Frame Journey - Hugh’s Stainless Steel ELAN
Build Brief
Being 6’4” and with limited flexibility Hugh has always struggled with getting a bike which is large enough and also comfortable enough for his road riding.
Riding exclusively on roads all year round Hugh was after a stainless steel endurance road bike with a relaxed, upright riding position.
He was also after something that was simple to set up and easy to maintain as he admitted he wasn’t the best at looking after his bikes.
Paint Inspiration
Paint is always the trickiest part of the build as possibilities are endless.
I always like to ask my customers to send over a collection of ideas based on their hobbies and interests for their paint inspiration as this helps when designing the colour choice for the build.
Hugh loved the Lotus F1 cars of the 60s and due to the frame being made from Columbus XCR stainless steel Hugh was keen to have parts of the frame exposed.
Producing various designs based on his brief we looked at both traditional and contemporary styles of leaving exposed seat and chain stays and played around with various colour ideas based on F1 cars from the 60’s.
Hugh fell in love with the idea of fading colour to the raw exposed stainless steel.
Bike Fit Session
Bike fit sessions are always full of discovery and it's always fascinating to see how an experienced eye and subtle changes drastically affect the positioning and posture of the rider.
Hughes fit was no exception. After being measured up and with a short spin on the adjustable jig, Ian could instantly see an issue, Hugh was rolling his hips to try and maintain a full pedal stroke. Having restricted movement meant that Hugh was subconsciously twisting his hips to allow for a revolution. Ian suggested shortening the crank arm length to 165mm, reducing leg lift and stopping the hip roll.
Frame Build
This was the first stainless steel build in the workshop and I was very excited to get stuck in and see how stainless compared to steel.
To braze stainless, silver solder must be used as the filler material. I was familiar using silver solder as I use it when brazing bottle mounts, cable guides and lugs, however I was finding it difficult to produce tidy fillets on the test pieces I had been practicing on.
Silver becomes molten at a far lower temperature compared to bronze which mean I needed to really focus on controlling my heat and filler feed rate.
I reached out to Ricky at Feather Cycles to ask for some advice. He suggested reducing the torch cone size and running at a very slightly carburizing flame to help with controlling the rate silver becomes molten. These adjustments made a huge difference and I was happy with the fillets I was now creating.
‘The bike is perfect and gives me much pleasure. Really comfortable to ride and it is so good to be on metal again!’
Complete Build
Since receiving the bike Hugh has been in contact to say. ‘The bike is perfect and gives me much pleasure. Really comfortable to ride and it is so good to be on metal again! The colour scheme worked out well.’
It’s always nice to see the initial concept as a tangible functioning object that has been purposefully built to particular needs and goals. As a builder I strive to achieve these goals as best I can to produce a bike that is truly designed and built for each individual.
