From: jobst.brandt@stanfordalumni.org
Subject: Re: brazing frame parts
Newsgroups: rec.bicycles.tech
Date: Sun, 11 Nov 2001 04:28:56 GMT

Larry who? writes:

>> When the joint separates or the frame tube cracks it isn't as
>> simple as that.  You didn't say what else you use or where you
>> learned how to un-braze a joint, some of which are pinned.  As I
>> said, this is not a trivial matter and I'll stay with what I said.
>> In the days of mainly steel frames there were many who built them
>> and whose frames failed on the road, the builders believing it was
>> as simple as soldering an electric wire.

> You bring up a good point about safety.  Having a frame joint fail
> is a very scary prospect.  Is there a good way to test a joint?
> Let's say that I start with some scrap frames and just practice on
> them and don't mind ruining the joint to test it.

As I rode with my frame builder through the Alps he mentioned that
many of the guys who send people out on the road with their frames
have never approached a flying hairpin turn hundreds of feet above the
rocks below while braking hard.  It was years ago in the Alps that my
friend got religion, so to speak.  He say this from experience, having
started as a teenager thinking how good he was until he dissected some
lugged joints he had made when someone brought in a bent frame for
repair.

You cannot tell whether there is only a clean meniscus outside the lug
unless you have experienced the amount of brass that should flow into
a joint.  Afterwards no one can see what is or is not in there.  This
scenario goes for other frame builders I know from the early days of
the bicycle renaissance in the USA (1970's)

Jobst Brandt    <jobst.brandt@stanfordalumni.org>