Seeking stainless dropouts of elegance and style

[pdxharth]

Hello all,
Hope it's ok to post this here. I am having a frame built locally by Joseph Ahearne and we are trying to find just the right dropouts. I really love what Dave Wages uses and those are similar to the Waterford ones, but we can't find them available, so it's likely they are proprietary. I also like the Richard Sachs dropouts and they are available in stainless, so that's an option. Ultimately, I am seeking something with cutouts and fender braze-ons, though the latter is not a necessity, obviously. Prefer not to go with the socket style. Other than Ceeway and Nova, what's available?

Thanks in advance.

Harth Huffman
Portland, OR

[Mike Mcdermid]

Design your own and get them cnc machined as one offs for that truly custom tluch

[dbohemian]

GP wilson's are very nice. He was a pretty incredible builder. Vincent Dominguez sells them. They are 17-4 stainless which is a very good grade and an eyelet can be added fairly easily.

DSCN0940-1024x768.jpg

[Alistair]

Mitch Pryor has some proprietary CNC'd stainless DO's that have an integral eyelet and cutouts. Don't know if he sells to others but he used to be shop mates with Joseph, so maybe...?


Alistair.

[Curt Goodrich]

The Keith Anderson Titos are nice-
TITO dropouts

Bonus- the drops are made in OR so you know they're water cut with unicorn tears. And only tears of joy are utilized. 'Cuz you know Keith isn't a barbarian.

[pdxharth]

Thanks. Definitely some good options. We used the GP Wilsons on a different frame and I liked them except on the sets Joseph had there was a lot of extra material on the internal side. He was able to file it down but it still looked less-than-elegant when the wheels were off.

I'll ask Joseph to check with Mitch - that's a good idea. That guy is really doing some nice work!

Never heard of the TITO drops before. I'll look more into those too. Hope they aren't made with endangered unicorn tears. That would be a turn off.

Thanks folks. Much appreciated.

[duanedr]

it still looked less-than-elegant when the wheels were off.

I'd definitely put wheels on it then. The bonus is that you could ride it as well as hide the less-than-elegant dropouts.

Sorry for being snarky, it's getting late and I've had a hell of a day...

[afwalker]

8188915111_edaf4a39c0_m.jpg
Really too much material on the GP Wilsons? I used them on a repair for a LeMond 853 and I thought they were most elegant. Thinner and nicer than the originals.
Could easily add a fender boss.
I haven't checked recently, but they were not available the last 2 times I tried to order more. Maybe they're in stock.
Vincent Domínguez Cycles - Products
cheers
andy

[pdxharth]

I guess I wasn't clear: on the inside section of the dropout where the semi-circle is, there was a lot of extra material from the casting that remained on there. Joseph had to file it down significantly but could not get it all off so it looked a little weird. I saw the photo above in my search and that set - like the ones on the Dominguez site - do not have the extra material.

Yes, it was not a big deal but if I'm paying four grand for a frame, I would rather it look nice from all angles. I'm picky, I guess.

8188915111_edaf4a39c0_m.jpg
Really too much material on the GP Wilsons? I used them on a repair for a LeMond 853 and I thought they were most elegant. Thinner and nicer than the originals.
Could easily add a fender boss.
I haven't checked recently, but they were not available the last 2 times I tried to order more. Maybe they're in stock.
Vincent Domínguez Cycles - Products
cheers
andy

[dbohemian]

I guess I wasn't clear: on the inside section of the dropout where the semi-circle is, there was a lot of extra material from the casting that remained on there. Joseph had to file it down significantly but could not get it all off so it looked a little weird.

I think that may be the case because the molds that make these must be quite old and there was no ubiquitous CNC technology back then. They were hand made and that area may have been the casting sprue that is left over. Only a guess though. It is hard to remove cleanly but harks back to a time when all our gear was not some sort of plug n' play perfect 3d printed mold stuff. It goes with the territory. All the other suggestions are awesome as well.

[steve garro]

BAM!
www.paragonmachineworks.com - DR1045StainlessSteelRear70DegreeVerticalDropoutwit hEyelets
I don't like the notion of brazing on a thin eyelet onto a stainless dropout, that not that bomber, not at all.
You could TIG then on, but the ones I linked are 100% bomber.
- Garro.

[Mike Mcdermid]

but if I'm paying four grand for a frame, I would rather it look nice from all angles. I'm picky, I guess.

we once did an excercise for a framebuilder who's well known here in the UK a pair of dropouts custom machined to his design he ran a mile at 50 quid each, it was good for us as it allowed us to se how fast we can go from setch to progam to spindle cutting ,bear in mind this was for 2 off a lh and rh to his own design ffs you cant buy a pair of paragons here in the UK for that after shipping and import, if i was paying 4k for a frame you better hope the parts were at least a good contribution towards it...it does often make me wonder why oh why framebuilders who want to be awesome dont go the whole hog and just stick someone elses off the shelf bits together they can charge for the uniqueness