Tuesday, March 20, 2012

Breakaway back from powder


I think this thing came out really nicely (with the exception of a boo-boo I inadvertently caused on the seat tube, then had to sleeve...doh - Dave is getting some serious free stuff thanks to *that* little blunder...)

-It's shockingly light. The coupling system probably only adds 80g or something - it's really a lot lighter than the S&S coupler system. Easier to put together, too, since you don't need a special coupler wrench.

-The parts are much, much cheaper. I charge $250 for the breakaway setup, as opposed to $500 for the S&S. That's a nice chunk of change.

-I am not a huge fan of the upper sleeve/lug parts, but those are easy to just make here, and the lower coupler has to be modified to be used with a 29er frame, c'est la vie.



Here's a closeup shot of the seat cluster with the coupler. Came out looking pretty decent, I think - unless you are specifically looking for it, you'd never know the downtube is 38mm below the coupler and 35mm above.

Yes, that's my favorite Paula Pezzo saddle from back in the day. Ew. Now it (and the grimy seatpost) are used exclusively to be clamped into the workstand when I'm prepping or assembling frames.

2 comments:

Brad said...

What's under the clamp? It looks like a v-band type clamp, but I didn't see the usual parts I'd expect in the earlier photos.

Invisible Hand said...

That is pretty cool. Although you might want to be careful calling it a Breakaway since Ritchey calls his packable frame a Breakaway and it might be copyrighted.