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British Cycling Commissaire cancelled the races due to "safety concerns" after the event had started.

I'd like to know the full story, I heard that a cyclist unconnected to the event hit a bollard and needed medical attention. They may have been drinking.

Very disappointing for everyone involved. I hope that this isn't the last time someone tries to put on a race event in Finsbury Park, it should be a good venue.

The no race license thing was a bit of a farce. The women's winner has placed Top 10 in the cyclocross nationals and competed at UCI Elite level. We shouted "Ringer!!!" a few times, for form's sake.

However putting that to one side, people looked like they were having a good time, pretty sure I ruined someone's remount with a well-timed bellow of DAS.

All in all it was a grand day out.

Bit of a late one, but I DAS'd a guy near Westferry Circus after the Tour Series Crits on Thursday night. He duly obliged. Hello!

Not as decadent as the double rib-eye Shooter's Sandwich I was eating at the same time.

Once consumed I remounted my velocipede and continued towards the family estate on the outskirts of Aldeburgh.

Took a little Aeropress coffee maker last year.

Was lovely, sitting in the dawn light halfway up the hill in Coddenham, sipping a decent brew and watching people quietly wind their way towards the coast.

There's lots of ways to ride the Dun Run, but however you do it I think trying to soak in as much of the atmosphere as possible is part of the experience.

Yes and Yes Nick-Nack. I saw his card with my own eyes. The little guy must've been pedalling all day. Seemed to be keeping up a steady pace, so I guess it's perfectly possible.

Green Helmet & T-Shirt, on a red Islabike? His dad said he was six.

He rolled into Wooton just after we finished to get his final stamp. I bought him the Randonnee enamel badge as a momento. What a champ he was.

Glad to hear everyone else had a good day out too. The views between Brook and Freshwater were incredible, but there were so many highlights it's hard to remember them all.

For those asking about the guy who had the accident, apparently there was a lot of blood, but he wasn't too bad, all things considered. We bumped into a doctor and policewoman who were doing the ride at a checkpoint, and it had happened just in front of them.

Apparently he failed to control his speed on a descent, went through the rear window of a car, lacerated his face quite badly, and snapped his frame in two. They said he was saying "I'm fine to carry on" and they were all like, "Mate. No." So you suspect there may have been a bit of concussion and shock going on there too!

I guess if you're going to stack it, doing it in front of a doctor and a copper isn't such a bad thing.

It was an absolutely cracking ride this year, even had a tailwind on the stretch into East Cowes.

After the ride I happened across middleofnowhere in the beer garden of the pub we were staying in. Is riding as a pirate complete with cutlass pretty much standard?

I've heard the Thompson posts can be prone to slipping too, although I've never used one myself.

When I had a slipping alloy post in a steel frame I used carbon assembly paste, that seems to improve the situation.

Indeed it will. Looking substantially more pleasant than last year.

I rode the 160km Liege-Bastogne-Liege Challenge on Saturday. It was brilliant.

One day I hope to try the full distance version, but I don't have the lungs or the legs for that yet.

With the Speed Metal jersey... if so, hello. I loved the jersey... will be checking out their site later.

Anyhooo, I finished in about 3.5 hours, the only hill that beat me was the middle bit of Canonbie... stood up to push it and cramped, had to jump off. Walked for a bit, then got back on to finish it (got to make an effort for the photographers :o)

I turned up alone, my mate bailed (I wish I had messaged here about it, I hate the thought that a place went unused) but I hooked up with Carl and his pals... riding at a good pace for me and good conversation all round. If you're here, cheers!

Unless there are two people with the Speed Metal Cycling Jersey then that was probably me. Black Surly Cross Check with a Carradice bag.

I had a brilliant day out, loved the route, the weather, the atmosphere and the pub. The missus was out with me, and used it as a build up for the IoW randonnee in a couple of weeks.

Can I politely suggest we return this thread to the topic of Ed's Smashing Bicycle?

Thank you.

ah right, the Pashley actually had braze ons specifically designed to bolt the arms too.

When I think p-clips, those horrible rack-mounting ones come to mind. I assume there are much nicer ones out there?

Intriguing. I presume the hub brakes have a reaction/torsion arm - how will they be attached to the frame?

For a little while I had a Pashley Roadster, and I thought the Sturmey hub brakes were great. They were really strong, easy to modulate, no brake dust and excellent in the wet, as it's all enclosed. Do you need long pull levers for them, or are you going for a flat-bar build?

I can give some general pointers on the differences.

Silver needs a lower melting point, and has lower viscosity. As a result you're less likely to overheat the tubes and affect their material properties, and the silver will penetrate the joint more readily. This is important in situations where you may have only narrow gaps for the braze to flow by capillary action, for example a very close lug/tube tolerance. It's also used for stainless steel.

Brass needs a higher temperature to melt, and is somewhat more viscous. This controllability of flow is desirable for situations like fillet brazing, where you want to actually build up a quantity of braze. However, some steel alloys don't play nice at brass temps. It's also substantially cheaper than silver.

Used correctly, both materials should create joints stronger than the tubes themselves. When people learn the joints are destruction tested. A good joint won't fail at the join, the tube should buckle some distance away.

Lovely looking thing. Particularly like the fork crown.

Yep, got my t-shirt on.

You should have put on Horror Clown fancy dress before taking that shot. Just because.

WightLink ferries are doing a special advanced rate for the Randonee. £55 return for a car with up to 6 occupants, valid 3-7 May.

http://www.wightlink.co.uk/isle-of-wight-guide-and-events/events/april-june/isle-of-wight-randonnee-2013

Definitely going to keep an eye on this. How do you find fillet brazing with silver? I know that the silver used on lugged frames is specified to flow into tiny gaps. Are you using an unusual type of rod?

Bit of a photo essay for you. This isn't so much a project, more a technique I'm planning to use in one.

Last week I did the Fillet Brazing masterclass down at the Bicycle Academy in Frome. I've done a bit of brazing before, but never fillet work, so really I'm a novice.

I thought it might be interesting for people thinking of building their own frame. I'm a great believer in professional education, especially when dealing with techniques that are used in safety-critical applications.

We started with basic safety and some theory, then got down to the practical business of laying down braze. The aim initially is to get nice and consistent with the braze. You can see here that I'm a bit blobby and wobbly in places, but over time I get to the point where I can lay down a row of "stacked coins" which is what I'm aiming for.

First Practice

This is a close up of the look I'm after

Stacked Coins

Then it was onto joining two pieces, learning to tack pieces in place, then how to bias the position of the flame to help the fillet adhere evenly to both pieces.

First Joint

Once that was done, I moved onto the kind of joints you make at the head tube on a frame, so the geometry is more complex, with deeper valleys and flat sections to contend with. This is plain-gauge 2mm steel, as it's a bit more forgiving of potential overheating.

Mitred Joints

After getting these mitred joints done, we stepped up the difficulty with thinner steel (1.4mm) and overlapping brazes, such as you'd find on a bottom bracket. What you want is for the brazes to integrate into each other. You can see how they blend together right in the centre of the shot.

We also did a bit of root brazing, which is where you run a very narrow braze right around the joint before you lay the fillet. That's a belt & braces approach that boosts the strength, although a standard fillet is very strong in the first place.

Overlaps

After the creation, time for some destruction. We cut open the 1.4mm practice piece to assess the braze integrity. You can see there are no voids at the joints, so these are nice and strong.

Opened Up

Now for some pretty tricky stuff; narrow tubes with 1mm walls. The low mass makes them prone to overheating, which damages the strength and integrity of the steel. I did a narrow join, and a fillet. The fillet uses loads of rod, as it's a deep vee you're filling. You feel like you're pouring it in.

Narrow

Fill

The last piece of work was joining the sort of tubing used in Moulton frames. That's a bit like joining drinking straws with acute bends, but that went fine. No pictures, unfortunately.

We'd been using gas fluxing, which minimises deposits and clean up. At the end of the course I had a play with laying fillet using paste fluxes. Feels quite different, but not too bad once you get the knack.

I brought the pieces home, and did a rough file and smoothing of one of them to see how they look if you want that smooth transition from tube to tube. Here's a joint after about 15 mins of filing and sanding.

Smoothed

So over the space of a day I went from never having laid a fillet, to being capable of producing decent joints across a range of tube types. Next step is to transfer these skills over to a frame.

If you're thinking of building a frame it's the sort of course I'd recommend without hesitation. I had a great time, and walked away with an entirely new set of skills.

If you have any questions, fire away.

I'll take some photos later so you can see!

I was taught by Andrew, who runs the Academy. He was taught by Brian, and brazes at an incredibly high standard too. I saw some of Brian's finished work up close and it was fabulous.

While I was down there Brian was teaching Sam, who's an apprentice they've taken on. They were remaking the frame for a kid's bike, and Sam absolutely nailed it.

http://instagram.com/thebicycleacademy

Kid's bike http://instagram.com/p/W4PTGjtwbl/

Close up of Sam's brazing. There's no filing at all here http://instagram.com/p/W4a51OtwXM/

The reason there's no flux is that they use gas fluxers, which incorporate the flux directly into the Acetylene, in effect you get a gas shroud of flux around the braze. We did have a play with paste flux at the end of the day, though.

I've just done a one day fillet brazing masterclass at the Bicycle Academy down in Frome, which was excellent.

I'm planning on doing a bit of a show and tell. Do you reckon in here, or as a new thread?

Me too, definitely interested.