Adding braze-ons...

[Elizabeth Hunter]

I'm trying to set up a commuter bike. I thought about getting a surly or a long haul trucker, but I realized that if I could add some additional braze-ons and a new powdercoat to my old steel road bike I'd be just as happy with that (for less money).

Does anyone know of anyone who could do this for me? Or if it could be a DIY project (with assistance from one of you welding masters out there)?

I'd like to add some bosses for attaching a nice rear rack (the barrel type that attach to your rear stays) and some additional eyelets on the fork and rear dropouts. I don't know if it's possible to add bosses to a fork (those mid-fork ones for front racks) but I'd also be interested in doing that while I'm at it.

Oh and maybe bosses for canti brakes, but maybe that's getting a bit too ambitious and I should just go buy a new frame.

[JB]

How much stuff are you planning on commuting with?

(A backpack works best for me, and it's one less thing to wander off when your bike's left unattended.)

If you want to skip the welding, there are a lot of front / rear racks, especially for mountain bikes, that come with hardware and clamps.

http://www.google.com/search?sourceid=navclient&aq=t&ie=UTF-8&rlz=1T4GFRC_enUS208US208&q=bike+racks+without+braze+ons

Or you can buy the rack mount clamps alone.

http://www.ebikestop.com/dimension_seatstay_rack_clamps_for_14_16mm_seat_stays-RK1262.php
http://www.thetouringstore.com/TUBUS/Fit%20Solutions/FIT%20SOLUTIONS%20PAGE.htm

The plus side of this approach is that you can remove it all and bring the bike back to stock if you ever want to get rid of it.

Or, if you really want it welded, you can order the braze ons / brake bosses from Henry James and have a welder weld them up for you.  (They're here in Redondo Beach, and make a lot of the lugs, etc. used by custom frame builders, so they'd probably know of some capable folks nearby.)

http://www.henryjames.com/price07.pdf
http://www.henryjames.com/techinfo.pdf

Good Luck!

[ScottS]

Commuter and touring bikes tend to have heavier tubes to handle the drilling for rack mounts and the additional weight of the gear. Therefore you must be careful when adding braze-ons to an existing road bike not built to carry gear. I'd be wary of tampering with the fork but the seat stays play a much smaller structural role in the frame and should be OK especially if your frame is older with heavier tubing.

Another alternative is to get a a rack that's made for bikes without rack mounts.

http://www.rivbike.com/products/list/bags_and_racks?page=all

Check out the Nitto Mini Front and Mark's Rack.

As far as customization, you can contact Greg of Townsend Cycles in Monrovia. He's a local framebuilder that has been known to help customize existing frames when he has the time.

http://www.townsendcyclesltd.com/

-ss

[kp]

Are you in a hurry to do this? I am intending to re-braze some braze-ons on my frame and if that goes o.k. I would not mind practicing a little more on your bike. If you want to do it, perhaps it will motivate me to go ahead and get busy. I need to order some flux and silver from Henry James before I start.

kwang

[Art]

Are you in a hurry to do this? I am intending to re-braze some braze-ons on my frame and if that goes o.k. I would not mind practicing a little more on your bike. If you want to do it, perhaps it will motivate me to go ahead and get busy. I need to order some flux and silver from Henry James before I start.

kwang

If it's not presumptive of me...

..i'd love to 'get in on' this re-brazing activity you're planning !  (I have a fork which i'd like to re-position the brake-bosses on.. )  I got plenty of standard brazing rod & flux to do at least 30 or more 'braze-ons' and a little bit of nickel-silver if you guys are willing to use it in lieu of silver.. ?

Whatcha say?   

[Steve Mattson]

You might consider just buying a tour specific frame and take all your bits off and put them on the new bike.  A Surly Cross Check could be had for about $400 shipped (and that's retail, if you know what I mean).  By the time you pay to have all those braze-ons and eyelets welded and cut into your frame and fork, (If it didn't compromise the strength of the steel) and then getting it repainted because you wouldn't have much of a paint job after all that heat, you're probably looking at $400+.  The Cross Check keeps the 700c sized wheels that make for a nice road bike and you wouldn't have to trundle around with 26" wheels like on the LHT they make in your size.   You could get a decent paint job on the Cross check too, so it would be uniquely yours...

[yoli]

steve = "surly pimp pusher"

steve hook me up - isn't the first one free?   

[Steve Mattson]

For every frame I order through my soon to be formed bike shop, I'm sure I can work something out with QBP.  I want to do some repainting of them though.
Yes, I am the Surly candyman.  Try some.  You'll be back.
And the Cross Check makes a great platform for a lot of different configurations.  Tour, snowmobile, mtn bike, internally geared urban machine, or sweet little ole roadster.

[EricW]

Elizabeth -

My opinion -- Keep it Simple... just clamp stuff on. Unless you really want to build another bike...

Most racks can use the axle if there's no eyelets.  Shouldn't be hard to make a small aluminum plate adapter if needed. There a bunch to ways to clamp to the frame.

I too have no braz-ons.  I have made a nifty clean looking cage holder from Home Depot plastic conduit clamps. I'd be happy to show you anytime. I did this because, despite Art's eagerness, welding in new ones looked problematic. The tubes will be weakened, the paint will have to be redone, and it looks difficult to made it neat (untill you practice it a few times).  You can drill and tap in sockets (sorry forgot the brand name), but they tend to pull out with the stress of removing the bottle. Old school is to use stainless steel hose clamps over old  tubes.

Don't like riding with a pack full of stuff. I'm planning of adding a front rack, so I can haul a small items, like a a change from spandex to street clothes. That's all I think I'll need for around town. Probably have to adapt the only light rack I found at BRW. After that the next project is: something to hold the good heavy Ulock down low, as it's really heavy.

Not recommending this method for a long self support tour, as you'll need to tighten the clamps once in awhile.
Riding around LA you can alway zip tie it, if it gets loose, and fix it when you get to a hardware store.

Skip the new bike and add accessories...

EricW

[steveby3]

If you use silver brazing and don't totally roast your tubes you won't affect the heat treating. Brazing is not welding and you aren't melting the base metal, just the filler.

Brass or nickel silver have a much higher melting temp and will screw up the treating.

You should check if your tubing is even heat treated though... if the bike is older and has brazed construction to begin with, there might not even be any heat treating to worry about.

[kp]

Well Art, I guess that's just you and me. I will order some flux and silver. For your fork, we will need to get a canti boss jig or jerry-rig one up.

[JB]

Kwang and Art, let me know when you're doing this, I'd like to check it out.

I spent a chunk of this afternoon checking out http://www.richardsachs.com/, and now I want to see how to braze stuff.

[Elizabeth Hunter]

Yes, I'm definitely interested!

Let me know when and what I have to purchase. If we're placing an online order for bosses we should do it together.

[Steve Mattson]

A brazing party! 

[E-Rock]

A brazing party! 

not to be confused with hazing....