Where to buy frame lugs

Stops Guides. Attachment Points. Seat Stay Tips. Belt Drive Couplers. Light Brackets. Barrel Adjusters. Housing Clips. BB Cable Guides.

Dummy Headsets. Seatpost Binder Bolts. Steerer Tube Plugs. Dropout Adj. The other major stress that McCulloch worries about is heat and distortion. Brazing can be done with a brass-based filler to bond the tubes to the lug, however most craftsmen builders use a silver-based filler. The skill of the builder is using the torch to heat the joint to allow that flow of silver to go from one end of the lug to the other and fill the whole joint. You get nowhere near the temperatures used for welding, which actually melts the steel, and that can degrade its grain structure.

Modern steel is much better at handling welding, granted, but silver-brazing is still the most gentle way because you avoid those really high temperatures. The earliest frame lugs were derived from pipefittings, and so, for many years, the sockets were simply squared-off and lacked any kind of decoration. In time, small flourishes started to appear as framebuilders endeavoured to distinguish themselves and prove their skill. While some framebuilders, like Hetchins, created highly ornate lugs, most were content with small flourishes, such as letters and emblems.

The stamped and sand cast lugs that predominated at the time required hours of preparation before they could be used to build a frame, so there was always a limit on the amount of time, and motivation, that was available for decorating lugs. They were rough. They had to be sort of churned out to make a living. These lugs generally required less manipulation and preparation before they were ready for brazing, so while they were more expensive, they offered an immediate increase in productivity.

The Italians were drumming their framebuilding down to the cheapest common denominator … they were in a situation where they wanted to reduce the labour and make more profit. Nothing wrong with that. The Americans were differentiating themselves by thinning things out.

Where once lugged frames were ubiquitous, they were becoming outdated and devotees like McCulloch had to adapt to a changing market by lifting their level of craftsmanship to a new, higher, level. Then Kirk Pacenti brought out his stainless steel artisan lugs, which had a lot more canvas shape to them … you could use them how they were, but they were quite big, so there was some room for elaboration.

By polishing the lugs, I was able to do an upmarket version of what used to be done traditionally with chrome-plating. At the same time, McCulloch started experimenting with new motifs to decorate his lugs. There were flowers in there, too, and a vine growing around the heavens and the earth and lightning bolts and all sorts of things, inspired by John and Richard Murphy, the creators of Columbine frames.

As I did my own lug designs and castings I sort of elaborated on that design. It has a slight asymmetrical shape to it, which is interesting to my mind rather than just being pure symmetrical. McCulloch created the first Llewellyn lugs in , starting with a set of stem lugs, followed by a set of frame lugs dubbed Crescendo to suit XL tubing and a sloping top tube. For a craft that was obviously in decline, it seemed like a foolhardy endeavour, however he was frustrated with the shortcomings of what the market had to offer.

Some of them only suited the old standard tubing diameters, too, whereas I only use OS and XL, which was developed 13 years ago. Since then, McCulloch has added more sets of lugs to his catalogue, always with a view to serving his needs, first and foremost.

It was an old style of lug made for those plugs that you put on the top of the seat stay, and I detest them. I had to modify the lug by adding more material, and I thought, this has got to stop, so that was part of the inspiration for my Custodian lugs in Designing lugs also allowed McCulloch to attend to the fine details to ensure that each one is easy to work with, both before and after the frame is built.

My seat lugs use an M6 cap head bolt rather than the old style Campagnolo seat pin bolt, because an M6 bolt has twice the strength and you can buy it at any local shop, virtually. You get less ovalisation, which makes it better for the reamer. It is one of those little things I do that adds up. From the outset, every lug was designed using CAD, in part because it was more powerful than pencil on paper, but also because McCulloch wanted to limit the risk that any of the important details might be lost in translation.

I first did that in That allows you to hold it in your hand, and it helps you aesthetically. You can scribble on it, and occasionally, you can see problems … then, you email the file and a new plastic piece comes back a couple of days later. Then you email the file across the other side of the world and the samples come back, cast. Or, she could be riding it, too.

The frames are made that well, and as far as rust goes, these days it's a cinch to absolutely prevent rust forever, period. Item added to your cart. Check out Continue shopping.

Lugs Lugs strengthen the frame at the joints Lugs allow brazing, which we believe is the kindest, gentlest way to join tubes, and certainly the one which allows the easiest tube replacements. LT Top Head Lug. F40 Seat Lug. Top 3 6 x Bottom 3 6 x FC Seat Clamp FT T op L ug FS S eat L ug FS28 6 L S eat lug Centre Lug. LSB for LSB for 30mm.

S- LSB Stainless version for 30mm. Accept M6 Screw. S eat tube. Seat Tube. Boss 42mm wide. Seat Clamp. S-LS0 14 Diameter 33mm. Stainless Steel. M achined Sleeves f or