Braze-on vs. Clamp-on

After the Tour de France proloug results I think David Miller would say that either one is better than none at all.

Just a little humor.

If you are having a frame built a braze on is nice but gives you limited options if you bend it in a fall although it would be a bad crash that would bend a clamp.

Quoted post said:

Originally posted by Wally
After the Tour de France proloug results I think David Miller would say that either one is better than none at all.

Just a little humor.

If you are having a frame built a braze on is nice but gives you limited options if you bend it in a fall although it would be a bad crash that would bend a clamp.

Braze-on for sure. On compact frames, a clamp-on would interfere with the water bottle cage and force the framebuilder to braze the water bottle bosses higher up. This is bad for the obvious reason that now the water bottle sits higher up on the seat tube and everytime the rider goes for a drink the water bottle hits the top tube when the rider pulls the bottle out of the water bottle cage. So, say no to clamp-ons.

To add another dimension to the question, doesn'y a braze-on limit the amount of up/down adjustability on the seat tube I can play with? Let's say for example I wanted to run a 36/46 crankset, wouldn't the derailleur have to come down a bit?

Thanks,
Mike(TinyLegs) Fontaine

Quoted post said:

Originally posted by velomane
To add another dimension to the question, doesn'y a braze-on limit the amount of up/down adjustability on the seat tube I can play with? Let's say for example I wanted to run a 36/46 crankset, wouldn't the derailleur have to come down a bit?

Thanks,
Mike(TinyLegs) Fontaine

A braze-on will not limit the up/down adjustability of the 36/46 crankset you want to run because there is an up/down slot in the braze-on that allows you to adjust the front derailleur higher or lower depending the size of your chainrings. Of course, you wouldn't be able to move the braze-on all the way up to the top of the seat tube/top tube junction like you could a clamp-on, but why would you want to do that anyway? Braze-ons will work for every single chainring configuration on the market today.

The issue concerning the bottle cages can be easily remedied with a 2.5mm spacer. As for the validity of a braze on, well if they were so great, why do nearly all of the current frame builders use clamps? hmmm, they know something we dont i guess, NO LIMIT ON CHAIN RING SIZES, plus if a clamp breaks, big woop, 12 bucks and your on the way, braze on hanger breaks...well depends on your bike....$$$$$

Treks braze on system sux, half of them are crooked,

Braze on adds manufacturing cost, especially for carbon fibre frames where a lot of internal stiffening has to be added whenever holes are formed on the tubes.

L.B.

Quoted post said:

Originally posted by BaCardi
A braze-on will not limit the up/down adjustability of the 36/46 crankset you want to run because there is an up/down slot Braze-ons will work for every single chainring configuration on the market today.

That is hooey.There is a limit to the adjustability and often it stops at about 48 teeth.

Quoted post said:

Originally posted by tjstoner
The issue concerning the bottle cages can be easily remedied with a 2.5mm spacer. As for the validity of a braze on, well if they were so great, why do nearly all of the current frame builders use clamps? hmmm, they know something we dont i guess, NO LIMIT ON CHAIN RING SIZES, plus if a clamp breaks, big woop, 12 bucks and your on the way, braze on hanger breaks...well depends on your bike....$$$$$

Treks braze on system sux, half of them are crooked,

Braze ons are harder to do with the new thinwall tubing and exotic materials. A plain tube using a clamp type is cheaper. The hamfisted gink frames using them tho.