The fillet-brazed lug

A custom Perschini road frame built by David Ybarrola was recently passed in on ebay. Lovely clean shorelines on the lugwork. With the addition of a brass "fillet" filling the elbow of the lug.

Now that’s a smooth transition

Nice enough to present at the NAHBS. Why there aren’t many bidders for modern, custom bicycles could be a reflection of their relatively low profile (when compared to more recognizable marques) or the upright geometry of this particular frame. It certainly isn’t because of their build quality.

Fillet brazed lugs have apparently been around for a while. This 1958 refurbished De Rosa sold on ebay (for USD $8,000 if my memory serves me) a couple of years back.

De Rosa with fillet-brazed Cinelli lug-set

An excellent example of a build using fillet-brazed lugs is currently on velospace:

http://velospace.org/forums/discussion/2383/complete-build-thread-for-my-bishop-bikes-track-bike----new-zipp-wheels/

This particular example built by Chris Bishop of Bishop Bikes.

Unnecessary? Yes.

Quality craftsmanship? Yes.

Decadence or refinement? Well, that depends on your perspective.