Facing a Ti frame

can any bike shop do this with std tools or do you need specific ones?

I couldn’t say it can’t be done.But I made enquires about this with a number of bike shops and none of them were prepared to do it.If there are any special ti cutting tools out there none of them had any.They all said the same thing, ti would ruin their facing tools.

I thought facing was done to remove paint from threads so a bare ti frame doesn’t need it?

Facing is usually performed on the the bottom bracket shell if using a bottom bracket with external bearings (e.g. HT-II). This is because external BB’s use the shell as a reference to ensure the cups are perfectly aligned and not wonky. This is not necessary on older one-piece bottom brackets. In theory, if your BB shell is not faced it could lead to decreased BB life (assuming you use an external system).

yes theres no need for it and it would certainly blunt all tools.

Grinder, works every time.

Facing may well not be necessary, depending on who made the frame, as some are properly checked before shipping.

Facing is preparing the external ‘face’ of the BB shell – definitely required for external bearing BBs. Reaming is where the threads are prepared, in order that the BB screws in smoothly and does not get damaged. All of this can be affected by paint on either the face or the threads, but a plain metal frame can still need faced and chased (or reamed) as the tubes might not have been finished all that well.

Ti is significantly harder than steel or aluminium and so will take miles more grinding to get right – so the bike shops are right. Facing tools are stupidly expensive (£600+), so blunting them on your frame might cheese them off a bit!

I just don’t get this facing lark

BB shell has a thread in either side. cups screw into thread to a depth of, what, about 2cm ?

Won’t the opposition of the 2 cups be dependent on the accuracy of the thread-setting, not the ends ?
(surely it’d take a lot of force to warp one of the cups and it’d more likely just sit there, butting up to one bit of the shell – unless it was fitted using a tractor spanner, by a gibbon)

I just don’t get this facing lark

BB shell has a thread in either side. cups screw into thread to a depth of, what, about 2cm ?

Won’t the opposition of the 2 cups be dependent on the accuracy of the thread-setting, not the ends ?
(surely it’d take a lot of force to warp one of the cups and it’d more likely just sit there, butting up to one bit of the shell – unless it was fitted using a tractor spanner, by a gibbon)

Thats what Ive always thought and have never bothered getting a frame faced and have not had any problems.

I’ve never had a frame faced and no problems yet….

You can face a Ti frame with standard tools, however it dulls the cutters quicker than steel or aluminium, hence shops are less happy to do it. Some Ti frames are faced in the factory – my Hummer came with an inspection sheet highlighting the facing.