JulesCW 

Eisentraut #1: A dark blue1975 Eisentraut Limited with lots of “patina” that BF member @Catnap posted for sale last spring as a frame and fork.

It was cheap, and it was my size, so I could not resist … Catnap boxed it up and the brown cloud delivered it to my door.

I cleaned it and applied lots of not-quite-matching touch-up paint, and then hung it in the bike cave to percolate.

There it sat until Eisentraut #2 entered the picture last December. This was custom made in 1977 for the seller from Iowa who raced several Ironmans on it and had it repainted its current tri-color in the 1990s, and in whose garage it sat partially disassembled for many years before he posted it on FB Marketplace. It was then “outed” on the BF “eBay / CraigsList finds - "Are you looking for one of these!?" Part II” mega thread.

I drove over to Iowa to buy the bike and a collection of parts, some of which were from this bike, some of which were from who knows where or what. This bike has an oversized down tube and is fillet brazed — a nod to the requirements of a very large frame and a strong rider. The bike was very dirty and was largely equipped with 1970s Dura-ace components, mostly black-anodized. I removed all of the parts and cleaned everything… to my surprise and dismay the anodizing started to disappear under soap and water. Shoot! The resulting somewhat grotty look did not match what I envisioned for this bike… what to do?

Then inspiration hit — use those parts to build up Eisentraut #1, and do a full Suntour Superb Pro build on Eisentraut #2 (most of the parts were lurking in my stash) — you see the results here.

I finished both of them this January, and so have not ridden either more than a few blocks, but initial impressions are positive. I look forward to spring!
Spending time on BF can be both dangerous and rewarding!

juvela

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thanks so much for sharing these two!

congratulations on finding a day with the sun out and no white stuff on the ground for photography.

had not known Limteds were available this large "off-the-peg"; suspect it must have been a special order.

fun livery on the gentleman from Iowa. he is done up in the national colours of Belgium & Germany.

thanks again for sharing these.


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georges1

Both are nice bikes. Those must be 64cm frame but I guess that you are a tall rider which explains the size of the frame in the photos.

VRJAKE 

I'm steward of a 1981 "A" that is filet brazed, 56cm. The seatstay treatment on yours is lovely, and looks like my 81. Ed Litton worked with/for Eisentraut during this period and afterwards built many fine filet brazed bikes. Rode mine in Eroica California last year, such a nice ride.

noobinsf 

These are awesome, and they’re making me eager to finally finish and ride my own Eisentraut for the spring.

Wildwood 

Nice.
.....especially when the frame requirements are such a limiting factor.
How much do the top tube lengths vary? The custom vs (presumed) standard size.

Have a great cycling season.



I had a couple of same-sized AustroDaimlers, kitted differently. It was kinda nice to see them side-by-side. Not sure why? ....as I do not name or assign human emotion to classic bikes, even if well (gracefully) patina'd by unknown adventures with untold stories. Only the AD VN frameset came through BF C&V and has been similarly moved on, tho' as a complete bike.

JulesCW 

They're actually 67 cm -- I am indeed tall!

Kobe 

Both are great looking bikes. You're very lucky( or tenacious in your search) to have found 2 in 67cm.

RCMoeur 

"But wait - those aren't Dura-Ace or Superbe shifte..."

:::whump:::

(sound of body being dragged away)

steelbikeguy

Nice to see both built up and ready to go! The weather has certainly done its best to cooperate, so perhaps we'll be getting some more comments how they perform, both relative to each others, as well as comparable bikes of the era (such as the Merz?).

Too bad about the black Dura-Ace parts not being much good. I do like the looks of the first gen Dura-Ace parts in black. Not sure if it was the contrasting white lettering that got my attention or what. I'm a big SunTour fan, so a Superbe group is certainly a great choice!

The use of fillet brazing and oversize (for the time) tubing to stiffen up such a large frame makes a lot of sense. My Borthwick is similar, but smaller. It has a 1 1/4" downtube, which used to seem huge... not so much nowadays! It really was torsionally stiffer than the Raleigh Gran Sport that it replaced. The Gran Sport would sometimes shimmy on downhills, while the Borthwick resists all efforts to induce shimmy. In that era, fillet brazing was pretty exotic too. In today's world, it just has the same smooth contours of nearly every other bike, but with smaller diameter tubes than the bikes built with the lighter materials.

On the multi-spectral 'Traut, the seatstay binder reminds me of Bruce Gordon's.. to a degree. In the two pics that I've got, the bolt ended up closer to the lug.
Here's your BG:



and a BG displayed at a CR event:



Where did this technique originate??
edit: it occurs to me that Cinelli used a very similar technique.


Steve in Peoria (where I did take the Borthwick out for a nice February ride this morning)

Wildwood 

I am no expert on the history of 'fast back' seat stay mounting, but it is not a dead art with modern builders. Some versions require more tube mitering and filing.

Jon Tallerico from 2004, a one owner bike (for life).

JulesCW 

Those down tubes are just too darn far away

But the Limited does have vintage Shimano bar-ends and the custom has Suntour...

mhespenheide 

BG worked for Eisentraut at the beginning of his (Bruce's) career.

steelbikeguy

I was thinking more of the practice of running the binder bolt through the seatstays instead of using ears on the seat lug.
... although I do like the looks of fastback stays.. especially the classic Raleigh Pro in the blue mink & silver colour scheme!

Here's a shot of a Cinelli that was clearly using this style/method before Mr. Eisentraut built Julian's frames..




Steve in Peoria

steelbikeguy

good point!
I'd forgotten all about that. Bruce did go on to have a pretty distinctive style (and personality!) that makes it easy to forget about his roots.

Steve in Peoria

Catnap 

so cool to see that giant 'Traut get built up and ridden. I am really glad to see it have a new life, and the build is *chef's kiss*

bikingshearer 

Congrats on the two Eisentrauts. My 1978 A has fenders on it now and is my wet road bike (notice I did not say my "rain bike") so it has gotten a fair amount of work so far this year, reminding me how good it is. These are great frames, and I'm sure you will enjoy yours.

It will be interesting to hear how their rides differ and how they are the same (hint, hint).

JulesCW 

Thanks -- I'll try to circle back with ride reports in a few months... but no promises