Waterford Stainless Tubeset Frame
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This Waterford goes up to 11... Seriously. This uses the new Reynolds stainless steel 953 tubeset (which they still manged to paint! ) and featured dramatic styling on the lugs, with the direction of the flames flowing differently depending upon where it was located. It was, by any test of the imagination, a work of art.
Comments
It's kinda funny considering the recent
conversation on bikelist.org about whether or
not Waterford is truly a "custom"
builder. I don't care what you want to call
it, that is one nice frame. The flamed lugs
look amazing. Do you think the paint
complimented it? I have been lusting after a
953 frame with the unpainted stainless
tubes...
Posted 17 months ago.
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I wish I had a side shot, but I reckon some
other folks got one. They left the name panel
on the downtube unpainted, which let the
stainless goodness shine on through. It was
eye-rippingly good.
Actually ended up chatting with Mr. Schwinn
himself about the painting process, which
isn't simple on stainless steel. One could
argue if it complimented the frame or not,
but it was designed to get folks' attention.
It was probably a little more
hot-rod/muscle car in tone than I would
prefer, but the paint contrasted beautifully
against the polished stainless. They used
it in a similar fashion to the classic nickel
plating - fork legs, chain/seat stays.
Posted 17 months ago.
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Well it got my attention!
I'm thinking that that same lug work and
badge without the paint would be just about
perfect. You wouldn't notice it at first
then it would draw you in and "WOW,
what's that?!?!?!"
Here's a lug by itself.
Beautiful.
Posted 17 months ago.
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Nice lug. ;^)
Good simple cutout, playful and devilish...
Here are some more of the Waterford -
lug only
another headtube shot
painted lug over stainless tube
Posted 17 months ago.
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That is one beautiful bicycle! That's pretty
much all I can say about it. The time it took
to file all those lugs by hand (I'm
assuming).
Posted 17 months ago.
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It was clearly a project which required a
significant commitment...I don't really know
how they managed to get the length of the
flames - seems like they extended beyond what
the "stock" lugset would cover.
Bob Brown has been working with the 953
stainless set for a while - he's got a number
of photos on his blog , and it's well worth spending some time over
there checking out his work.
Posted 17 months ago.
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Been there, done that :-) Where do you think
I got hooked on the whole 953 thing????
Posted 17 months ago.
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Thanks for the positive comments, I'm the
builder so I can give you some idea of how we
made the lugs. The head lugs started out
life as stainless tubing that was mitered and
welded together to form a blank. I then
finished the weld and any bleed through from
the weld on the inside and then I was ready
to begin carving. No small task by itself!
I understand the idea that Waterford is
not a "custom" builder in the same
way as say, Baylis or Vanilla, for a long
time we built stock sizes in brazed bikes and
offered custom colors. We still do on many
welded Gunnars and some Waterfords. But in
the last 5 years we've done and increasing
number of custom carved lug bikes that were
limited only by the imagination of the
customer and my own skill as builder. In
fact, every brazed bike I build and most
Waterfords come to me with a customers name
and are built completely to size for the
indivdual.
Posted 17 months ago.
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Congratulations dewages1! BEAUTIFUL
creations that are obviously getting a lot of
attention. Waiting for more pics :-)
How are you finding 953 to work with?
Posted 17 months ago.
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Really, really nice work there. Thanks for
sharing the specifics with us.
Posted 17 months ago.
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953 is kinda a pain in the a__. I guess it's
a progression, 853 was a pain compared to 531
and other non air hardening steels so it
forced us to raise our game to work with it.
Now it's 953 and here we go again. Seriously
though, brazing stainless steel lugs was a
challenge because they don't soak up heat as
consistently as normal steel lugs. Now you
add stainless tubes to the mix and it's a
very delicate process.
Posted 17 months ago.
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Is the fork stainless too? Are there 953
fork legs, as well as a stainless crown and
steerer? I want a bike that won't rust! ;)
Posted 17 months ago.
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The fork is chromed steel. We do plenty of
forks with stainless crowns and dropouts, but
Reynolds so far does not make fork blades in
stainless.
Posted 17 months ago.
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