In a message dated 4/24/2003 4:25:37 PM Eastern Daylight Time, FujiFish1@aol.com writes:
<< Is there such a thing as reducing the size of a frameset, while still keeping the characteristics that were intended by the master builder? does it really work if so? Is it so difficult to do that it might not be worth the cost? >>
It IS possible but the cost and resulting bike would be... strange.
First, you have to realize that all really good bikes change in angles and dimensions as they change size.. So everything is screwed up when you "shrink" a frame.
You have the problem of getting the frame apart... brass brazed, stamped maybe pinned lugs .. Whew! Some of the bits a pieces would not survive the heat & pulling apart process. Some bits will be warped and fudged up..
Then, all that stuff that is salvageable would have to be cleaned of flux and brass and soot .. Yukky work! Finally the tubes would have to be polished, mitered and reassembled.. My guess is that it would take roughly as long as building a complete new frame if not longer...
Then off to the paint shop..
Would this be worth it? Not in my value system. Even for a really fancy collectible, it would be hard to justify this agonizing procedure
Dale Brown
cycles de ORO, Inc.
1410 Mill Street
Greensboro, NC 27408
336-274-5959
fax 336-274-6360
http://www.cyclesdeoro.com
http://www.classicrendezvous.com