Experience fillet brazing handlebars?
08-06-23, 07:52 PM
#1
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Experience fillet brazing handlebars?
Has anyone here ever made handlebars that require brazing like bullmoose or the nitto 3-piece? I've been searching for threads on how to make handlebars but was having trouble finding anything.
Curious to see what anyone has experimented with here!
Curious to see what anyone has experimented with here!
08-06-23, 08:51 PM
#2
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Are those bars brazed or welded? TiCycles could do those welded. They've made me 4 stems (and 2 frames), all welded. (And three traditional steel forks but with lug-style brazing, not fillet brazing.) Probably a good bet they could do fillet brazing if they had to, but I have not seen it and won't sell anyone on the idea.
08-06-23, 09:00 PM
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Any design that has been made with welding can be made with brazing. I have thought about brazing some handlebars. I would probably just bend them though.
08-06-23, 09:05 PM
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When I said I wouldn't sell anyone on the idea, I meant having TiCycles fillet braze it. Didn't mean to imply it cannot be done just as well. TiCycles welds steel and titanium - very, very well. Yes, they do a lot of other stuff, but that welding is their bread and butter.
08-07-23, 04:40 AM
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I modified this handlebar stem (with welding-- it looks that Nitto 3-piece bar is also welded). Would be fun to make handlebars but I always assumed the bending would be quite hard. However that Nitto isn't bent. The other question is what metal to use. 1mm wall cromoly is probably what you want. But 1.6mm mild steel would also be OK.
Threadless stem conversion
Threadless stem conversion
08-07-23, 09:43 AM
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I have a bender that can be used to bend handlebars. I haven't gotten around to making dies for that yet. I have seen some Ti bars that were made on my bender or one just like it. Paragon sells some spacers so you can use 7/8" tubing for handlebars. At one time they sold 7/8" Ti tubing. I keep thinking it would be neat to make some Ti bars for my MTB, but it would be an involved project given the need to make dies.
Sorry, I was addressing the OP. Having Ti Cycles make you some bars is a good idea. Groovy Cycleworks makes bars sometimes, you have to be there at the right time though. Also, Engin has made bars, but I'm not sure if you can just order them.
Sorry, I was addressing the OP. Having Ti Cycles make you some bars is a good idea. Groovy Cycleworks makes bars sometimes, you have to be there at the right time though. Also, Engin has made bars, but I'm not sure if you can just order them.
08-07-23, 11:00 AM
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Not anything like what you're asking about, but they are fillet-brazed handlebars:
1980s funny bike, for the kilometer time trial or pursuit. Those airfoil tubes wouldn't be strong enough or stiff enough without the triangulation (the smaller tubes that go down to the fork crown). With the triangulation, they were essentially infinitely stiff, compared to any handlebar that lacks triangulation. Not a practical design for most uses though.
The main upper tubes are real 4130 airfoil tubing, made for crop-dusters, acrobatic and experimental aircraft. Whether that's the right stuff for bikes that go less than 40 mph, I dunno, but the main purpose was to look aero, if we're being honest.
Original Ritchey handlebars were fillet-brazed too. Also triangularted, in a different way. Probably a good idea to have redundancy.
Mark B
1980s funny bike, for the kilometer time trial or pursuit. Those airfoil tubes wouldn't be strong enough or stiff enough without the triangulation (the smaller tubes that go down to the fork crown). With the triangulation, they were essentially infinitely stiff, compared to any handlebar that lacks triangulation. Not a practical design for most uses though.
The main upper tubes are real 4130 airfoil tubing, made for crop-dusters, acrobatic and experimental aircraft. Whether that's the right stuff for bikes that go less than 40 mph, I dunno, but the main purpose was to look aero, if we're being honest.
Original Ritchey handlebars were fillet-brazed too. Also triangularted, in a different way. Probably a good idea to have redundancy.
Mark B
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