Reynolds De Ronde

woolwich

My winter project amongst others was to build a bike to ride the RVV sportive. I had a complete nerdfest researching different takes on frame design for the cobbles. Eventually I settled on this. Built in the shed its a Reynolds 853 front triangle and chainstays and Columbus seat stays as I had some that were a little thinner. I wanted a relatively skinny downtube (31.7mm which used to be called oversize) for compliance and to keep the bike in proportion. I used slightly longer chainstays for stability and grip on cobbled climbs but otherwise it's a pretty standard bike. It took me round the 240km course in 8.37. Wonderful project and day out.

Frame homemade. Painted with coach enamel.
Groupset full Sram Red 10 speed.
Wheels handbuilt homemade. Open pro on Novatec hubs ( the campag looking ones) front 28 x3, rear 32x3
Tyres Vittoria Open Pave 27mm
Forks Columbus minimal
Saddle San Marco, I forget the model
Stem and seat pin Thompson
Bars 3T Ergo

Wheelspinner

Quality work for home! Do you have a jig for frame building?

Saddle looks like a Mantra. They any good? I have seen them and wondered. Like their other models, so thought I may give that a go.

ugo.santalucia

Mistake... now you'll be bombarded by email of people who want a frame...

Chapeau... where did you learn?

metronome

This is so awesome. Wow!

woolwich

Thanks Folks,

Wheelspinner, Yes I was lucky enough to find a used jig on ebay a while back. I built my first bikes in a Black and Decker workmate, just takes a while longer. To be honest decent fabricating and having a good method of ensuring the bike is correctly aligned is more important than the jig.

Saddle could be a Mantra, it rings a bell, I forget as it's been moved from bike to bike. I like it.

Ugo, I did an apprenticeship in a machine shop back in the day before CNC, gave me a good grounding. I started Framebuilding by learning from books and manuals and made a few lugged frames . Once I caught the bug I did a week course and was taught by a guy called Martin Hay, a very experienced bloke.
After that the real learning comes from repetition and riding what you make. I had it in my head that a cobbled classic would be a great test.

ratsbeyfus

Very impressive! Basically this post 'wins' this section of the forum, so all other threads in it should now be locked!

ugo.santalucia

ratsbeyfus wrote:

Very impressive! Basically this post 'wins' this section of the forum, so all other threads in it should now be locked!

Pretty much... it certainly dwarves those "Look at me, I fitted my own bottom bracket" threads...

housemunkey

This is really cool. How long did it take you?

woolwich

Thanks folks. I would encourage anyone to build their own frame. It is easily achievable with only basic tools and a bit of patience. It's only precision plumbing. Also it's a huge buzz riding your first frame.

HouseMunkey I am not sure of the exact time to build. The actual fabrication and brazing time isn't huge, maybe 20 hours, this is using mostly handtools, so all hand mitering with files.
The real time consumer is the finishing work, filing fillets smooth for a seamless look, without catching and undercutting the tubing. Quite a handskill which I am only just finding. Maybe another 5 to 10 hours of this.

Finally painting. Previously I had my frames powder coated by the local industrial finisher. Then I had a couple pro painted with great results. But I thought it would be more satisfying to do everything I can at home. Boy have I made every mistake under the sun with pressure, fan pattern, viscosity, gun maintenance, over covering, overspraying. I could write the manual on painting cock ups. Took about a week to find my feet and get a result I could live with.
I have the utmost respect for the pro guys who build and finish their bikes.