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My new bike frame build

Mike P

Mike P

Trade: Pickwell Audio
A few people have asked to share some details of my latest bike frame build, which is finally finished.

I haven't got a lot of time this evening to do a lengthy post, so I'll start at the finish and then work backwards when I have bit more time.

Anyway, here it is:

New frame on sofa by Michael Pickwell, on Flickr

This one is going to be my new winter bike and so it has been designed with geometry that will allow me to run full fixed mudguards.

It's fully fillet brazed and mostly Reynolds 853, with the exception of 725 double taper seatstays and a 725 headtube.

New frame headtube fillets by Michael Pickwell, on Flickr

Dropouts by Michael Pickwell, on Flickr

Bottom bracket by Michael Pickwell, on Flickr

New frame seatstay cluster by Michael Pickwell, on Flickr

I have a few hours of free time tomorrow morning and I'm planning to disassemble the bike as it currently stands with my old frame and forks (the first frame I ever built) and start swapping everything over to the new frame.
 
Darmok said:
Very nice.

How does it take to complete these Frames?
Click to expand...

Flippin' ages! I do everything by hand using nothing more than a hacksaw, files and emery cloth etc. You have to go really slowly if you want to get the mitres perfect without going to far and wasting a tube. I've never kept a tab of the hours put in but it'll be something like 60hrs work and more if you include the design stages and the time take to order all the materials etc.
 
That looks superb, really high quality work. Cool colour too, it will look amazing built.
 
Woodface said:
That’s lovely, what group set are you putting on it?
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Nothing fancy as it will be my winter bike. It's mostly 10sp Centaur and some Fulcrum Racing 5 wheels. I've bought a carbon fork for it as I don't own a fork jig (yet) for making my own forks.
 
That looks excellent Mike,your usual attention to detail, look forward to seeing it fully equipped,top drawer
 
Absolutely bloody lovely. The welds look very smooth - do you sand them down to get like that? It’s not the finish from the torch??

I’d be happy with the colour too - Looks like it’s got a slight Candy in it?!
 
That looks lovely. If I was able to build something that nice I think I'd only ride it on sunny, dry days. Mudguard clearance or not.
 
Serious chapeau Mike, were you tempted to factor in disc brakes or did you dismiss them? My favourite brakes are probably still my Veloce, my 11 speed Chorus are no better but I love the modulation of both over all Shimano I have run including my Dura Ace 9000. I got fed up with rim wear though on any rim brakes when wet, even if wet weather braking improved across the decades. Hence I love my Sora groupset on my winter bike with its disc brakes, mechanical rather than hydraulic so I wouldn’t say braking is better but the discs scrub quickly and I don’t have to think about the rims.
 
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