Broken frame on steel racer - is welding an option?

mazza

As per title, I was cycling home when the frame on my poor bike broke!

Its a steel frame Townsend racer - totally unfancy, but suited me well for my daily three mile cycle into work.

The break is in the horizontal bar where the back wheel is mounted on, about 5cm from where the wheel would go. Broken bar seems to be solid rather than hollow at this point and had obviously been damaged earlier as slight rust mark on the inside of the metal.

My question: is there any point in even looking into getting the frame welded back together?

The bike suited my needs so well and the hassle of getting something new would be a pain, but would it just break again, even if only used for on-road commuting?

If so, does anyone know of a shop in Dublin (north pref) who would offer this service and ball-park how much it costs?

Many thanks for any help....

Maz

Itsfixed

I can't answer the question of whether there any are Irish bike shops or enigineering shops that could fix it, but I'd be very interested to know too if there are any, particularly since all my bikes are steel rather than aluminium and all of them i can imagine hanging onto for a good while so if a frame breaks, then i would first look to fixing them before discarding them. Steel is much, much easier to fix than aluminium.

Being a bit of a tree-hugger at heart, i also be heartened to know that this could be done here, because fixing something is better for the enivronment than throwing it away and buying another one etc etc.

Your only option if nowhere in Ireland may be to send the frame to an english specialist, of which there are quite a few, but for a cheap frame like yours the cost wouldn't be worth it, really.

If there are no answers forthcoming here, I would suggest ringing around a few shops to ask them. Most of them will probably say no, but you might be lucky.

I'm considering signing up for a framebuilding course in England next year, budgets permitting. This 5-day course allows you to build your own custom frame (must use steel tubing) so you could in theory pick up the skills required to repair them as well as make one.

BeardyGit

Mazza,

Joe Daly's brazed some canti-bosses onto a pair of forks for me, many years back. They did a neat and accurate job at the time. Don't know if it's still possible, but as they're more of an old school gang, it might be worth checking with them as they'll probably know someone who does frame work/brazing/repairs. Tell them you want a frame repair instead of just a replacement, explain why, and I think they'd help. They're good like that.

Gil

Capt'n Midnight

It depends on the bike and it's age.

If the frame is Reynolds 531 it's worth repairing.

If the components are good quailty and not worn it might be worth getting the frame replaced. Can you take the chain ring apart ? If it's made of pressed steel or it's riveted together then the bike may not be worth paying someone else to rebuild.

Townsend used to make a range of bikes many of which were cheap and cheerful, in which case it's beyond economic repair. The labour cost of getting a bike shop to strip the fame, remove the paint, braze, repaint and rebuild are more than you could pick up a second hand bike for. Most new bike shops won't touch this as it's a lot of time for very little profit compared to selling overprice accessories, and there is the whole liability thing if it cracks again.

Actually - rereading it - you say there is rust INSIDE the frame, so unless it's a very high quality frame - game over.

Stick a wanted ad on adverts.ie - someone might have one taking up space.
If you could mention the frame size might help ( even if just average or small or large)

Capt'n Midnight

http://www.buyandsell.ie/browse.php?quicksearch=bicycle&textopt=all&imageField_x=0&imageField_y=0&m=24&g=00329&s=24&

I'm doing up an old "mountain bike" at the moment - It's a Raleigh Lizard, second hand it's worth a hell of a lot less than €100 according to that B&S ad, so while I get parts together for the Lizard ( there IS a Deore chainset in the shed somewhere, or so I keep telling myself ) I bought another second hand bike in the meantime,

uberwolf

I'm really struggling to remember the name of the place that does this (did this) out in Meath/Kildare. I used to pass the place on training spins, and I think it was on the old N4, but I can't remember how far out, I don't think it was beyond Enfield, kind of by itself.

Well regarded place in it's day.

In saying that, if you're only using it casually, then you probably don't need a specialist to do it.