Originally Posted by
base2
For one the down tube is under tension just by sitting on the bike. Then it is further under cyclical torsion with every pedal stroke.
You are correct, but as mentioned in the first post, I am drilling the holes in the top tube ;-)
Originally Posted by
base2
Fwiw: Why not a real spot weld instead of JB Weld?
It just so happens they recently released a new formula, 5,020 PSI now!!!
Originally Posted by
noobinsf
I don't know -- what makes me cringe a little bit is that this is an irreversible change to the frame. Also, you want to preserve original paint, but you need to remove paint under the proposed addition to aid adhesion. I dunno. It's your bike, but if it were me, I would want to experiment on something a little less pristine than a '68 Raleigh with original paint. But, it's your bike.
The bike is not pristine, it sat outside in Arizona sun for who knows how many years. The paint is all intact, but it is notably faded.
Is this irreversible? Hardly, it would be simple to zap the holes full with a MIG welder at a later date and refinish the frame.
Is the belief here that at a later date somebody will want to revert this bike back to a period correct stock build? I suppose that could happen, but this thing is going to be a super sweet gravel bike when I'm done with it, fenders/chainguard and all. How many bikes came with Sturmey S5 hubs? Not many, and most all of them that did have had the hubs removed and placed in other bikes. I am guilty of buying S5 hubs that somebody robbed from a working bike, and placing them in a different bike, so I'm stoked for this hub to have a very good chance of living out the rest of its years in the frame it was born in.
I'm sure there are plenty of people that are opposed to resto mod builds, but I'm not, I like modern wheels and tires! I even have a titanium BB for this bike, and some Campy cranks, and I'll be building some 650b wheels for it. Final build weight will be 25-26 pounds with the original rack on it, the bike will positively fly compared to how it left the factory.
At some point in the future will somebody undo all that I'll have done to this bike? They'll take a super sweet, efficient, all terrain gravel/asphalt smashing touring townie and turn it back into a 38 pound bike with super heavy wheels (no tire selection) and crap brakes? Maybe, but I won't be alive to witness it.
FWIW, I'll take this bike on gravel centuries and I'm sure I'll whip the ass of some "french geared bikes" in the process ;-) If I left the bike stock, I would not ride a dirt century on it.
Building this bike up "properly" will ensure that it lives a glorious life under my ass :-)