Hi all, while reading this I was amazed we have never heard more stories about componet failure due to overuse of files and rotary burrs etc, Whenever I alter something I do it in such a way as to retain strength but lighten it at the same time, just drilling a hole here and there is not the way to do it, you need to look at the material you are doing it to, where the stress points are, where the forces are when being used etc. One can also remember that a hollow gudeon pin on a engine is stronger than a solid one, the point being that 2 surface tensions to break is harder to occur than 1 surface tension. Also look at the huret jubilee RD, you never hear of a failure with the main body, well designed and made....regards wayne davidson Invers NZ.......
PS looking forward to hearing about some failures.........
on 16/11/05 9:02 AM, Syke - Deranged Few M/C at sykerocker@yahoo.com wrote:
> Boy, do these stories bring back some memories!
>
> Back in the bike boom days of the 70's, the Presque Isle Bicycle Club (Erie,
> PA) had five or six guys (I was one of them) who could be counted on for a new
> custom assembled (as opposed to built - none of us built our own frames, of
> course) bicycle for the first spring ride. Sort of the spirit of Discovery's
> Great Biker Buildoff, but with bicycles.
>
> I think it was the winter of '73 when, over a couple of beers, we started
> challenging each other to build the lighest bike possible. I did a purple
> Falcon, radial spoked front wheel (as far as I can tell that was the first
> time such a setup was ever seen in western PA), Campagnolo NR drilled to the
> point of rediculousness (the first rear derailleur snapped from being taken
> down too far), and lots of other to my now older mind rediculous stuff. My
> eco-freak-rich-kid-doctor's-son buddy showed up with the first titanium frame
> ever seen in western PA. Another guy did some kind of aluminum or something
> equally exotic.
>
> Boy, it was one hell of a show that April when we all showed up for the first
> ride.
>
> Gee, none of us were any faster that day . . . . . . .
>
> George R. "Syke" Paczolt
> Montpelier, VA