Finished: White Lugged Track Frame, Part 1
Well, my personal frames are always R&D for Bishop bikes…
The last steel frame I rode as a courier was a Cinelli track frame made with Columbus Thron tubing. My current bike is a 90’s Cannondale track bike, which is super stiff aluminum of course. I like a very responsive bike while riding in dense rush-hour traffic. Agility Is one of your biggest assets on a bicycle–look left and you’re there.
So the goal was to make a steel bike that rivals the stiffness and responsiveness of my old, trusty aluminum classic but has all the benefits and beauty of steel.
Anyway, this frame is a real melting pot:
- Paramount lugs (kinda fancy)
- Dedacciai Zero downtube (31.7mm at head tube, 35mm at bottom bracket)–a modern update for stiffness
- Columbus Life seat tube (light weight, double-butted)
- Dedacciai Zero top tube
- Zero chainstays (can tubes this thin be stiff? yes.)
- Columbus fluted Gilco tube for the top of the wishbone seatstays
- Columbus Life tubes for the two “legs” of the wishbone seatstays
I have always wanted one of the Colnago Masterlight track frames. Colnago had a 4 flute tube made for them and Columbus released 5 flute tube to the rest of the frame building world. Well, I tried sticking to the super light weight tubeset but I had to integrate one of these tubes in there (In the form of wishbone seatstay for stiffness in the rear triangle).
I really wanted the Gilco tube to stand out and wanted it to make complete contact with the seat lug, which is the strongest contact point. So integrating the seat post clamp was the most logical solution. Originally I planned on puting the seatpost clamp in the Gilco tube but I’m glad I didn’t –the integrated clamp I fabricated worked perfectly inside the seat lug!
Enjoy the pics, and stay tuned for Part 2, where I show you the bike, fully built and ready for a test drive!
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Chris Bishop builds custom bicycle frames in Baltimore Maryland. Learn more...
Hi, I found your blog on this new directory of WordPress Blogs at blackhatbootcamp.com/listofwordpressblogs. I dont know how your blog came up, must have been a typo, i duno. Anyways, I just clicked it and here I am. Your blog looks good. Have a nice day. James.
Totally gorgeous. One of my buddies just forwarded me a link to this post, and it’s inspiration for my next track bike (Dedi tubing, Newvex lugs). Looking forward to seeing the completed build.
yep, tose were the days, cannondale track, when was that budapest 2001 cmwc? ridesafe, nice work bro’…keep in touch.. berlin is awaiting your visit!