Look at these pics - can this be fixed?

Jon Cope

http://bustedklein.blogspot.com/

Hi - this morning I discovered the reason for my wobbly back wheel - one of my chainstays has snapped! Does anyone know why/how this might have happended? I pretty much only ever cycle on-road - occasionally do a little bunny hop onto a kerb (and I weigh close to 14 stone....). It's a 1999 Klein Attitude Comp, well used but not particularly aboused. Because of where the snap is (i.e. around the hole where you screw in the removable drop out) I am not sure it is salvagable. Could this have been caused by overtightening the quick release back wheel?

Kiwi Kranker

If you can look at the break under a microscope or magnifying 'glass' the pattern on the broken edge will tell part of the story.....urgghh Ill stop there....

From your pictures it looks more like a case of it breaking at the weakest point, probably from fatigue, it actually looks like a really poor design. It seems unlikely that the quick release would be the cause of this unless the distance between dropouts was such that everytime you dropped your wheel in you physically pulled the rear drop outs closer together.

The cost of fixing that and machining it back to a state that would hold the hanger would probably be cost prohibitive and there would be no guarantee it would last.

Time to pick up a new frame!

Jon Cope

Cheers - yes, it looks like a crap design - such a small amount of metal in such a crucial area! Still, it lasted 10 years so perhaps not a total disaster - still bloody irritating though!

NigelSWales

looking at those pics it's beyond a reasonable repair, the cost of attempting to repair it would be far to great to, hunt for a new frame m8

M6TTF

is it aluminium or steel? - I reckon a reputable frame builder would be able to sort it.

Jon Cope

It's aluminium! I have another bike on order, coincidentally - though it's a road bike....

dave_hill

M6TTF wrote:

is it aluminium or steel? - I reckon a reputable frame builder would be able to sort it.

Kleins are aluminium. As such, the frame is dead.

Aluminium needs to be heat treated after welding to stress releive it, otherwise you store up a whole bunch more problems. This is an expensive process and for what it's worth you might as well skip it and get a new one. In any case, there's no chance of repairing that easily anyway.

The fixing hole was always going to be a weak point. Aluminium also work-hardens with age. That is to say, the more you bend/hit/twist/compress/abuse it, the harder and more friable it becomes.

supersonic

It's dead.

Dave SS

my 1999 attitude snapped in exactly the same place, it had mainly been used on-road as well. Luckily for me it was before Klein vanished off the face of the earth and they replaced it with a 2004 Attitude Comp frame free of charge.
I wonder if Trek are honouring the Klein lifetime frame warranty?

worth a phone call if you haven't already binned it :idea:

26 to Life

Klein frames were built right up against the limit of how light you could make a frame without sacrificing strength too much. They were designed as high end race/serious riding machines, and as such I think it's fair to expect them to be replaced every couple of years. This is not a rare aproach (cough, Cannondale Scalpel).

I feel it is also worth mentioning that ANY aluminium component at ANY load will fail, given enough load cycles.

While I feel your pain for the loss of your Klein (I had a Pulse, one of the best hardtails I ever had) I think getting ten years service out of it is a pretty good return on investment. Get a nice big picture frame, clean the Klein up, put it on your wall. You owned a real classic, now you get to ride something bang up to date.

Daz555

Unlucky about the break. Looks to be a terrible design however.

canada16

If its got a lifetime warranty phone the company who bought klien.

They will have to replace, and you might get a brand new bike

Worth a gander.. I would do it

alomac

What would a typical/reasonable fatigue life be for an alu frame? Say, for example, something that was trail ridden (so, not coddled, but not abused either) a couple of times a week.

bomberesque

Pretty sure this is what happened to a mate's klein a little while back. I'll ask him

if I'm right then there is a fix for this. It requires a decent frame builder and it isn't a pretty fix but it is doable afaik. Post these pictures to www.retrobike.co.uk and someone will point you in the right direction.

26 to Life

alomac wrote:

What would a typical/reasonable fatigue life be for an alu frame? Say, for example, something that was trail ridden (so, not coddled, but not abused either) a couple of times a week.

There are far too many factors to be able to answer a question like that with a number.

What design is it? What material is it? Where are the welds? Are the tubes butted? Round? Oval? Square? Are there cast bits? Machined bits? How good is the tube material? How was it drawn? How was it welded? How WELL was it welded? How were the tubes mitred? Were the welds ground back? What was the heat treatment? How old were the tubes before they were made into a frame? Has it been anywhere warm for a long period of time? Has it been exposed to anything nasty to alu (road salt, cleaning agents)? Did it get a bang/scratch in transport?

All of these factors can contribute to the life of a frame, it's not an exhaustive list and it isn't even with the customer yet. These things can be very complex, and it may not even be the case that a frame fails in a 'fatigue' mechanism.

There are some simple ways to increase the fatigue life of a component - More material, less stress raisers, lower loads. but this will lead to heavier bikes, with boring designs. I think the frame in question here was fit for purpose, and that it lasted 10 years is evidence of that. Ten Years! What other high performance product lasts ten years?

bomberesque

Got a reply from my mate with teh same problem. look at this thread on retrobike. Same problem plus butt ugly solution. Guy claims he paid 60 GBP for the fix apparantly, which is probably worth it on that frame

pics



see anything familiar?



well, it works I guess.....