You are more ambitious than I. Definetly a challenge.

AdventureManCO 

I'm all for you doing things the hard way, if possible. I'll bring the popcorn!

thumpism 

Congrats! Looks much better at your place than it did at mine. I continue to revel in its absence.

SurferRosa

juvela

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interesting to see a tubular crown fork apart

had not before seen this and always wondered what might be going on in there...

have ofttimes wondered as to who made the ones employed by Fiorelli...perhaps a proprietary design done for them by Agrati or other Italian lug maker...?


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cudak888 

I couldn't let it get scrapped, and as generous as clubman has been to offer a 28" CCM fork, I'd rather keep the original 26tpi headset.

Plus, this build requires some sort of decent brake up front, so modifications are a necessity.

Only if it is Sir Walter Raleigh's Gourmet Popping Corn.

And go find me a rim

I can't wait to revel in its absence too once it's done, but I'm looking forward to the build knowing a DL-1 has been saved from scrap.


Go away, or I shall taunt you a second time.

The entire crown is stamped steel folded over on itself, also forming the sockets. It's done well enough that it doesn't look it and doesn't appear cheap *cough* like the crap established by 1960's American department store bikes *cough.*

I'll get some better pictures once the blades are off. Providing they come off.

-Kurt

AdventureManCO 

I don't know if these insinuating, fightin' words are directed at me, but they most definitely should be

cudak888 

I didn't say stamped dropouts. Yet.

Speaking of which, the DL-1 is technically stampedtastic. The rear frame ends are smushed steel and so are the fork dropouts on the '40s and '50s examples.

-Kurt

cudak888 

Well, I might just need clubman's fork for this.

We torched the living daylights out of that blade to no avail. I thought it budged once, but that was wishful thinking. I have NO idea how this thing is wedged in there, seeing that the pins were drilled out.



Meanwhile, just to add to the excitement, this happened - thankfully when the torch was off, or else Mike and I would probably be Extra Crispy right now.

You might notice that the lines to the torch are new - those were added that morning - but the acetylene-to-flux tank line wasn't new and had deteriorated from UV. We were moving the bottles and flux reservoir after failing with the fork as part of a cleanup, and this tore right off. The line still had pressure too, sending a fair amount of acetylene out. I usually run into Mike's shop, this is the first time I've run out of it.

The second tear I was able to do with my hands. Morals of this story: 1. Just because a line appears OK doesn't mean it is. 2. Keep them away from UV. 3. Purge your lines before moving anything. 4. It's silly to have a flux tank and not have it on the same cart as the bottles.



-Kurt

AdventureManCO 

I heard a story - a couple of guys were in an attic installing refrigerant lines, and while brazing, weren't watching where the tip of the torch was going or what things (like torch hoses) were crossing the flames path and, well...

cudak888 

As one of the neighbors' young tykes liked to say: "Ka-BEWM!"

I, myself, am grateful that I have lived to see your Huffy another day. Something like that, anyway.

-Kurt

AdventureManCO 

As am I. It's always good to have people geniunely concerned about you

cudak888 

Good 'ol Mad Honk - with a little donation by Harry Havnoonian - came to the rescue with a Long Shen-based fork crown for this build.

Now, initially, I thought this wasn't going to clear the tires I had in mind, but - thankfully - I was wrong. I dug up a pair of extra-length Cromor blades in the pile of tubing that I got from Mike, which I hope I'll be able to bend correctly.

The steerer got brazed to the crown today. Nothing pretty here, just functional. Results picture soon.



Harry also gave us a pair of socketed dropouts; turns out these do not work with the extra-length Cromor blades. I traded them to Mike for a pair of conventional tab dropouts.





-Kurt

Reynolds 

All very nice, but I think radial lacing is going too far!

cudak888 

Not my doing...but I could use a matching rim if anyone has one.

-Kurt

repechage

do not know who cast it for Fiorelli as used on their bikes and the Coppi brand but the construction is very different. There was a crown on eBay.it once, the casting is hollow behind the end caps, there are internal reinforcements like the full sloping Cinelli crown, maybe even longer. When I received the Coppi Fiorelli I purchased I thought it was all fillet brazed together. Nope.
I like that bike very much. Fiorelli did give the upper tier frames extra effort, the seat lug ears are filled with a tube, brazed to fill voids and cut back like the top tier Italian builders did.

Lascauxcaveman 

You people are sick.

juvela

we do our utmost to infect the troglodyte


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gugie 

Are those lawyer lips I see on that dropout? File them off! Not period correct, lawyers didn't take over bicycle design until much later...

cudak888 

No, they're attorney annoyances.

If it wasn't for the existing front hub, this thing would be getting discs. Look away when the canti studs go on

-Kurt

Robvolz 

Is that a "LC-17" crown? If so, nice score. They are getting harder and harder to find.

cudak888 

I didn't bother to clean the flux off - after all, it'll just have to be done again when the blades go in.







-Kurt

bikingshearer 

Okay, I've about had it with the lawyer abuse, It really isn't fair. It's only a measly 95% of lawyers who give the rest of us a bad name.

xiaoman1 

Kurt may need something a little stronger for this one......According to my sources, Polmos Spirytus Rektyfikowany Vodka may be appropriate for this one.
Keep us posted with the progress.
Best, Ben