Best Laid Plans - Clubman Edition

I got out the frame I was planning on using to build my 3-speed Clubman, the other day, and started getting it ready to go the powder coater. One of the seat stays had a small bend in it, so I straightened it out, first.

Then, I went to remove the seatpost and...well you can probably see what's coming. The seatpost is solidly frozen in the frame. I even clamped the head of the post in my vise, and used the frame for leverage to try and break it loose. No go.

Now, this is not a particularly fine frame. I don't even know who made it. It's simply an older, European lugged frame in my size. Probably a Motobecane, but I haven't even pulled the bottom bracket to see if it's English or French, I am just basing the guess on the lugs and dropouts. It simply isn't worth the effort to cut the seatpost out of it.

So, now, I don't have a frame suitable for that project. I have some Japanese frames, but I want to base this bike on Bristish or Euro steel.

I guess it goes on the back burner, allowing the new cyclocross bike to take center stage (in conjunction with building a nice fixed gear out of my old crosser, the LeMond).

Plus, I need to finish assembling the Trek STP so I can start "training" for Moab.

In the meantime, I'll just keep an eye out for a frame to build the Clubman on.

Projects.

It's funny how a planned build can run into so many snags and delays, yet a build like the Scorcher will just fall together effortlessly. Maybe that's why I love the junkyard dogs, so much.

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