Singlespeed & Fixed Gear - How to remove shifter braze-ons

I just converted my 20 year old steel Trek to a SS, and its oodles of good fun. Re-dished the wheel and everything...a nice setup I think.

But now I have these nasty shifter bosses coming out of the down tube....the things that the old downtube shift levers used to screw into.

Is there a good way of removing these? Can I just cut 'em off with a hacksaw and file away the remaining bits, or is that going to weaken my frame?

Many thanks.

Not sure about weakening the frame but the hacksaw thing is what I did and it worked fine.

Many times, since the braze is weaker than the metal, you can just grab them with a strong pair of big vice grips, and just twist them off. If you are lucky, they pop off and take the braze material with them, leaving a smooth spot that you just paint over and forget about. Sometimes a little braze material stays behind, and you have to do a little filing. But it works good.

peace,
sam

Sure ya can.... That's why I have a crushed and twisted shifter boss attached to my beater frame, yeah? :)

(Jeff, dude, sorry about that thing... I rode it this morning and it could probably use an overhaul in the BB... Something is definitely feeling not totally smooth.)

Thanks everyone for the responses. I tried the vise-grips, but they are tenacious little ******s and so I ended up sawing 'em off. Got some filing to do now though.

got a frame builder near you?

my buddy popped em off (along with the cable guides) in about 10 seconds with a small oxy-acetylene torch.

a little touch up paint, and you can hardly tell they were ever there.

what's that noise?

what's that sound?

that's the seach box...

get'n down.

http://www.bikeforums.net/showthread.php?t=93679

Sure ya can.... That's why I have a crushed and twisted shifter boss attached to my beater frame, yeah? :)

(Jeff, dude, sorry about that thing... I rode it this morning and it could probably use an overhaul in the BB... Something is definitely feeling not totally smooth.)

When in doubt, use a bigger pair of vice grips. :) I've probably removed about 10 or 15 shifter bosses and cable guides and stops using that technique. But maybe your frames are different. Whatever works for you, I suppose!

peace,
sam

what's that noise?

what's that sound?

that's the seach box...

get'n down.

http://www.bikeforums.net/showthread.php?t=93679

haha, that's an awesome way to say that. it should be the new standard.

I also recommend using shifter bosses for more interesting things...bells, horns, pirate flags, etc.

but I've use the torch and the dremel to remove lots no prob.

i've used (very carefully) a flex wheel to remove the bulk, then carefully sanded the rest by hand.