Spectrum Cycles

[Mike T.]

Old stuff.

Ok it's gotta be something really subtle. You had virgins kiss it between clearcoats eh? Did I win the coffee?

Arrgghhh I saw the "lug" answer after I posted. I'd rather have mine kissed by virgins I think.

[Mike T.]

OMG look at the welds on that baby! Ouch.

Questions Tom -

Can a fella get a Ti frame in a media blasted finish? This might make the frame look closer to fillet brazing.
Can Breezer style dropouts be used? I'll bet the answer is no.

[Bob Ross]

OMG look at the welds on that baby!

Yeah, I think I finally found the cure for my Moots lust.

[Tom Kellogg]

OMG look at the welds on that baby! Ouch.

Questions Tom -

Can a fella get a Ti frame in a media blasted finish? This might make the frame look closer to fillet brazing.
Can Breezer style dropouts be used? I'll bet the answer is no.

Mike: Bad news on both counts. We don't offer blasting. We tried it many years ago and were very unhappy with the way that the finish holds up. Brushed titanium is a dirt magnet and blasted titanium is three times as bad. We don't offer Breezer type drops either. Mechanically they are very good. Building frames with them is a "breeze." Living with them is less than ideal and they are quite a lot heavier than the ones I designed and started suing about fifteen years ago. Sorry, I can be a dick about some of this stuff.

Yeah, I think I finally found the cure for my Moots lust.

Yeah, Tim is amazing, especially for a pale white guy. Seven has one of the real masters. I don't get it though; I offered to send him a pound of scrapple as a gift and he declined. Where is the guy's taste?

[Blue Jays]

"...Yeah, Tim is amazing, especially for a pale white guy. Seven has one of the real masters.
I don't get it though; I offered to send him a pound of scrapple as a gift and he declined. Where is the guy's taste?..."

He apparently wishes to receive roasted coffee instead!

In all seriousness, my clearcoated Spectrum Super is very easy to keep clean with a soft rag dipped in warm soapy water.
My preference would be to send it back for a fresh clearcoat every couple of years in exchange for the day-to-day cleaning ease.

[A_B]

Sloping tt for a steel Spectrum?

[Tom Kellogg]

A:

Sure. We've been doing varying degrees of slope for our steel top tube for many years. That is one of the biggest reasons that we started making our own lugs. This bike only had five degrees of slope, but we've made a number of track frames with over ten degrees. I really don't consider this bike to be a compact. Another few degrees, it would have been though. We wanted this one to look "right." Not trying (too hard) to toot our own horn, but I think we got it.

For those who haven't seen the photo you referred to:

http://www.velocipedesalon.com/forum...no-95-es1b-jpg

[blue boy]

That steel frame has an engraved head tube badge; Is it TI or stainless?

[Mike T.]

Mike: Bad news on both counts. We don't offer blasting. We tried it many years ago and were very unhappy with the way that the finish holds up. Brushed titanium is a dirt magnet and blasted titanium is three times as bad. We don't offer Breezer type drops either. Mechanically they are very good. Building frames with them is a "breeze." Living with them is less than ideal and they are quite a lot heavier than the ones I designed and started suing about fifteen years ago. Sorry, I can be a dick about some of this stuff.

No probs. Just asking! I've endured a Seven brushed finish and non-Breezy dropouts on my Sola for over a decade. Did you ever see the pics of the Passoni "fillet brazed" smooth Ti welds? I have a couple if you never saw them.

[Tom Kellogg]

That steel frame has an engraved head tube badge; Is it TI or stainless?

Yesir. It's Titanium. Another thing that "Bob" asked for and that we are likely to offer going forward. Funny how the three new things that Bob asked for and I was initially resistant to, Jeff and I are really happy that we struggled through and we are adopting for future bikes. A little kick in the pants once in a while is a good thing.

[blue boy]

Well......you could take the internal gear cable routing option off of your ordering form, since Jeff says he won't be doing those anymore, and add these 3 new items. The internal gear cable routing option is pretty pointless these days anyway.

[Mike T.]

Josh: Seat tube inserts; we are continuing to use the ones that ABG uses. They work just fine and they allow us to use 31.6 seat posts. The Seven inserts sleeve down to 27.2. Nothing wrong with that really, but because of the 16% increase between the circumferences of the two sizes, the required clamp bolt tension is greatly reduced. Eventually, we hope to be able to get composite inserts for our post size, but that may be a ways off.

Tom, just how is Seven doing the seatpost insert area? Do you have a pikkie? My Sola has a carbon sleeve insert but it and the seatpost clamp make for a lot of bulk - ok for a mtb but it might be a bit clunky for a road bike.
On the Spectrum Seven, is there a Ti sleeve in the ST?

[Tom Kellogg]

Tom, just how is Seven doing the seatpost insert area? Do you have a pikkie? My Sola has a carbon sleeve insert but it and the seatpost clamp make for a lot of bulk - ok for a mtb but it might be a bit clunky for a road bike.
On the Spectrum Seven, is there a Ti sleeve in the ST?

Mike:

Seven's Carbon sleeve takes a 35mm seat tube down to a 27.2mm i.d. for that common size seat post. We switched over to 31.6 posts a number of years ago for a couple of reasons;

- With more compacts being made and longer posts, the 31.6 size made for a stiffer post, especially for larger riders.
- As hard as we tried to make a weld-on binder boss work with 27.2 diameter posts, it was always an iffy situation especially with carbon posts.
- The weld-on binders required a special welded in Ti sleeve in the seat tube and the whole setup was pretty heavy, expensive and very labor intensive to pull off.
- The bonded in aluminum sleeve that we use now grips like the nuts and weighs nothing. Seven bonds and presses them in once the frames are welded up.

Once the sleeve is in place, all you see (and you see in only without the post clamp in place) is a thin silver band at the top of the seat tube. The rest of the sleeve is down inside. Helps?

[Mike T.]

Helps?

Perfectly! Thanks Tom. I assume a clamp is used yes? Ok I re-read above and you said "the post clamp in place". How is the ID of the alum sleeve finished after insertion? Line bored? Honed? I'm glad you went 31.6 and not 27.2.

Do you have a pic of the Spectrum/Seven frame seat post area?

[Tom Kellogg]

Perfectly! Thanks Tom. I assume a clamp is used yes? Ok I re-read above and you said "the post clamp in place". How is the ID of the alum sleeve finished after insertion? Line bored? Honed? I'm glad you went 31.6 and not 27.2.

Do you have a pic of the Spectrum/Seven frame seat post area?

No pic, I'm lazy. Seven sends the frames down with the sleeve bonded in, but not reamed. We do that here. The sleeves can not be made to size since pressing and bonding them in causes deformation to some degree because of the welding in the seat cluster area. Our reaming creates a uniform ID. About three or four minute's work, slick.

[Mike T.]

No pic, I'm lazy.

Can ya take one!

[Too Tall]

No pic, I'm lazy. Seven sends the frames down with the sleeve bonded in, but not reamed. We do that here. The sleeves can not be made to size since pressing and bonding them in causes deformation to some degree because of the welding in the seat cluster area. Our reaming creates a uniform ID. About three or four minute's work, slick.

That's one he!!a wonderful way to deal with this Tom. Impressive as always.
I've got a bike problem.

[Tom Kellogg]

Can ya take one!

Alright, alright, alright! Already. It's a little hard to see the bonding material in there but that aluminum top "ring" is simply the lip of the sleeve which is about 9cm long. The bonding shcmutz lines the seat tube the full length of the sleeve. Oh, and that ugly thing sticking out of the seat tube? That is a shim we use to get the seat tube id down to 26.0 four our paint booth posts.

os7.jpg

[Mike T.]

Thanks Tom. I just hope we're going to see these frames when they are finished.

[blue boy]

Beautiful work, always beautiful work. Thankyou Tom and Jeff for what you do to make our cycling dreams come true.