just because 🙂
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Nice and smooth. Not heard of a Fleet before?
Nobody has! 'Fleet Engineers' were a small fabricating company based up in Trimdon in County Durham where a certain Kevin Winter worked. I think he was the only guy who worked there who built frames. He left & went (i think) to Donohues in Bishop Auckland to build road frames, the company split & when I want any work doing on me frame I take it to Peter Summers at 'Fleet Enterprises' in Chilton, near Durham. It's still an engineering company & Peter's pretty handy with the torch!
It's my pride & joy & I'll never ever get rid of it, even when/if it dies. it's now got RC 40 forks & Evolve cranks. Oh & a 'Woodsman' seatpost!
Humm.....
[url= 
]Qubic Bikes 853 Pro Team, Paragon slider [/url]
(Apologies if link doesn't work!!)
Try again!
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And another
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That's nice. The Fleet's Tange Prestige & built in 1990. I reckon 853 must be a canny bit lighter. Wonder if the ride's similar?
I like the look of the new Pace H/T in 853.
Nicely made, is that a new venture - Qubic?
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A Scottish mountain bike - very nice!
I'm liking these a lot. (Except maybe the clown wheels 😉 )
Keep em coming!
Top bloke Kevin Winter
My 1991 Condor Diablo. Filet brazed Columbus tubing presumably from workshop of Dave Yates and re-badged as a Condor.
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Hi Woodsman
not new, we've been building custom steel frames under the John Atkins name for years. We changed the name of our frames to QUBIC about 2 1/2 years ago.
I'll post some more frame pics soon, just working on the new QUBIC Bikes website at the moment
Cheers
Chris
rubbish pic.
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I had a quick look on tinterweb before I posted (just to check I knew what fillet brazing was!) and found an article saying that a good fillet brazed join should be smooth with a wide feathered area to the tubes on either side.
All the frames above seem to match this, except mine. I was under the impression that Mr Dekerf knew his onions when it came to this sort of thing.
What gives?
From the pic ned, not sure if that is fillet brazed or welded. Post a pic of the headtube if you can or just more of the frame?
Looking at your pic ned the topmost joint looks like a proper fillet braze but the lower looks like it would not need as much filler material because of the joint type, one tube inserted through the other. The strength coming from the interface of the two tubes rather than having one stuck on the outside of the other like head/top/down tube interfaces...
Does that make sense?
Nowhere near the bike, I'm afraid, that's an old pic I had on the phone.
anyhoo, I've done some searching, and it seems dekerf fillet braze some joins, and use TIG on others.
Please imagine the above picture doesn't appear in this thread, and please accept my apologies for the wear and tear on your retinas!
Fillet brazed is looking a bit thin on the ground these days........
hip, I was reading this on my phone the other day, and managed to miss your reply. I think you might be right. I'll see if I can get some better photos.
Smoooooooooooooooooooooooooooooothness!
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Check out how smooth the back end is 8)
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Check out Curtis frames for modern brazing - very lush.
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supersessions9-2, were you at the Brighton Big Dog event?
That's my favourite bike that is!
The others are mighty fine too btw.
robin mather, nice.
[url= http://gallery.mac.com/robinmather#100056&bgcolor=black&view=grid ]this is nice, shame hes taking a break[/url]
Agree! I kinda put my name on the consideration list, in pencil at the mo.
Mmmmmm, some yummy bikes here. I was hoping there would be a Robin Mather here, he's just up the road from me. Surprised no-one's put a Dogs Bollocks up; iconic fillet-brazed British hardtail. That Qubic is very very sweet, too. So much choice, so little money...
not fillet brazed, but someone mentioned Kevin Winter...
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Don't think there's many Winter MTB's around, this one was hand built for a youth class racer in the 90's, was silly light for a steel frame, but too small for me unfortunately.
sorry about the yellow pedals, that's how I bought it...
woodsman. No I wasn't at brighton big dog. Only ridden the Dyfi this year on it. That pic's a bit old now. It's looking a bit more scratched and used. Still a great bike which I love and I can always get a respray.
🙂
Mmmmmmmmm Fillety, reminds me of steak. Here's mine to continue the white fillet brazed single speed theme.
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supersessions9-2, someone has a very similar bike(frame) to you, I thought it was you, the colour was a slightly more reddish brown, other than that....
alexathome, I do rememeber seeing your frame on his old site - I like your rm deacal, it looks like mm at a glance as in the 'Mmmmm' kinda way you opened your post 😆
Any of you two reside in the South East by any chance, I wouldn't mind a closer look and chat, if I do decide to take the plunge?
Pete aka Woodsman
Sorry Peat, i live a bit further away than that now, in New Zealand. Robins works is fantastic thou, to be honest it's the only mountain bike i ride now, it's by far the nicest bike i've owned, and i've had (still got) more than a few, the detail and craftmanship is 1st class. I'm not sure what Robin's up to now work wise, but i can recomend him wholeheartedly, the whole experience was excellent from initial concept to recieving the finished frame. The actual cost of the frame is extreamly good value, it's all 853, with Pauls dropouts, the geometry and tube diameter i specified and any colour i wanted. I don't think the price was much more than a RRP Rocky Mountain Blizzard. I'll never part with this bike.
I recommend checking out www.demonframeworks.com for exciting tube joining techniques.
Pete. I'm based in the midlands. Will totally back up what Alex has said. Robin is easy going, open to your own involvement in the process and the finish is fabulous. And the price was quite reasonable esp considering the amount of work involved.
May be worth sending a mail and asking when he is likely to reopen his order book?
Cheers guy's - just out of interest, how long did it take once you had agreed the design spec, to receive the finished item? (ss92 and alex)
just frintrest, the dekerf is silver soldered at the pierced tube joins and TIG welded everywhere else. Their website was slightly misleading, but at least now I know the difference!
Got a Dogs Bolx in the garage, no pics to hand though.
ned - still very nice though!
allthepies - you gotta put a pic of the Dogs Bolx up! I haven't ruled out Roberts for my custom frame, they are the nearest to me too.
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Where are you based Woodsman?
Cliff Shrubb is in Sutton and does custom everything inc MTBs and has even made a BMX!
I'm saving up for an MTB by him at some point
to match my track bike based on my PA
2006 Explosif
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Loving that Shand, born about 20 miles from where I'm sitting. Love it.
leggy - I'm based in West Sussex now, but still work in Surrey. I've not heard of Cliff Shrub before, I know Sutton though, bought my first racer from Pearsons in the 70's, well a teenage birthday present from the parents, more like!
Does Cliff have a website - I'll google him when I get a moment, just about to go riding.
Like the unusual look of showing the brazed joint on your track bike - just trying to work out how they've managed to paint around it?
Thanks
Pete
lee - were they fillet brazing in 2006?
Woodsman - TIGed?
The top tube is anyway - Argos had to replace it!
'TIGed' I thought as much. Just out of interest, how much does it cost to replace a top tube!?
Oh well, partly appropriate ;o)
It would have been £240 for tube replacement and re-enamel.
Mine's the green one, moonter's is the grey one.
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I feel the need to put a jumper on looking at that pic - brrr! 😉
It was, I think, the coldest and wettest ride I have ever done. The ride home (all downhill) was horrible.
[url= http://www.roadcyclinguk.com/news/article/mps/uan/3985 ]Cliff link[/url] here, don't worry about the price, that was a big cock-up! Cliff worked in Pearsons for a while but now works on his own, I can PM you his no if you like.
My bike was [url= http://picasaweb.google.com/noughttosixty/DropBox?authkey=Gv1sRgCPLnrdeZoZC9WQ#5321941380813289490 ]clear laquered[/url] to show off the craftsmanship and it gets a LOT of attention.
If you're wondering how strong his bikes are, his frame still holds the British [url= http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BmpxJWAJbFM ]Land Speed Record![/url]
Roberts road bike:
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The Roberts looks real nice attention to detail - may have to take a trip to sunny Croydon t view some D'bolx!?
Thanfs for the Shrubb info
Cheers guy's - just out of interest, how long did it take once you had agreed the design spec, to receive the finished item? (ss92 and alex)
I think it was a good few months, maybe about 5 i think, and there was only 6 in the que then if i remember rightly. I know i had to use my flux for the SSUK07 racey thing thou. It was worth the wait thou. 😀