The time has finally come to get our Great British Hardtail dirty, so let's look back at the process of making it and the UK-designed and/or made parts we used to build it up
This month was an exciting time for us, as we finally got the chance to put tyres to dirt aboard our Great British Hardtail. Our summer 2019 issue (MBUK 370, on sale now) tells the story of how we got on when we packed our steel-framed steed into the van and headed for the Steel City of Sheffield, for a proper shakedown on some proper ‘ard northern trails. Did it ride as we’d hoped it would? Grab a copy of the mag to find out!
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Below is a short resume of the what it’s taken to get to this point – from the design of the frame to the measuring, cutting, brazing and painting that went into making it and finally building it up into a fully rideable bike…
Ed and Tom Study from The Bicycle Academy talk through the finer points of the bike’s design. Photo: Ben Ripley
Choosing steel tubing from the enormous catalogues of different options is a complicated process, but luckily we had The Bicycle Academy to guide us. Photo: Ben Ripley
A frame in all its constituent parts. Photo: Ben Ripley
Checking the wall thickness (butted length) of our downtube using a butt-checker (yep, it’s really called that!) Photo: Ben Ripley
Mitres in the tubes were cut and filed by hand. Photo: Ben Ripley
Producing each mitre takes a lot of precise filing and offering the tube up to the frame frequently to check you’re not removing too much material. Precision here makes for a stronger bike in the long run. Photo: Ben Ripley
Checking tyre and chainring clearance on the chain stays. Photo: Ben Ripley
We used a milling machine with a hole saw attachment to ensure our chainstay mitres were perfect and symmetrical. Photo: Ben Ripley
Ed puts his brazing to the test under the watchful eye of TBA’s Tom Study. Photo: Ben Ripley
With the tubing held in perfect alignment by the jig, tacks of brass are added to hold everything in place before it’s removed and fully brazed. Photo: Ben Ripley
Tea (and copious amounts of it) an essential for successful bike building. Photo: Ben Ripley
Checking the fit of the seat stays. Photo: Ben Ripley
Adding cable guides with capillary brazing. Photo: Ben Ripley
Our frame fully-tacked and ready to be brazed up proper. Photo: Ben Ripley
The frame is help in a bike stand and rotated frequently to help the brass filler rod flow right down into the ‘root’ of the joint and create a strong fillet. It’s a tricky process that involves managing the heat going into both tubes to ensure the brass gets ‘wetted out’ evenly and forms a secure bond. Photo: Ben Ripley
Brazing uses temperatures of 3,200degrees Celsius, so heat distortion is inevitable. Alignment afterwards is an essential step. Photo: Ben Ripley
Andrew Denham is the man behind The Bicycle Academy. He believes in demystifying frame building and making it accessible to anyone. Photo: Ben Ripley
The Bicycle Academy has welcomed some famous names in the past. Here is none other than legendary MTB pioneer Tom Ritchey who visited Frome to give a masterclass on brazing. Photo: Ben Ripley
Jason Rourke from Blue Whippet Cycles giving our frame it’s glossy gunmetal finish.
