My policy is that I only do work on my own brand. This may sound snobby but one just never knows what is going on inside a frame when you haven’t built it with your own two hands. But rules are meant to be broken as they say. Recently I had a guy call me and ask if I could replace the broken dropout on his older Serotta. He called Serotta and was told they no longer had anyone there that could do the work.
So against my own self imposed rules I took the job. Chances are pretty good I built the bike in the first place and I certainly know what I will find when I dig into the frame.
It arrived the other day and the timing couldn’t have been better in that I was just about to start the next bike and I could squeeze the repair in without interrupting the flow at all.
I took a series of photos so folks could get a rough idea of how this kind of thing is done. It’s very simple really but can be fussy.
The first thing to do is to cut the dropout into two pieces so that when you heat each section you can slide each piece out. It will not come out as a single piece.
Next you need to clean off as much of the paint as you can and cover the whole mess with flux and then gently heat each section and slide out the dead pieces.
Once the old dropout is out you need to soak the flux off and clean up the stays and get them ready, inside and out, for the new dropout.
Next you need to dry fit the new dropout and check the alignment to be sure you don’t braze the new one in only to find it’s way out of whack.
Once the fit is confirmed you need to clean up everything very well, flux it all up and fit the dropout in place. I use special tools to hold it all it place so things don’t move while brazing.
With the brazing done the next thing is to soak the flux off in very hot water. With the flux removed it becomes very much like building a new bike and not a repair. You check the alignment and get that all squared away and then do the shaping and finish work.
In the end it is literally as good as new – just as it was in the mid 90′s when this custom 64 cm bike left the Serotta factory in Glens Falls, New York. it’s a good feeling knowing that this cool old bike will go back into full time service soon.
That’s all I got. Thanks for looking.
Dave
