Various things

After a long work week, I got out this morning for a couple of hours of riding. I wanted to do 3-4 hours, but have to be in the office at 11AM. Anyway, it was hot and humid. This is good practice as we haven't had much of this weather this year. It was also great therapy for the week.

I thought about using a Reynolds 28.6 downtube to replace my Deda 28.6 TT. Of course the gauges on the DT are heavier. And, it seemed like too much of a compromise in the final analysis. I got my tube order into Joe Bringheli, hopefully my replacement will be here soon.

Meanwhile, last night I put cable stops on the bottom head lug. I tried to make a holder of the Henry James model, but it was hard because of combination of angles in the joint. In the end, I went without a holder. I got pretty good positioning and symmetry, but next time I'll come up with a more elegant solution. I'm thinking of getting a cheap feeler gauge on a magnetic base. Set it on a tube at a distance from the part and use the feeler to reach over and hold the part in place. We'll see if that works.

I've largely finished my first (simple) fork. I still have a twist in one tip. I think this will be easy to fix. Meanwhile, the legs aren't twisted, the lengths are equal and right, and the wheel sits straight and centered in the fork. So, for a multi-dimensional puzzle, it came out pretty well. Still, I'm going to make a jig for my next effort (except maybe Joe will get me my new Bringheli in time to make this unnecessary.

I'm also about to build a tubing bender. Using a straight-leg crown is limiting (there aren't that many styles or widths available), plus the esthetics aren't as nice. It's possible to get Reynolds pre-raked fork blades (I have two pair from Andy Newlands at Terranova), but they don't really allow for the large rake I like from Singer and Herse designs. So I have to learn how to bend fork legs and building the form will be step one.

The likely next steps are putting on the water bottle bosses and the front derailer tab. That way any induced warps can be fixed before putting on the top tube. It's not clear to me yet the best way to route the cables under the BB. So, that will come shortly. Also, I need to draft the top view of my stays and BB for layout and jigging purposes. So, there's plenty to do while waiting for the new top tube.

This probably reads like the rush job that it is. There will be some pictures of the finished fork soon.

Cheers to all.