Sawed Off Brake Bridge
 

I wanted this 32mm tire on the rear but it rubbed on the brake bridge. I did a lot of thinking and asking and researching and concluded that without a brake, the bridge does nothing.

So I sawed it off. Would have been slicker to unbraze it but the hacksaw was quicker. I made sure not to ding the seatstays.

Lots of miles, ridden over curbs and potholes, no problem.

I did find out that many track bikes have a seatstay bridge because it keeps the rear aligned when handling bare frames - without an axle in the dropouts the rear end is vulnerable.

Nothing stupid about it.

why? why not just run a smaller tire, or get a different bike...most bikes are made for a purpose. apparentlly that bike wasn't the one for you. i dunno, i think that brake bridges are a little more structural than you make them out to be. i would that think that it would lend some stability while cornering fast, or on a track bike. when skidding around corners. or pretty much anytime you put any pressure on the side of the bike. maybe i'm wrong...

-jason

you did all that just to fit some ugly-ass tires on?

Are you 12 years old?

I've been riding a frame that never had a break bridge for the last four years. you'll be fine. this issue comes up every once in awhile in the framebuilding circles. the general consensus is: it's there are to hold the frame in alignment when there isn't a wheel in, holds the stays in place with stay-mounted brakes, it's a good spot to attach a fender, but structurally it's not doing a whole lot.

I assume having it would help with a little side-to-side rigitity, as xThugMurderx put it. Plus it looks cooler without it, and I think cold-setting and spacing it would be a bit easier. I'd file off those ends and touch it up, you might cut yourself on it, and it would look better.

goodluck ever trying to sell it

Or putting fenders on.

effectively, the bridge does makes the seatstay behave as if it were shorter. Since the seat stay takes compression loads, the longer it is, the weaker it becomes.

On side loads the bridge will also tie the 2 stays together and help keep them "squared" which in effect is many times stronger than the 2 stays working independently.

In practice, they could be designed strong enough such that the stay is un-necessary. It would be interesting to see how things turn out in the long run.

It is of great interest what data and analysis proved that the stays did nothing. I would appreciate it greatly if you can direct me to it.

That's gotta be the god-damned dumbest thing I've ever seen.
Sloppy. Some people just shouldn't have access to tools of any kind.
A Hacksaw!? Why didn't you just beat it with a hammer until it broke apart?

I hope that's your bad weather beater and not something nice...

so stupid. a nice centurion too

Stupidest thing I've ever read on here.

And that's saying a lot.

I mean, if it's just a normal Brake Bridge with a hole in the middle, it looks kind of lame. The way he did it (without filing off the nubs and painting over it) looks like ****, but he could fix it up. The nice ones they put on track frames with the swoops and whatnot look a whole lot better.

Although it's just a subjective matter right? My subjective I.Q. is quite a bit lower than my objective I.Q., so I may be wrong. To each his own.

youre talking about long skinny tubes of steel.. you can say that you dont need the bridge.. but i would find it really hard to believe that there is no difference

I think you guys are stupid.

Such an easy fix to file, fill, & raise it up if you want structural stability, fenders or whatever you guys think can't be done now.

And it's not like you can't turn back. It's METAL!

Right, and it's obvious to me that dude has the mad metalworking skills.

Why do you asshats all care? Let him do what he wants to his bike. I personally think it looks nicer.

Of course you do.

Really don't care about how it looks

It is whether there is a structural issue that I'm interested about.

Suggest periodic inspection of the weld/braze where the seat stays meet the seat tube. If there is extra flex in the stays, this is a prime location for cracks.

Heheh! Hey, I didn't say he could do it himself. You're making an ASSumption.

Congrats...

Ummm...

That's probably not the greatest idea, just to fit a bigger tire on.

duct tape. :)

650b
 

Want fatter tires - shoulda built some 650b wheels. No frame amputations required.

http://www.freewebs.com/650b/conversions.htm

It's cool that you're diggin' it but I'm fine with rocking 25s on my Dave Scott Ironman. I like how the brakebridge looks too. It's curved! Mine has the same paintjob too.