Road Cycling - Braze on or Clamp on?

Hey guys and gals, it's Dan the Man. I was wondering what the difference is between braze on and clamp on?

Obviously clamp on, is a clamp that goes around a post of the frame. But I'm not too sure what braze on means?

I'm talking about the front derraileur.

-Dan the Man-

Basicaly there is a piece of metal that sticks out of the seat tube of frame taht the FD bolts on to, so you don't need a clamp to go around the tube.

Braze-on tabs for front mechs can cause cracking in the tube if attatched to a very thin tube, if too much heat is applied. Although braze-on tabs are very neat, most people in the know seem to recomend clamp-on mechs.
Clamp-on mechs have far more vertical adjustment, so you can swap from a road to an MTB style gearing.

Originally posted by MichaelW
Although braze-on tabs are very neat, most people in the know seem to recomend clamp-on mechs.
Not quite true. Braze-ons are uncom,mon on aluminum frames for just the reason you give, but they are very common on steel frames (in fact, they're quite typiocal on steel frames) and on many CF frames. The problem for many CF frames is that the clamp can actually damage the seattube, and often enough, the seattube isn't quite round, so many use a braze-on.

I don't think you can braze carbon fibre :) More than likely they're bonded on.