Cantilever post repair

I have been doing a lot of cantilever post repair lately. Particularly on polo bikes. I have also been putting cantilever mounts on bikes intended for caliper brakes. Here are a few pictures of the process. I sometimes TIG weld them on and sometimes I brass braze them. If I'm mounting new bosses I stick to brass because it looks nicer and they can be heated and removed which is easier than with TIG because they have to be cut off with a hack saw. If the original boss is welded then I go ahead and TIG the replacement in place. I use a modified rack stay to keep the posts aligned.

Bob's polo frame getting underway

Bob win the most recent Tall-o-ween bicycle race. His prize was a custom Old Field Cycles frame. Bob went ahead and decided on a gig welded polo frame and added a fork to the deal. Here are done shots taken on my phone of his split plate crown fork and the the mitering of the front triangle underway. I used thick straight Gage tubing for his head tube so I turned down the center section a bit on the lathe. The fork is a split plate design which I have built a number of and its one of my favorite designs.

stainless steel front rack with decaleur prototype

just finished this front rack which will accompany the hand made waxed canvas bag made by Anhaica Bag Works.
i have also been toying around with a new idea for a decaleur(a traditional french method of attaching a front bag to a rack)
typically decaleurs hold the front bag very securely and make it easy to remove the front bag, but every once in a while, you hit a bump just right and your load is distributed just so and the bag jumps off of the mount. one way to prevent this is to also have a strap which holds the bag to the rack, this is not the most elegant setup and requires more work to remove your bag.
my new design utilizes two spring loaded rods attached to the mount on the bag and by pulling both pins outward the bag comes off quickly and easily.
check out the photos.

Rack photos

last minute building

we have been working like crazy this week to get ready for our trip to Maine, i built a car roof rack for the tandem bike along with a front rack for the bike. we are cutting it so close i dont even have time to file and sand the brazed joints on the rack. luckily i used stainless steel, so no rusting. this trip will be a great test for the 304 stainless as a material for rack building. it bends much easier than chromoly and i have used it on a number of racks, but none which will take this much abuse and weight. ill report back on the outcome after our bike trip to montreal.

Ali's bike back from the powder coating shop

got Ali's bike back from the powder coater. they do an acceptable job, some rough areas and the masking for the couplers was not as well done as i would want, but this a polo bike and the goal was a durable paint job. i used to get all of my powder coating done with my friend Dave  at Organic Engines who passed away recently. Dave was very meticulous with his work and did a great job, he also pretty much powder coated bicycles exclusively. powder coating can be a very aggravating affair, every color works differently and can come out of the oven with various outcomes. humidity and numerous other factors can effect the outcome as well. unlike wet paint, you dont know what you will end up with with a powder coat until it comes out of the oven.

more photos of Ali's polo frame before powder coat

here are some more pictures before taking the frame to the powder coater. after these photos i went over the frame with 80 grit sandpaper and cleaned up the brazed areas again.