quaycur

I almost said "don't worry, I'm no fool," but that's probably not 100% accurate. First sign of any bends/kinks/warping I'm tossing it. Or at least making another one with smaller/fewer holes. Or...or maybe none...

if there was a shameful smiley I'd put it right here.

embankmentlb

Question, Doe's it whistle as you ride?

quaycur

You've piqued my interest. Found this. Is it worth the read?

I assume you mean cutting a short length of tube and brazing it in between the two holes on either side? I could see this happening eventually, but I think that would add more weight than I'd like. Oh hell, you sensible freaking engineer types sure know how to ruin some good old fashioned stupid fun.

If one of the tubes was "structurally compromised" (I'd assume it would be one of the three main tubes) would it be a fast and large bend, or something slow and small that I'd notice before I was on the ground?

quaycur

No, I usually ride at a very leisurely pace. It only whistles while it works. ZING

unworthy1

[QUOTE=I assume you mean cutting a short length of tube and brazing it in between the two holes on either side?
If one of the tubes was "structurally compromised" (I'd assume it would be one of the three main tubes) would it be a fast and large bend, or something slow and small that I'd notice before I was on the ground?[/QUOTE]

Exactly.
and, failure of the structure is hard to predict, it depends on how lucky you are. It's steel, so that much is in your favor: could be a nice easy crumple near the BB. "Bad" would be anything sudden at the head tube.
I'm not an engineer

quaycur

Screw the paint, you're making me freakin paranoid. I'm tossing the components back on, taking it out in the driveway and jumping up and down on it for an hour. If you don't hear from me again, at least you'll know I died on a sweet looking bike.

x136 

While I'd be scared to death to ride it, that's a damn cool-looking frame. Very well-done.

banjo_mole 

It looks nice.

Enough said.

Beyond that, I feel the original post had a tone of "What do you think, but I don't give a damn what you think." To be frank, I felt it was rude and someone walked into C&V with a bad attitude.

A really bad attitude.



Edit: Pretend that face sticking its tongue out is angry.

> : P

Bianchigirll 

I always thought a blued frasme would look nice and clean especially with the bronze around the luggs showing through. however like a fine firearm as tough as bluing might be you have to constantly keep your finger prints and other moisture wiped off it to prevent rust.

in keeping with the bkuing theme are the holes some sort of muzzle brake?

rugerben

Picky picky picky.

Your bike will shoot a one inch group at 100 yards. With iron sights of course.

There. Better?

(I wonder what caliber a bike would be...)

bigbossman 

Well....... actually, it would be 1.047 inches at 100 yards.


>ducks and runs away<

rugerben

In a serpentine pattern to avoid the incoming fire.

dbakl

A racer guy I knew drilled his training frame like that in the 70s. I never heard of it breaking at the time... though I imagine it eventually did.

quaycur

Well, I did drill the holes already, so there wasn't any going back, and my love of the way it looks was outweighing my more sensible side. So you're right, at least in that respect. The main question was about the gun bluing as a finish and if anyone had experience with it. And the link in the first reply actually convinced me to ditch the bluing and paint it. There would be way too much upkeep and it apparently wouldn't be that durable.

The road bike forum would have eaten me alive (or never responded) and the frame building forum would have banned me. I asked you guys because you're knowledgeable and would actually help me in the matter, and you did. I also got a lot of advice about the structural aspect of the frame and I'm very glad for it, as they were things I had thought about, but not to that extent. I showed the frame only because posts with no pictures usually tend to get "pics or it didn't happen" as a response. That, and it helps to see what the finish is going on.

I assembled it back together last night and gave it a real workout, far beyond my normal riding, even with a mountain bike. Jumped it off a bunch of stuff, jumped hard on the pedals on solid ground and rough terrain, pumped the pedals at full speed up a bunch of hills. No signs of warping or buckling anywhere on the frame. So, it seems to be fine for the time being, but you've convinced me to start looking for a second frame to build up. I'm going to go ahead and paint it, not blue it, since that seems to be the general opinion around here and I trust you guys.

Nope. I never intended it to be a machine gun bike. Traditional hot rods were more of an influence:



Now see, banjo_mole? This was the kind of positive reinforcement I was looking for! Even if it is only slightly positive.

unworthy1

I exaggerated a little bit for "drama", most of us who have tried know that steel is a lot harder to break than a casual vandal would imagine. And even the cheapest mild steel will do more bending before cracking than the best AL alloy. I doubt the OP is going to suffer a catastrophic failure right away, and might get a surprising amount of casual (lightweight and low stress) use out of it before any damage starts. But it won't last like an un-ventilated frame made of the same stuff will. All those holes will let in a lot of water, dirt and grit, so internal rust and bearing wear are possible "side benefits". That's one good reason why this treatment didn't catch on during the height of the "drillium craze" that launched a million holes drilled into thousands of components.