Wiswell

Anyone ever work with Dave Wages or have one of his bikes? He's new as an independent builder but worked with Serotta and Waterford for a number of years. He got an award at Indy this year. I'm thinking about working to get a frame from him and wondering if any has worked with him either in his current role or in the past.

Scooper

I've seen several examples of Dave's frames built while he was at Waterford, and they are superb. He built a lugged 953 frame with custom carved "flames" lugs displayed at Interbike that showed he's extraordinarily talented as a custom lug carver, and does flawless brazing. I've no personal experience with him, but based on his past work I wouldn't hesitate to order a frameset from him if I were in the market for one.

While the flames aren't my particular cup of tea, they are exquisitely executed.

sheller73

+1, He works part time down at Ben's over in the old theatre part. my buddy has 3 waterfords and is considering having Dave do some custom lug work. From what I have seen and heard, I would not hesitate one bit to go with Dave. I personally like his "Modern Classic" in "Ellis" Blue!

Wiswell

Hi all I decided to go with Ellis a few months back and he is currently working on my frame. Not only is he talented, but he has a good eye for what looks good and what doesn't, and is very patient in working with you and determining your needs (especially if you don't have an idea for every need).

sheller73

Wiswell..... just curious if you've taken delivery of your frame yet. I had heard that it was around 8-9 months for the finished product. If so, what were your perceptions through the process and how do you rate the experience as a whole? Pics, please post pics!

Thanks!

P.s. where in WI are you located by the way?

Scooper

Since this thread was started, Dave won the coveted "Best of Show" award at the 2010 NAHBS in Richmond earlier this year with a lugged 953 frame he built for a physician in San Francisco. I was in Richmond for the show, and chatted with Dave for several minutes about my Waterford. It turns out he brazed my 2007 Waterford frame. I have always wondered about the seat stay treatment on my bike, and wondered how it was done (it looks fillet brazed, but without any hint of discoloration). Dave kindly responded with the following e-mail to my question about the seat stays:

"Stan,

I'm glad to hear you're enjoying the bike and it's getting so much nice attention! That one was truly a one of a kind build. I don't remember exactly why we did this, normally on the full stainless bikes, the stays are brazed on "sidetack" style and it's much simpler. What I did was, fully set up the bike in the fixture and miter the seat stays to fit against the seat lug. One of the welders then tacked the stays carefully onto the seat lug. Once they cooled down, I took the unbrazed tubes out of the fixture, the stays still tacked to the seat lug and Sean, the welder, finished fully welding them to the lug. I then ground all the excess weld that had penetrated the lug, finished the welds, and then prepped the lug for brazing. Back to the fixture and everything gets reset, fluxed and tacked. I brazed the frame, did all the finishing, alignment and then it's off to the polisher for the final buff. So, to answer you question, the stays are TIG welded to the lug, but then all the other parts are silver brazed on your frame. If we had silver brazed the stays onto the lug, what ends up happening is the silver gets undercut during the polishing process and then it can discolor over time. Really not a nice look, and possibly not as strong either.

Yours was the only frame we used this technique on, as it's very time consuming.

Hope that answers your questions, keep riding and loving it!

Dave Wages"

Dave's brazing is flawless.

ftwelder

pretty amazing work.

Silverbraze 

Dave does good work!

and I wont shy from being proud that he used a set of my OS Compact lugs for that 953 NAHBS winner bike

Scooper

With the sloped top tube, I figured the lugs were yours, Dazza.