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Hmmmm. Cracked frame?

(25 posts)
  • Started 13 years ago by Wilmington's Cow
  • Latest reply from kaputnik
  • This topic is not resolved

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  1. Wilmington's Cow
    Member

    Cleaning up the fixed wheel late last night I noticed this under the grime. It's not all the way round, but is quite a pronounced 'gouge'.

    Either the frame has cracked, or I've hit one pothole too many too hard and it has flexed the frame enough to crack the paint. Pah. Rode it in this morning and it felt fine, going to keep a regular check on it to make sure.

    don't know how much it would cost to sort, but part of me thinks it would be easier to get an old frame and port the parts across (including the forks, 1" steerer tube y'see) or look at something like a Pompino frame. But for the time being it's a watching brief.

    EDIT: should have said, it's on the non-drive side chainstay a couple of inches from the bottom bracket.

    Posted 13 years ago #

  2. steveo
    Member

    Steel? Sand it down and check under the paint, if its cracked a half decent blacksmith should be able to fix it. I'd bet Eastside bikes would know a man who could repair it.

    Aluminium.... You might get a fiver for scrap.

    Posted 13 years ago #

  3. Wilmington's Cow
    Member

    That's the one saving grace - it being steel. All comes down to the cost of sorting it really. I'd thought about taking a spin by East Side, but yeah, I'll sand it down first and have a gander.

    Posted 13 years ago #

  4. kaputnik
    Moderator

    ah, that's no good Anth. might sound daft, but if it was a crack and you take the back wheel off surely each stay will sound differently it you tap it with a spanner or something? I might be talking nonsense though...

    Posted 13 years ago #

  5. Min
    Member

    Nooooo! I should think it wouldn't be too costly to get it fixed?

    Posted 13 years ago #

  6. recombodna
    Member

    I could weld that and you might get a wee bit longer out of it. generally the best bet is to replace the tube. Dunno how much that would cost but probably the price of a decent second hand frame.

    Posted 13 years ago #

  7. Wilmington's Cow
    Member

    Have to admit the bike geek in me is thinking... 'new frame, mmmmm'

    I'm going to get the area stripped down and have a proper look - like you say, replacing the tube would be the best bet, and I know from experience on the Sunbeam that was just fixed by Mercian that it would be £150-200. A Pompino frame is £149.99..... A nice secondhand frame is possibly less (even less if the bottom drops out of the fixed market!).

    Posted 13 years ago #

  8. chdot
    Admin

    Looks pretty much like a crack.

    Optimum option is brazing (rather than welding - lower heat/better for thin tubes).

    I assume http://www.hendersonsmetalcleaning.co.uk still does simple frame repairs.

    They can powdercoat the whole frame as well if you have trouble (psychologically) colour matching the repaired area.

    Posted 13 years ago #

  9. Stepdoh
    Member

    Will you get the glow in the dark Pompino, that's not tacky in any way whatsoever.

    Posted 13 years ago #

  10. chdot
    Admin

    DIY repair.

    Wrap area with wire, cover with epoxy.

    Won't be as neat as a good bit of brazing, but quicker, cheaper and smaller area to repaint.

    Make sure V clean - pull wire through sheet of sandpaper too.

    Posted 13 years ago #

  11. recombodna
    Member

    I assume http://www.hendersonsmetalcleaning.co.uk still does simple frame repairs.

    Why yes they do and you're right brazing is much better for thin tubes. I have welded frames in the past but never a nice frame.....bso's only.

    Posted 13 years ago #

  12. Wilmington's Cow
    Member

    Looking horribly like a crack, and also looks like the stay might be riddled with rust.

    Been pondering, and if it is then the cost of a reasonable secondhand frame, and few finishing parts (with most other parts being ported across) is likely to be less than the frame repair at the moment. But I'd keep the frame for the day I can get it fully repaired and resprayed and so on - too nice to be killed off.

    Which then means I could have a commuting fixed gear that I can put full guards on for once (yeah yeah, just as we're getting ready for spring).

    Still pondering.

    Posted 13 years ago #

  13. RJ
    Member

    That's worryingly fast for rust to take hold, isn't it? I mean, the bike's not *that* old ...

    Posted 13 years ago #

  14. Wilmington's Cow
    Member

    3 and a half years. But open chainstays and all the grit and water and moosh that Edinburgh's roads could throw at it. Still needs further investigation (hence the further pondering).

    Posted 13 years ago #

  15. Arellcat
    Moderator

    My old Rockhopper went that way after ten years of all weather riding. The paint, bless, was really tough, baked on powdercoat, and I ended up spreading Nitromors all over the right-hand chainstay to see what was going on. Lo and behold, several holes appeared in the bare metal along with a huge crack that went nearly all the way around, about two inches behind the BB shell. I cut the frame up and turned it into a deep-toned windchime, and turned the 1 1/8" fork steerer into a 1" headset crown race setting tool.

    Its replacement, following a repaint, was given large injections of Waxoyl before any components were installed.

    Posted 13 years ago #

  16. RJ
    Member

    Ah. Stay design may be a factor, then (assuming similar all-weather commuting mileage, which I think is reasonable). My old beast is in its ninth winter of Edinburgh commuting, on top of at least another 10 of Hebridean coal-shed neglect.

    Still, I haven't dared scrape away the grime for months.

    Posted 13 years ago #

  17. kaputnik
    Moderator

    Which then means I could have a commuting fixed gear that I can put full guards

    Will help the replacement rust less slowly I suppose! Then there's always oh-so-fashionable colour coordinated guards. All the *ahem* cool kids have some.

    Posted 13 years ago #

  18. Wilmington's Cow
    Member

    They don't seem to make bikes like that anymore RJ :(

    By the way, got any decent coffee shops near your new office? Work situation means I've got a fair amount more spare time to ride to the outskirts than I used to...

    Kaputnik, the Peacemaker has matching bar tape, tyres, saddle , chainset, and even chain. I think my 'cool' status is already well recognised... I'm still hoping it's not actually as bad as I think, but at the same time a commuter that keeps my drier is appealing!

    Posted 13 years ago #

  19. kaputnik
    Moderator

    THERE IS NO GOOD COFFEE IN SOUTH GYLE. FACT.

    Posted 13 years ago #

  20. ruggtomcat
    Member

    Ahh the weekday rides of the unemployed :D

    The coffee in N Berwick is pretty good I hear.

    Posted 13 years ago #

  21. Stepdoh
    Member

    Well, there's Caffelatte which is awright or has it shut up shop? Otherwise I completely second Kaputnik (and things don't improve towards the airport. Although there's a pasty shop. Nom.

    Posted 13 years ago #

  22. Wilmington's Cow
    Member

    I read that as a 'nasty' shop first, and thought that couldn't be right, so read it as 'p*rn' shop next until I finally struck on exactly why you were saying 'nom'... Too early in the morning still, clearly.

    @ruggtomcat - spot on (although technically I'm working out notice, the 'flexibility' of the working day is being stretched...

    Posted 13 years ago #

  23. Stepdoh
    Member

    No, that's a pastie shop you're thinking of, ala Agent Provocateur. And no, there's not that much excitement out here. :/

    Posted 13 years ago #

  24. RJ
    Member

    @ anth; kaputnik

    A man in a van comes with coffee; no idea if it's any good.

    Technically we're in Edinburgh Park - a hideous wasteland of identikit offices and car parks and the best thing about it (to paraphrase Dr Johnson) is the road leading back into the city.

    Other than that, it's the Gyle Centre for coffee - an equally depressing experience, with the added bonus of a Hobson's choice coin-flip to decide whether to dice with 5 lanes of traffic crossing South Gyle Broadway directly, or take a 1km detour to use the "planned" crossings and subways.

    I'm trying to work a day a week remotely - Geo IV Bridge libraries are excellent. Frequently Thursdays (but not this week); and with a slight gap between school drop-off and library opening that can be well-filled with coffee ...

    Posted 13 years ago #

  25. kaputnik
    Moderator

    A man in a van comes with coffee;

    The one with the Dixie horn?

    Posted 13 years ago #

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