Anyone with specific knowledge of LItespeed frames or general knowledge of titanium welding could really help me out here.

My bike is a 90s Litespeed Appalachian and I'm happy with TRP mini-V brakes and plan to ride it in this configuration until the end of time or the frame cracks. If for some reason there was a need to switch back to cantilever brakes, a seatclamp cable stop would be a more appealing option than what exists, which is a post cable stop welded asymmetrically to the nondrive side seatstay.

My question is, if I carefully saw and file off this cable stop post, will the seatstay it's connected have a solid wall, or for some reason does a titanium frame builder drill a hole in the tube where an extra part gets welded on? For the main frame tubes, there is usually a hole drilled where they are welded, but I don't know if this is the case for very small additions.

Thanks for any insights!

I doubt anyone here would know the answer to that, unless they worked at Litespeed, and putting those on was their job.

If the "post" is a tube, then it is best practice to have two holes, one connected to the interior of the stay where argon is fed in, and a second near the other end to let the air out. Proper purging of the air to completely fill the tube with argon takes a while, and a busy shop trying to make money might not fully purge every little braze-on. I cut a couple Litespeeds apart back when putting S&S couplers on Ti bikes was part of my job. I remember seeing signs of less-than-perfect purging inside, so we know they weren't overly fastidious about it.

If the post is solid rather than tubular, then a hole is unlikely.

If you saw it off, file it flush, and it ends up showing a hole, you can

1. ignore it
2. put a spot of grey duct tape over it
3. epoxy it with "toughened" epoxy that has ground-up metal in it — some of them are the right color to blend with Ti
4. have a Ti welder do a tiny spot weld to fill the hole, then file that flush. Since it's so small and fast, you can probably get away with not purging the inside of the frame

For someone who's set up to weld Ti, #4 would be easier/quicker than #3, but for everyone else, that's not worth the trouble and expense — use #1 2 or 3. For me, probably #1 even though I am set up to weld Ti. I'm lazy and such a little hole wouldn't trouble me.

I think I'll drill a small hole across the post and see if it's hollow. If it's solid, I'm not seeing any reason that the seatstay would be drilled -- hard to imagine the advantage in gas shielding/welding. And if it's hollow, I can feel around with a bent wire strand off a brake cable and figure out what's going on.

There have been steel braze ons with a locating pin that sits in a hole drilled to suite the braze on location. Richard Sachs ft der braze on comes to mind. Although I doubt this is the case with the OP's situation. Andy

Use the post to mount a light and give it new life.

Since we can't see a picture, I don't think anyone can answer this question. I'm not sure what finish the frame on, but usually they have something. You are going to have a bright spot or a ring where the post was. I doubt there are holes in the stay, but I suppose it's possible.

I would not cut off / grind / remove / whatever the cable stop

If the bike and situation you are asking about is as pictured, you're probably fine cutting it off and filing it smooth. I can't imagine they put a vent hole under that braze-on. I could be wrong and all warrantees, expressed or implied are null and void.

Yep, that's it exactly -- thanks. I'll try to get the project done over the weekend and report back.

Well, I'm not condoning what you're going to do but it's your frame so do whatever you want. I am just speculating that I don't see structural issues with this mod.

Go slow! Use a file because you are eventually going to expose unwelded tube right in the middle of weld ring, and you don't want to cut into that.

I fixed someone's work removing a braze on from a steel bike. Lots easier than on a ti bike. I would leave lots of excess and sneak up on the tube.

Now that the subject of a vent hole has been raised, that actually wouldn't surprise me at all.

The first part of the job is done: sawing through the post with a typical hacksaw blade (32 teeth per inch) took about 5 minutes. I didn't drill a hole to test if the post was solid after I looked more at the part and considered how difficult it would be to have half of it tubular while the other end has a cutout and slot for the cable stop.







Now the plan is to do some masking and work slowly with a file, then sandpaper on popsicle sticks, and finally Scotchbrite pads, which is the recent refinish of the whole frame.

I think if you try to do all of it with a file you will give up. Start with a die grinder or dremel sander. Mask with thin cardboard or sheetmetal.

I finished it; photos below if you want to skip straight to that. I ended up using a $9 medium metal file from amazon with a hardness in the upper 50s for most of the job, and then a little diamond file, a strip of belt sander (100 grit) and then 220 and 330 grit sandpaper before buffing it with a scotchbrite pad to match the rest of the frame, which was refinished that way.

It took less than an hour, but each minute of work was tiresome. The weld line showed up when I got very close to the frame -- it looked like a little crinkle or crack in the inner circle where the post had been, and then a thin foil circle came off. The seatstay was solid.

Frame protection was used extensively when I first started and when it was least needed, and then at the end, I didn't use any at all -- a file is a pretty precise tool, and each swipe really took off just a dusting of metal, so missing the mark at worst would leave a minor scratch that could be buffed out.

Beautiful work!

Very nice job