Carey's Race frame rehab...

One of the times I have an opportunity to try some new ideas, push limitations, and just see what does and does not work is with the sponsored race frames I put out there.  It gives me a chance to see what tubing choices, fabrication techniques, and variations to geometry actually do in a harsh, balls to the wall race environment.

I built Carey a race frame that used aggressive geometry for a 100mm fork, very light road tubing, and rear post mount disc brake.  The goal was to see just how light we could go and have the frame last the season.  The tubing choices were mostly Columbus, using their 7/4/7 butted profile.

Two seasons in, Carey's down tube water bottle boss cracked the tubing around the braze due to the weight of the bottle jacking it around along with the flexion in the down tube due to a longer travel 120mm fork he installed.  We left it go, too busy to attend to it at the time.

Now, with one race left in the third season, the lack of the fixed boss has allowed flexion cracks to propagate away from the vacant area...a predictable result but one that now needs attention.

Carey and I pushed through two mornings, before he had to head to work, to cut out the old tube, fabricate a new one and then spray it up in a quick and dirty paint job (a one coat paint/clear DCC that goes on quick and is flash dried) as he was leaving to ride tomorrow morning for the weekend at Raystown.

The new downtube is an OX Platinum that we bi-ovalized, 1/8/1 butted...

As Carey rides with John Shell a lot, aka "Chief", I didn't want him to feel insecure, so we gave him the title of El Jefe...the boss!

I added a little Yo skull and cross bones for each season the bike has survived, how many more can we get?

Finally, here's Andrea, modeling the newly revived frame...damn, the frame looks better on her than Carey!

We over built this down tube, insuring the lighter gauge top tube will be well protected.  We are going to do a dropout swap at the end of the year, re-paint with a killer hydrographics red boa pattern, and send him off for another season of racing.  Booh Yah!

cheers,

rody