curtis verses nitromores

[trasher]

started to strip my frame and forks tonight and thought i would
put up some piccies of the lovely brazing on the joints ,,, a bit of good old english engineering 

pictures arnt that great but you get the idea







glen

[daz bmx it!]

Nice  how much you want for it

[trasher]

Nice  how much you want for it

pmsl ,i see you are one of the curtis experts on here dude ,,sorry mate this is the frame of my childhood
im going to love this like one of my own kids ,
by the way the serial no. is 532839 ,, does this make it a 1983 model
cheers
glen

[wirewheel]

nice job on the nitro, its a bitch if you aint patient, heres one i did earlier wtp phoenix new school tho oops1!

[jono]

Mmm check them welds out

[HEYWOOD BMX]

  V.Nice.Why do so few BMX manufacturers use brazing?

[jT Racing]

because it's fooking unusual to braze shit like that, more of a thing for welding copper. No idea why they did it, maybe they didn't have a tig welder at the factory. They are nicely done but look oversized and clumsy on a bike frame. A nice neat skilled tig weld looks better IMHO. Never known why they introduced a second metal to the frame, cro-mo tubing and a cro-mo rod is the best way, that's why everybody does it. Plus, i'm sure brazing will put far more heat into the tubing than a tig weld.

[daz bmx it!]

But is it not stronger?

[jT Racing]

But is it not stronger?

tubing tends to crack next to a weld or away from any welding so i can't see it making any difference.

[daz bmx it!]

I've had/have loads of Curtis's and never seen a crack near the welding on any of them,anywhere? also had 3 birmingham wheels frames which are joined the same and no probs there either,so gonna beg to differ bud

[jT Racing]

in general daz, in general. brazing doesn't make the tubing stronger, end of. welds tend not to break. whether curtis frames are strong or not, how the fook would i know, never had one never gonna buy one. it's a dying skill, maybe for a reason?

[daz bmx it!]

 

[davie1967]

fantastic brazing skill. true tradesman skillz there.
 however brazing isnt as strong as tig as it doesnt fuse the tubes together.

[sawzall]

brazing is a stronger-flexible weld than tig as it puts a lot less heat into the frame,most top british frame builders cycle- motor bike -etc use braze (nickle bronze)

[oberonspacefruit]

rickmans use brazing too.

[jT Racing]

this is funny. it makes fook all difference. one is time consuming, expensive and tricky. The other one is quick cheap and reliable. As an end user you wouldn't notice any difference(except the weight of all that bronze) but as a manufacturer, one will cost a great deal more to produce. It's over engineerd, very nice to look at and a true sign of craftmanship. A bit like the opposite of hutch.

[chichi]

Nice dude

bet you can't wait to finish her.......

[MartyC]

It's over engineerd, very nice to look at and a true sign of craftmanship. A bit like the opposite of hutch.

PMSL  Funny but true 

[BrianP]

Might be a daft question this, but were most of the old school frames that were brazed made from reynolds steel tubing as opposed to american made cromoly steel?
Any chance the fact that it was a different material (kinda) that influenced the brazing/welding methods used?

Bp.

ps, nice brazing on that curtis, looks just like my rickman did b4 it got powdered. 

[daz bmx it!]

Think your correct there Mr P also Mrd and Birmingham wheels

[sawzall]

and vincent's