man, you're basically living on a whole other level now....

okay i haven't read this thread and may be reiterating something here, plus i'm entirely off topic but i don't care, consider this an open letter--

your icon is the ****. cyclopscat was so awesome. RIP <3

That is great! You did that without any kind of jig? That is amazing. I'm jealous.

Brazing is different from welding. Its much more akin to soldering, if youve ever done that. Still, that doesnt mean its any easier. Mcatano, that is a freakin amazing job, and if you woulda told me that came from a professional 100+ frame veteran builder I wouldnt bat an eyelash. As some others have said: would you do it again? and if so: are you thinking of buying some proper tools and selling some?

make the angles more steeper,more compact.

yes. "make it so that it won't be at all good for its intended purpose."

completely off topic but according to a book I'm reading now verbing has a very long and noble history (uhum shakespear muhu)

I've done soldering before and I wasn't good at it either, but then again, I only ever did it a few times for electronics projects. I agree though, maybe mcatano should think about a sideline business...

Great work. I'd be more than proud to ride that thing!

Are you sure about that seat tube angle being 74° ?

Overall, your frame has the look of the classic tour bikes (except for BB height), e.g., long wheelbase and chain stays, slack angles.

road bike geo ?

I'm not really sure how the angles came out in the end, to tell you the truth. I haven't gone back and measured anything since crossing the point of no return. It was supposed to be 74°, but there was a healthy amount of letting the chips fall where they may involved in the process. The fork blades might be a little longer than I had originally planned (I haven't actually checked... I just sort of eyeballed it) which might be kicking the front end up and subsequently slackening the geometry a little bit. It's a 42.5cm frame though, so I wouldn't think that a degree or two would have much effect on it... who knows though? The whole process was wicked, wicked ghetto, so I would not be surprised if things veered from their intended course.

I'll take the "classic tour bike" comment as a compliment, though. I want her to build it up with a sprung Brooks and some Major Taylor bars.

And yes, Youth, Kittyclops was an amazing little creature. The heart of a champion...

I'm really, really stoked at the kind words y'all have been dishing out. Thanks so much!

I have to ask, how short does someone have to be to fit a 42.5 cm frame?

She's a little under 5'.

really excellent work. do you have plans to build a frame for yourself? if you have time definitely post something in the framebuilding forum. it could use a good kick in the ass.

Nice, I've always wanted to build a frame from scratch but have only modified existing rides. Plus, I never learned to braze, but I can TIG a little and MIG like crazy, which happens to suck for bike frames.

The lack of an alignment jig is what get's me. Mad props.

hey, that's a square on hipster bingo!

That is inspiring. Wow - it looks great! Lucky girlfriend.

yeah.... just showed this to michele. way to make me look bad bro!

"you won't even make the bed!"

If you plan on doing this again, invest in some calipers and a universal bevel protractor. You'll be real glad you did once you see how they integrate themselves into the building process, and I also find myself using the two of them all the time for things outside of framebuilding. I just got a Mitsuoyo UBP on superpawn.com for $40, and that only took me 5 minutes of searching to come up with, so don't be too scared off by the $200+ price tag, deals are out there.

I actually do have both of those things, and you're dead on: they were extremely helpful during building and absolutely essentially during the drafting stage. It's just straight-up laziness that has prevented me from double checking the angles since completing it (and the fact that the protractor and the frame are now in two different places...).