9/23/13 6:09 AM

A friend recently had a custom Ti frame built by quite a well-known framebuilder. When he received the frame, he was having problems fitting the bottom bracket, and brought the frame round to me, as I have the tools for chasing and facing the BB shell. What I found, though, was that the bottom bracket shell had been welded in the wrong way around, with the left-hand thread on the non-drive side of the frame, so that he would have needed to reverse the cups to fit the BB. The framebuilder wouldn't believe him initially when he rang to tell him - he had to take the frame to his LBS and get the mechanic there to confirm the problem and ring the framebuilder. He was given the option of a substantial discount on the existing frame or a new frame. He took the discount - if it was me, I would have insisted on a new frame, as if he ever wants to sell the existing one, he's going to have a problem.

This made me think back to custom frames I've had to reject. There have been three I've rejected over the years, all from different framebuilders, and that's about 50% of the custom frames I've ever ordered. And in every case, a couple of minutes inspection of the original frames by someone who knew what they were doing would have found the errors before the frame left the shop:

Frame 1. Head tube and seat tube not in vertical alignment. You could stand in front of the frame and easily see with the naked eye that the head tube was at an angle to the seat tube. The framebuilder wouldn't believe me at first - told me that the frame couldn't possibly be out of alignment as it was built using a jig. However, he eventually admitted the problem and made me another frame, this one being properly aligned.

Frame 2. The threads in the BB shell had been cut oversize, so that every BB cup I tried was a loose fit. The same frame was also out of alignment two ways - a string stretched around the head tube from the outside of the rear dropouts was not an equal distance from the seat tube on each side (there was about 2mm difference), and a correctly dished rear wheel was not centred between either the chainstays or seat stays. This frame had been shipped to me from the US, and so not only did the framebuilder have to make me another frame, but he also had to pay the considerable costs of the shipping the dud frame back and the replacement frame to me.

Frame 3. Received the frame, and found a whole raft of errors: a) the framebuilder had forgotten to braze a stop on the drive side chainstay to take the rear derailleur cable housing, b) the rear brake bridge and the bridge on the chainstays had both been wrongly positioned so that they fouled the size of tyre that I had told the framebuilder I wanted to use, and c) I had specified S-bend chainstays to give both fat tyre and heel clearance, and the builder had provided dead straight chainstays. That also resulted in the builder having to make another frame and pay for shipping twice over.

9/23/13 8:26 AM

Many of the 50 The Kogswell Model D frames, as shipped, had the brake bridge placed too high, and so required extra-long-reach brakes (thanks, Tektro!) in order to work properly.

The Velo Orange Rando design (this isn't really a stuff-up, but) assumed wide 700C rims. With the recommended brakes and comparatively narrow rims (CXP33), a tight squeeze on the center pulls could easily pull the pads up into the sidewall. Again, the solution is to replace the brake arch with something a little longer (and again, thanks, Tektro!).

9/23/13 9:34 AM

Damn, 3 bad ones. That would probably put me off ever ordering a custom frame again. Luckily my one and only custom was from Carl Strong. I doubt the minutest detail would go unnoticed by him before shipping. In fact, he did not want to send it to me because [back when he was powdercoating inhouse] the pre baked powdered 3 color was not perfect. I told him to bake it and send it I was not going to polish and wax it but run the shit out of it. ;)

9/23/13 1:21 PM

I know this is not a frame but I've had a set of wheels from HED Cycling from which tires would blow off easily on a ride but not when standing still. Quite dangerous. The rims are slightly undersized or they bow under pressure easily. I stopped using them a long time ago...

Sandiway

9/23/13 1:31 PM

Was that the Alpes set Sandi ?

9/23/13 1:39 PM

Yup.. HED Alps (aluminum rim, carbon fairing). Think I sent them back at least once too. Turned me off HED products for life...

Sandiway

9/23/13 1:54 PM

Alps, I got a Deep and Jet2000 clincher set on a parts bike/trade. I rode them a few times. I sure hope the same problem you had is not something these may do as well.

Where you running 20C and high pressure or something ?

9/23/13 2:34 PM

23C michelins. 105-110 psi. It should not blow off ever at those pressures. FAIL.

Sandiway

9/23/13 2:37 PM

Those wheels weren't meant to be ridden on.

9/23/13 2:39 PM

quote:

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Those wheels weren't meant to be ridden on.

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