What frame makers offer polished lugs? I love the look, but I rarely see them.

vanilla

https://www.vanillabicycles.com/

but i think lots of builders do...

Jonny Cycles

WWW.timetogetnaked.com

Naked designs on Vancouver Island.

Rock Lobster Cycles in Santa Cruz, California.

www.rocklobstercycles.com ... (831) 429-8010

I'm not sure if I like this one because it's a sweet frame or just because it says naked on it.

so many builders do polished lugs, just ask them. peter mooney, vendetta cycles, bohemian cycles, rebelledo all had polished lug bikes on display at nahbs. i'd pick the builder you like and ask em.

Lots of builders do 'em, Dazza at Llewellyn would be my personal pick for "best", with a close second to Vanilla.

https://www.llewellynbikes.com

I personally won't touch them, not worth the effort in my opinion. You can get the frame chromed for the same price I'd charge to polish, which I personally prefer anyways.

A well polished BB shell especially is a sign of a very competent, patient builder.

are vanilla bikes not all they're cracked up to be? just wondering

thanks

They're everything you make them. They are of a very high quality, and their attention to detail is second to only maybe a very select few. They are very expensive, but quality and demand raise prices, and those are two things Vanilla is far from short on.

When you are talking about the upper echelon of builders all our work is very, very good. Sasha is to be included as he has shown himself to be a ultra high quality builder and he reached that level quickly.

As a builder myself, I sometimes look at things that would not catch other customers eyes. Quality construction, good design and alignment is a given of course but other things that I look for are, in no particular order.

Clean brazing. Are any of the lug edges washed out from filler,
Clean sharp lines to the lug, no blown out edges
Thinning of the lug? Is it properly thinned and filed or is it left in its full thickness state?
clean internal filing
Sharp seat stay miters. Are the seat stay terminations cast plugs or are they handmade? Are they nice and clean with sharp lines or nearly filleted.
Drop out terminations.. Are they hand made or plug on/plug in models. The builder can express their creativity here. I give extra points for that.

These are just a few things I look for

Getting on to stainless, Dazza technique is beyond reproach. He has a high luster and maintains a nice sharp lug edge which is very hard to do.

I don't do as much stainless work as I used too. Mainly to do a top quality job is something that few customer are willing to pay enough for. Also it makes painting much more difficult and can be hard to maintain over a long period. I started doing the stainless bit so many years ago becuase I wanted the Chrome look without some of the disadvantages that chrome represents (and there are a lot).

All the best,

Dave Bohm
Bohemian Bicycles

Polishing is generally that kind of thing you want an underclass of ill paid workers to do. Hey I know, I've been polishing edges for 28 years, and I do sometimes wonder why I took up something that is normally given to first year apprentices to do. Takes a certain temperment, and I can only do so much, then I have to stop doing it for a while. On this last point, I think Dazza may have said something similar about lugs.

I think that if a person doesn't do that kind of work, they really don't appreciate it, so I don't think I would do it for sale.

I was checking out these other various builders mentioned above. But who or what is dazza? (sorry for my ignorance...i did a search and couldn't figure it out)

thanks for this info.

what is it you polish?

Dave B.
your bikes at Nahbs were so stunning. i was at the show only on sunday for about 5 hours, and i probably spent an hour total just drooling over the pink bike and the orange fixed gear. i didn't get a chance to speak to you (you were a busy man!) but i did chat for awhile with the owner of the orange fixie. they were basically my two favorite bikes of the show.

I am sorry we did not get time to talk personally. Thank you for the kind words! Hope to see you at next years show.

Dave Bohm

You can chrome a whole bike? Actually, now I remember seeing chrome BMX bikes. Does anyone have pictures of a chromed road bike?? I can't imagine polishing would be fun, but that might look pretty awesome!

search the road forum for pics of member 55/Rad's chrome pinarello. it's pretty awesome to say the least.

Damn that's a fine bike!! https://www.serotta.com/forum/showthread.php?t=22952

As fantastic of a photographer as Jerry is, I can still imagine that bike looks better in person than in photos. And that's saying something! (As I'm once again drooling over the photos he posted here and on the Serotta board)

Rest of this thread has been a great read. I'm a fan of chrome/polished lugs, but after polishing a bit of aluminum myself on some components, I can only imagine the time and effort that goes into doing lugs on a frame.

Ask and ye shall receive.

i don't understand why the bike was originally chrome underneath paint? why would a manufacturer do that?

It was quite common, especially in Italy, during the 70s and 80s. They would chrome the bike and then paint it with translucent coloured paint - the end result is a very good looking bike, although the paint was prone to chipping off the chrome.

There's a lot of lug polishing going around now, but it's a lot of hard, time consuming work. I used to build a lot of frames that would get chrome lugs and stays. It's more labor intensive for stainless than it is for prepping for chrome, and a very dirty job. Now if I need shiny lugs I use stainless steel. Here's a fork crown and stem I'm polishing right now. If anyone wants to see the lugs before paint I'll find the pictures and post them also. I prime the work before polishing and buffing. I then strip the primer, re-prime, and paint. After paint I give it a final buff and it gets real shiny. You might have to click the image to get it to look right.

David