Alignment

A few weeks back a pal sent some pics of Ernst Czuka of Singer aligning a frame on his table by using a long bar as leverage. His measurement device showed he needed to move that frame an inch. I privately wondered if that would be the results of a rookie. Well the results are in........But first I should explain how we brazed the front triangle. After all the tubes were mitered I tacked the front triangle in six places while the frame was in the layout fixture, but leaving the down tube untacked from the BB. I then put the frame on the alignment table and aligned it. I was off less than the thickness of a penny. I then placed two silver spots on the lower head lug and aligned the frame again. Almost perfect. I brazed that joint and check alignment again. It was almost perfect. I then spotted the upper head lug in two places, and aligned the frame. it was almost perfect. Next came the seatlug then the BB. I probably checked the alignment 12-15 times in my brazing sequence. Everytime it was almost perfect. The frame is in perfect alignment, or as least as close as I can measure. Next time your reading some quarterly news letter about the superiority of old french bikes and how great their builders are please take it with a grain of salt. JG