Ghetto Fab Springfield Brake Mounts.

[tecnic1]

I probably should have just posted this to the What Did You do to Your Bike Today thread, but I'm pretty excited and proud of this, and I don't start many threads, so fuck it.

I really like Springfield's and removable mounts because I like having brakes sometimes and not others, but the chainslap (chainstay mounts) has been more than I can tolerate.

Last week I got a round file and knocked a few mm off of the removable mounts, but that didn't quite get enough clearance.



So I found some 16mm by 10mm M6 stainless shoulder bolts on amazon for like $5 per pack of 5.



For some fucking reason, brake posts are 8.9mm by 16.5mm.  I'm guessing that works out to some common fraction, but whatever.  I still had these shoulder bolts that were too big in diameter and too long.

I thought about just drilling out the brake arm, but the oilite bushing isn't really very thick, so I chucked that shit up in my lathe and went to work with a file.



In retrospect, I should have hacked the finger manglers off of that tee bolt, but whatever.  I managed not to amputate a finger.



Its not done yet in this pic, but I got the half mm in length by filing down the head a little.



I also had to knock maybe a mm off the bottom brake arm to clear the wishbone,  but now everything clears, and I have plenty of chain clearance.



I might make some little adaptors to go between the chain stay and the brake, but right now I don't think it's necessary.  Really, I should just quit being a bitch and file the mount on the frame flat, but I'm not sure I'm that committed to this experiment.

This is not something for people who care a lot about brake feel, they are a little mushy.  However if you care about brake feel you most likely don't use Springfield's or removable mounts either.

[Sasha]

The pictures are maaaasive

[tecnic1]

The pictures are maaaasive

I was working on it.  I had to find an actual computer because imgur re-sizing was kicking my ass on my phone.  I wasn't sure I still owned one.

[master]

Badass! Nice thinking with the shoulder bolts.

[boneskid1]

So your frame already had removable mounts? Or did you hack them off?

[tecnic1]

So your frame already had removable mounts? Or did you hack them off?

they were/are removable

They are the s&m bolt through post type.

[G]

That's awesome, good job. I really wanted to do something like this and effectively change the brake mount "standard" when first designing the brake but it really wasn't practical given how small the market for brakes is anyway.

That's a creative way to mount them on the drill too, but really someone should give you a lathe.


G.

[hugh.]

really cool.

[tecnic1]

That's a creative way to mount them on the drill too, but really someone should give you a lathe.


G.

I've been thinking about trying to find one for awhile now, but I was holding out for a milling machine.  I've just recently learned that you can get milling attachments for lathes, so I might try and save up some cash and find one.

There are a couple different things I can think of that I want to try and would be pretty trivial to make on a lathe.

[slvtn]

Good job, man. Reminds me of the good old times when everybody modiefied the bike to get it work better.

[@ss4oLe]

They came up with a solution to chain rub years ago.

Mount the brake post on the seat stays....

[G]

That's a creative way to mount them on the drill too, but really someone should give you a lathe.


G.

I've been thinking about trying to find one for awhile now, but I was holding out for a milling machine.  I've just recently learned that you can get milling attachments for lathes, so I might try and save up some cash and find one.

There are a couple different things I can think of that I want to try and would be pretty trivial to make on a lathe.

A lathe is more useful than a milling machine in my opinion, but maybe I am just more geared up to thinking of making things that can be turned because I have had one so much longer than I have had a mill.
Cheap combo machines are pretty worthless, and decent ones cost more than the two machines separate. If you have more money than space then they are good.


G.

[Dr. Steve Brule]

Lathes are mega flexible, you can do a lot of things with one other than turning if you put your mind to it.

[tecnic1]

Our machine shop at college had a nice milling machine, but a pretty half ass lathe, so we spent a lot of time trying to not use the lathe.  I think that kinda tempered my perception.

The more I think about it, most of the stuff I would want to mill, I could most likely make work on a drill press.

And yeah, I wished my frame came with removable seat stay mounts.  Removable chain stay mounts seem kind of pointless to me, but maybe I don't understand the point of chain stay mounts correctly.

[Kurt Hohberger]

Nice! I liked the Springfield brakes but the spring kept breaking on me which was a bummer. I ended up rocking a rubber band between the arms and it actually worked pretty well. I recently got some Springhanger brakes from Flybikes that I'm really happy with though. They come with flush mount bolts which is why I thought of that.