Good morning!

my name’s Frank. I have been collecting and building bicycles for about 22 years. Grew up in MD, but moved to CO in 2016 for work. I’m a huge nerd and love everything from classic road bikes to insanely weird mountain bike tech.

Way back in 2010/2011 I found an old carpenter’s box in my dad’s workshop. Opened it up to find a bunch of tubes and lugs. At the time I didn’t know anything about frame building. Asked my dad and he told me back in 1976 he custom ordered the frame kit from Proteus. I got really fascinated/obsessed with that and brazing, so I started my research, bought a few frame building books and started teaching myself how to braze by cutting up old cogs and turning them into bottle openers. In 2014, we bought the Jiggernaut MDF jig with frame kit and we got to work. I finished that frame in 2015 and then moved in 2016. In 2018, my dad finished his Proteus frame. I didn’t get my hands on a torch again until 2022, but once I did, I got back into it quickly doing braze on work and some frame alterations. First up was a surly steamroller I got in a trade with my friend. I wanted to add canti bosses, so I worked out my own jig and brazed them on and it’s been my wife’s daily rider ever since. I found a 1941 CWC frame, chopped off the old dropouts and brazed on some chunky modern ones and added internal cable routing. I couldn’t find a proper seat tube, so I bought a length of steel bar from Home Depot and made my own. Eventually I wanted to really challenge myself, so I removed the original seat tube and brazed in a modern 34.9 seat tube so I could run a dropper for fun. I built it up 27.5 with 2.3 tires and enjoyed it as a daily curb hopper just trying to see if I could break it. Eventually, I found some 26” trials rims on eBay and last up a nice 38mm IW Wheelset and threw on some 2.8 rangers. Since then, I have taken it bikepacking and mountain biking and it’s just a total blast. In the midst of all of that, I got a little tube bender and made a few racks as well (and repaired a nice VO rack I got from bikerecyclery).

I have been playing with frame repairs and alterations since, just having fun and learning. I was commissioned to replace the downtube on an old Blacksheep steel track frame, which was very fun to do. I then scooped a surly traveler’s check with a rippled DT, sweated the coupler and brazed in a new DT. I built that up as a fun 3x2 using an dos ENO cog, a sugino triple and campy nuovo record derailleurs/shifters. After that I had a friend tell me I could have an 80’s Flying Dutchman he found abandoned, so I thought it would be fun to sweat the old dropouts and add some Paul SS dropouts to it. When mocking things up, I realized the seat stays didn’t match up, so I took out my bender and added an s bend to get them to line up. When I removed the fork, I found the crown race had been really badly damaged with what looks like a chisel, so I bought all of the pieces and built a 1” threadless fork for it and have been riding it fixed for a few months at this point and it’s a very enjoyable ride. Most recently, I was commissioned to replace the ST on a Lemond Poprad. I have the old one cut out and once I’m back from vacation, I’ll start prepping to braze in the new tube.

I have a frame kit waiting for me to get a proper frame jig, but my wife and I are in the midst of probably having to move again and trying to buy a place so it can be our last. For now, though, I am very happy and excited to be altering and repairing frames.

Anyways, hello and I’m excited to join the community! I have been utilizing the forum from afar over the years and decided it’s finally time to join in.

Welcome!

Thank you!

Fcgoulart,
You will fit right in here on Bike forums, lot of folks willing to share information about CV, mechanics and there is even a sub forum for frame builders......get started and get into the conversation!
Best,Ben

thanks so much, Ben!

Welcome, from SE Wisconsin.

You're pretty adventurous! Having fun, most importantly.