Talk:Lugged steel frame construction

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An entry from Lugged steel frame construction appeared on Wikipedia's Main Page in the Did you know? column on 24 August 2006.

[edit] Photographs

Does anyone have any photos of individual lugs with permission to use them on wikipedia? Or any photos of a frame with painted lugs to highlight their location? Moxfyre 17:09, 21 August 2006 (UTC)

I have some unbuilt lugs, I'll take a photo for the article. LDHan 18:29, 21 August 2006 (UTC)

Awesome, thanks! Moxfyre 18:59, 21 August 2006 (UTC)

I have found the lugs at last, and have uploaded a pic. LDHan 16:48, 10 November 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Touring

Isn't it misleading to say that lugged frames in particular are preferred for ease of repair when touring? Am I wrong to believe that welding equipment (used for cars, local bicycles, machinery, etc) is much more commonly found in developing countries than brazing equipment, and that therefore a welded steel frame would be at least as easy to repair as a lugged one, as long as it is steel? Mglg 00:08, 25 August 2006 (UTC)

While it's correct that welding equipment is common as well, in practice it's much easier to repair a lugged frame. I think there are at least 2 reasons for this:

1. a tube can be removed from a lugged steel frame without damaging the joint (since only the filler is melted, not the steel), whereas removing a welded tube will inevitably screw up the joint in some way
2. welding bicycle tubing requires fairly careful temperature and process control in order to produce a strong joint. This might not be such a concern out in the field, when you just want to get home, but it would probably make a touring cyclist junk the frame as soon as they made it back to civilization. Brazing is less sensitive. Moxfyre 00:14, 25 August 2006 (UTC)

Well, yes, if your goal is to fully restore the bike to its original condition, then I agree. Good luck finding Reynolds 531 dubble-butted tubing in rural Tanzania... I feel very strongly about field-repairability when I tour, but what I mean by that is simply to restore the bike to sufficient function that one can continue the trip. Welding a piece of steel pipe over the damage serves that purpose beautifully. I have a hard time imagining a bike that has had its frame broken on a remote trip (say, by being hit by a truck, or being tied to the roof of a bus and having a crate of goats tied on top) being in any shape worth restoring fully, and even if it were I don't see why I would want to spend precious trip time on it, rather than doing the quick fix in the field and postponing any careful restoration until I got back home.

Note that some quick fixes can't be done on a lugged frame (it can't be welded near the lugs, because of the mixture of different metals), so you may be forced to find that precisely-fitting replacement tubing that you can braze, whether or not you want full restoration. In many countries you would have to have that tubing sent from abroad, which means getting yourself, your stuff, and your wrecked bike to a major city, without damaging the frame further, and waiting a long time. In my eyes, that's less field repairability, not more. Mglg 19:13, 29 August 2006 (UTC)

Well, you certainly have more real-world experience than me in this! However, I've heard other touring cyclists say they DO prefer lugged steel. Have any suggestions for how to reword/rewrite this? Moxfyre 13:55, 31 August 2006 (UTC)