does everyone else hack and grind off frame stuff?

I must be the wimp in the family. I hate to grind stuff off except if it's for a race bike. One it's gone, it's gone and that generally reduces the resale value of the bike.

Sometimes it has to be done, but as long as you recognize that generally, the average cafe racer after it has had a fortune spent on it, is worth less than a stock bike. There are exceptions of course.

Anyone can cut things off. What take a little more skill is making parts from different sources work together. For example, making that cafe seat work on the stock hinges, is useful and doesn't do any damage.

Over the years I have cut off brackets and have had to weld almost as many back on to resurrect a bike, so I try to do as little damage as possible. I have had several bikes that others modified and I invariably end up either have to fabricate those missing parts or scrap the thing and start again.

Don't be like Google, and really Do No Harm.
 
teazer said:
I must be the wimp in the family. I hate to grind stuff off except if it's for a race bike. One it's gone, it's gone and that generally reduces the resale value of the bike.

Sometimes it has to be done, but as long as you recognize that generally, the average cafe racer after it has had a fortune spent on it, is worth less than a stock bike. There are exceptions of course.

Anyone can cut things off. What take a little more skill is making parts from different sources work together. For example, making that cafe seat work on the stock hinges, is useful and doesn't do any damage.

Over the years I have cut off brackets and have had to weld almost as many back on to resurrect a bike, so I try to do as little damage as possible. I have had several bikes that others modified and I invariably end up either have to fabricate those missing parts or scrap the thing and start again.

Don't be like Google, and really Do No Harm.
Click to expand...


I think you're kinda veering off into the "don't cut up that original vintage bike" argument here Teazer (which I agree with wholeheartedly BTW).


If your looking at putting a custom cafe seat on a bike the original seat hinges sometimes just don't work, and it's far easier to cut them off and find another way to mount it.
 
Yeah Hillsy,
You're probably right. I must be getting old or something. :)

I see so many bikes now getting scooped up and hacked about and so many times they either are not finished and end up as piles of bits or they are non functional. Of course there are some great bikes and many people learning new skills, but it's as if there's a lemming like need to follow the flock over the cliff instead of thinking things through.

For example side mounted plates are already illegal in some states, but that doesn't stop people doing it because they didn't stop to check. And the inevitable rear lop that is likely to make contact with a rear tire at an inappropriate moment or fat front tires that make a bike handle like a pregnant camel.

That's not to suggest that I haven't made many similar mistakes or errors of judgement over the years, but I'd like it if more people stopped to think for a little longer about what they were trying to achieve. That may not apply to this thread, I have no idea - it's a general observation not intended to sleight this guy's thread.

I'm very impulsive but I learned to take the time to think things through and to "photoshop" ideas and do the research before I spend my "allowance". In the final analysis part of it is that I was brought up in a country with different values and I tend to forget that in the US, the idea of Doing something is valued, where thinking things through is not so much.

Here there's a pressure to get to the Action stage of a project quickly and to work out the direction as you go along. It's the same in the business world where there's pressure to DO and to get past the PLANNING stage as fast as possible. It drives foreign born managers nuts when they work in the US and it drives US born managers nuts when they manage project teams in other countries.

And as for seat hinges, I agree, sometimes they just have to be removed.
 
Teazer, that was very well said. I'm glad you posted that particular comment up. Very well thought out, and sums up my feelings exactly. I think it's the lack of planning and failed execution that bothers me the most. God knows I've had to deal with POs F&ck ups all too often.

In fact the poor 400f frame I'm working on now has had the side stand not so gracefully removed. Makes things completely a pain in the ass for the ones who finish.

I don't mean to come across as an ass, I'm just glad you put that the way you did. It was appreciated from my way.
 
teazer said:
In the final analysis part of it is that I was brought up in a country with different values and I tend to forget that in the US, the idea of Doing something is valued, where thinking things through is not so much.

Here there's a pressure to get to the Action stage of a project quickly and to work out the direction as you go along. It's the same in the business world where there's pressure to DO and to get past the PLANNING stage as fast as possible. It drives foreign born managers nuts when they work in the US and it drives US born managers nuts when they manage project teams in other countries.

And as for seat hinges, I agree, sometimes they just have to be removed.
Click to expand...

Thats a rather broad statement. A persons enthusiasm for building a cafe bike may lead them to make some mistakes. I just don't think you can compare that to the business world. But what do I know I'm probably just "Doing" and not thinking about it.
 
Was in Lowes this morning and they had a two-pack of Bosch 4 1/2 in grinder/cutters for $89. Might not be at all Lowes. Not bad at just $44.50 each for Bosch i guess.
 
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