FRAME REPAIR

baldshaunieb · 15-05-2011 9:59am #1

I have a litespeed aluminium frame, its about five years old. last night while doing some much needed cleaning and general maintenance, i discovered a crack in the frame - above the bottom bracket right where the weld with the seat tube is. Is this easily repaired? Or is it junk now? If it can be repaired - anyone got any suggestions - I live in Kerry, so it would want to be somewhere in Munster, preferably Kerry, Cork or Limerick. I haven't gone to my lbs yet as its the weekend, but would appreciate any input from people on here. Before anyone asks, no I didn't crash it - just removed a load of muck from it last night and hey presto! Thanks in advance for any feedback.

GTDolanator · 15-05-2011 10:08am

how big a crack are we talking?by the sounds of it it can be repaired by someone who is good at welding alloy,if had 2 alloy frames welded before and both are still going

Lemag · 15-05-2011 11:42am

Stick up a pic.

cdaly_ · 15-05-2011 12:04pm

At a guess, I would guess your lbs would be unlikely to have the skills for this though they might know where to send you. Aluminium welding takes some special skills/equipment so it won't be every welder who can do it. Car engineering places are a likely bet but you'd want to point out how thin the metal is as they would be used to working with heavier parts...

Holyboy · 15-05-2011 12:24pm

Ill throw my two cents in but ill probably be ignored,aluminium needs to be tig welded,which is fine but after tig welding the aluminium ends up very soft,too soft to withstand riding imo,all good alu frames are heat treated after being welded in the factory,unless someone could do that here id bin it!alu frames only have a life of about five years anyway.

gman2k · 15-05-2011 3:07pm

Holyboy wrote: »

alu frames only have a life of about five years anyway.

So why do some suppliers give lifetime warranties then on aluminium frames?

Holyboy · 15-05-2011 3:14pm

gman2k wrote: »

So why do some suppliers give lifetime warranties then on aluminium frames?

Which companies?

kona · 15-05-2011 3:18pm

Kona offer 15 years which is their "Lifetime" warranty and this is on Al frames. Pretty sure trek do too along with specialized.

ALthough I do agree that Al frames wear out so to speak.

tomasrojo · 15-05-2011 4:39pm

Holyboy wrote: »

Which companies?

Raleigh used to. I tried to exercise the warranty on my Raleigh aluminium-framed hybrid which cracked exactly as the OP's did. The guy in Wolfe's used to be the guy who did the Raleigh assessments and told me not to bother, since I'd already changed the forks from the original (because the metal tore), so he reckoned Raleigh would just say I'd crashed the bike (which I hadn't).

Anyway, it seems that Raleigh did offer lifetime warranties on aluminium frames. Don't know whether they still do.

gman2k · 15-05-2011 5:11pm

Holyboy wrote: »

Which companies?

I've a Trek mtb bonded aluminium frame from mid 90s which came with a lifetime warranty

Piercemeear · 15-05-2011 10:10pm

I would imagine it's very likely that the "lifetime guarantee" is worth a lot more in sales than what it costs them in instances of people actually trying to avail of it.

baldshaunieb · 15-05-2011 10:44pm

I've just posted a pic, had some technical probs, finally loaded as a word doc. Any and all advice would be greatfully appreciated. Mind you, the debates on lifetime warranties aren't of much use to me! I bought it secondhand and have covered a good share of miles on it. As for the lifespan of aluminium frames, the bike i had before this was also aluminium and was 10 years old - it was stolen, otherwise I would most likely still be using it! Now let me know what you think of the severity of the crack, it seems to be right along the weld.

kona · 15-05-2011 11:07pm

baldshaunieb wrote: »

I've just posted a pic, had some technical probs, finally loaded as a word doc. Any and all advice would be greatfully appreciated. Mind you, the debates on lifetime warranties aren't of much use to me! I bought it secondhand and have covered a good share of miles on it. As for the lifespan of aluminium frames, the bike i had before this was also aluminium and was 10 years old - it was stolen, otherwise I would most likely still be using it! Now let me know what you think of the severity of the crack, it seems to be right along the weld.

I think all things considered , the frame is scrap unfortunatley. There is no way of knowing (within reasonable costs) if thats the only area the crack is in. Even welding there will distort the tubing and possibly any of 4 tubes. What you could do is attempt to drill a .5mm hole at the ends of the cracks to stop it spreading and try to bond in with some epoxy resin or some other bonding agent. But if you follow this path its not a guaranteed fix and isnt something Id attempt of anybodys bike other than my own.

baldshaunieb · 16-05-2011 9:01am

Thanks Kona - confirms what i was thinking myself - not sure i would ever be fully confident on it after a repair.

enoonan · 16-05-2011 9:01pm

Just came across this thread. One thing you could try is to braze the crack rather than weld it. When I was racing aluminum framed cars we used to braze alot of the joints rather than weld them as the braze will not crack as easy as a weld and thats a good thing on Irish roads. You need to get a good lad to do it though. Alu can be tricky to work with.
As a previous post said a 0.5mm hole should arrest the cracking. If the job is done right the frame should last you another few years!!

Eoin

FRAME REPAIR

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