Frame repairs - worth while welding?

matty3sixty

Back in the summer I managed to snap my aluminium frame near the cassette on the tube to crank. This obviously gave me the chance to buy a nice new shiney carbon bike which I jumped at back in August.

My old BH however is still sitting in the garage looking sorry for itself, and I'm thinking it'd make a great winter bike keeping my Addict nice and clean awaiting spring.

So the question is....... If I weld it / get it welded, will it hold? Or is it the case that once a frame goes, that's it throw it away and maybe scour eBay for an old frame to rebuild a winter bike?

Anybody had any experience of this?

Thanks in advance,

Matt

bisiklet yariscisi

Any metal bike frame is readily weldable by a skilled welder. However, after welding any aluminium alloy frame it will need to be carefully heat-treated which will lead to distortion and need re-aligning, and you'll also need to repaint the frame. Personally, I'd spend the money on a new winter hack frame - the new Kinesis Racelight T2 does look very tempting.

matty3sixty

Thanks, for that, hadn't thought the heat treatment and painting through!!

aoeu

Wow, i certainly hope we haven't reached a point where if our frames break, we throw them. Its already bad enough with appliances and electronics.

You can definitely have the frame rewelded, and i dont think alignment will be a problem as the bottom braket and seatstays are holding it in as reference points.

ride_whenever

not cost effective on aluminium, perfectly sensible for ti and steel though. Even carbon can be repaired!

Buy a steel bike for the winter!

redddraggon

ride_whenever wrote:

Buy a steel bike for the winter!

Nah, get a Ti bike for the Winter.

ride_whenever

well yes, but i can't afford a ti frame for my best bike, let alone a winter hack.

Currently my three best bikes are steel and my winter hack is aluminium.

redddraggon

ride_whenever wrote:

well yes, but i can't afford a ti frame for my best bike, let alone a winter hack.

Don't you get funding?

Slow Downcp

ride_whenever wrote:

well yes, but i can't afford a ti frame for my best bike, let alone a winter hack.

Currently my three best bikes are steel and my winter hack is aluminium.

Seems odd to recommend buying a steel bike for winter, when your only bike that isn't steel is the one you use for winter

ride_whenever

reddragon: Yes, but not enough for Ti at the rate i buy bike parts.

Slow: I ride steel most of the time, what I refer to as my "winter" bike is the rat bike i've just built up for taking coaching. I have to leave it on a trailer overnight in a fairly rough area (of oxford :roll: )

Only have it for that 'cos it's cheap and i built it up from my spares box. I suppose it's more of a rat bike.

ps. my jump bike perversely is aso aluminium!

Monty Dog

aoeu wrote:

You can definitely have the frame rewelded, and i dont think alignment will be a problem as the bottom braket and seatstays are holding it in as reference points.

Depends on the grade of alloy, but not really recommended - welding changes the metallic composition locally to the weld which will likely to result in accelerated failure - this is why most frames need to be heat-treated post-welding - when you can buy new alloy frames for £100 - the cost of the welding and repaint makes it uneconomical