Davidson Bicycle

I broke the cable stop off the top tube of my bike by carelessly clamping it into my work stand. Now I must take the bike back to Bill Davidson to have it welded back on.

davidsonWeld
Davidson weld

Welding titanium is not a simple process. Because titanium oxidizes in the liquid state, the weld needs to be performed in an oxygen free environment.  After stripping and cleaning the frame, the tubing is filled with argon gas, and the weld is done in the presence of a steady stream of argon in the region of the weld. A poor weld would easily fracture.  A good weld exhibits evenly spaced crescent shaped bands where the filler rod was dipped into the titanium puddle.

Davidson bicycles, not to be confused with Harley Davidson motorcycles are hand built by a small team working with Bill Davidson in the Fremont District in Seattle.  I purchased my ti frame in 2001 to replace an older steel frame that Davidson built for me in 1986.  The old frame had developed rust pinholes from too many hours of riding in the rain.  One of the many properties of titanium is that it’s impervious to rust.  It’s also much less dense than steel, providing a similar stiffness with less weight.  The elongation and tensile strength of ti make it a highly durable and reliable frame that can be expected to last a lifetime.

My frame has over 20,000 miles, accumulated on three trans-continental trips, (9,000 miles) three up and down trips (4,500 miles), and the miles needed to train for those trips.  The bike used to have a computer/odometer.  Last time I looked at the odometer, it read 13,000 miles.  When the battery wore out, I took the computer off the bike and never replaced it.  That was several years and several thousand miles ago.  Also, that was the second computer on the bike.  I don’t know how many thousand miles I rode on the first one.

In the years since I purchased my bike, titanium has lost appeal as a material for high end bike frames. Carbon fiber frames are much lighter and currently much more popular. They’re also more expensive.

My first Chro-moly Davidson cost $2,000.  I earned the money to buy the frame by delivering Dominos pizzas, and used the bike for my first cross-country bike ride in 1986.  In 2001, I hesitated paying over $4,000 for a new titanium bike, thinking that at age 51, my cycling days were mostly behind me.  Little did I know they were barely beginning.

 

Published by

Karl

Born in Harrisburg, PA. Undergrad at Drexel University. Learned to ride a bike when six years old, riding ever since. Started cooking when I was in college, stopped when I got married, started again in 2006 when my wife was out of town for a few months. Jobs: worked at post office while in college to earn money to buy a stereo. After grad school, worked at a small software company in Redmond, WA for twelve years. Afterwards, went back to school to get a certificate, then started teaching high school. Still doing that off and on, part time as the need arises.

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