A winter project - 1985 Claud Butler Canyon

i believe in fixies":yunaeswg said:
Love it!

Love the way the rear mech bash guard is on downside up too :LOL:

Perfect to carry the newspaper/ pack of bacon back from the Spar on a Sunday morning.
 
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Really like that, I've been hankering after something along those lines for a while but they don't come up too often :roll:
 
thats some slack angles there
i bet that will ride really nice no handed

not much to do for the winter i'd say , polish and love it
 
Re:

Not sure whether the message just posted has been processed, can't see it being listed, so will try again...

Just thought that I would mention that the only negative comment that could be launched against this bike is the manner with which the steering tube is attached to the front forks.
The Canyon forks consist of a hollow top section component which is brazed onto the two front fork tubes, and the fork steering tube is soldered onto that hollow top section.
The trouble with this design is that the contact between the steering tube and top section is made only at two points and what seems to be the practice at CB is that brazing only took place between the base plate of the top section and the tip of the double butted end of the steering tube (the other end of the steering tube is threaded).

On modern steel frame front fork construction where joining of different components by brazing/soldering, the practice seems to be to utilise a top component that holds together the two fork tubes which is made as a one piece assembly that has incorporated a tube section with a tube dimension of approximately one and a half inches in length. This means that when the double butted end of the steering tube is slid inside this top component the soldered/brazed joint is bonded over the entire area between the inside one and a half inch length of the sleeve and the corresponding contacting area of the attached steering tube. This makes for an extremely strong and stable joint.

On the CB Canyon the top section component that is joined to the two fork legs is a hollow unit, so when the double butted section of the steering tube is slid inside this hollow top unit, contact with this unit and the steering tube can only be made between the top and bottom surface of the hollow component. It seems that the practice of CB was to solder only the lip of the steering tube with the bottom edge of this hollow unit. This makes for a potentially weak bond which has been known to fail.

However it is not a difficult task to resolder/braze a failed bond and with the addition of rectifying the previous dry joint at the upper/top section by flushing solder/braze around the top section as well as the underside the bond should not give any further trouble.

So....when experiencing a loose front steering bearing be beware of over tightening !!

As for the performance of this bike, well (apart from the weakness described above) it is a brilliant bike. It handles superbly. it has no vices, is comfortable over prolonged periods of riding over roads and rough terrain. It is reasonably light........ maybe not suitable for downhill suicide riding....but then the case here would be to choose horses for courses....would you not agree? I guess the CB Canyon it is a good example of how a good lightweight design steel framed bike can provide hours of pleasant riding experience. I wonder whether the same praise can be lavished on Aluminium or carbon framed units?....or is that comment being too contentious?
 
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