1980 / 81 Andy Thompson Time Trial Bike
- Thread starter HarryCrumb
- Start date
I would PM but I think my account is too fresh...
I recently got hold of one of your frames off Hilarystone. Really beautiful frame on many levels, although this one wasn't the best kept. The back brake cable routing was tricky to figure out, I ended up drilling a hold through the seat post to accommodate it. Still a tad mushy though. I was wondering what the thinking was behind it (apart from it looking great)?
Unfortunately I think whoever owned the frame before probably didn't accommodate for the cable through the seat tube and plopped the seat post on top, leaving a crack. Long story short I tightened the seat binder a little too much and that crack turned into a break. Absolutely gutted.
I've called one guy local to me who said "he's seen welds come undone" and that I should "replace the entire tube". But I can't bring myself to undo the paintwork and fork out what will probably be close to £200, which is more than the frame.
Any suggestions from the man himself? (or anyone else reading this).
I've attached pictures of the frame from Hilarystone and the crack.
Cheers
Attachments
Jonny69
Senior Retro Guru
That is repairable. Open the seat post back up near enough as you can to the right size. Find the end of the crack and drill a small hole at the end to stop it spreading. Fill it up with braze, dress it back and ream the seat tube round again. You'll lose the paint around the head lug.
I recently uncovered a similar repair on a late 30's Parkes Lightweight. I was trying to work out what size seat post to use but my Verniers were telling me the hole was very distorted. I carefully opened it back up to nearly round and lightly ran a 27.2mm reamer down the tube. That uncovered a very old brazed repair about 20mm long through the lug and tube which must have been done a very long time ago. Only reason I mentioned all the prising was that the repair was obviously strong enough as it remained intact after having the clamp squeezed closed again at some point, then worked back open by me, reamed, and it's still fine after all these years. I was quite impressed.
Haha. It is an odd one. The front wheel clearance shocked me at first too, until I received it and realised it was because there was no headset fitted.
I'm 6ft4 and got 175mm cranks
. Have no clue how it'll ride but hey.Vaz Winston would do it for a reasonable price...However I really don't want to lose the original paintwork. Plus I don't really want to replace such lightweight tubing for something more 'bog standard', as pretentious as that is.
Every frame builder/repairs guy in London seems to want me to replace the tube (wonder why..). I asked Vernonbarkercycles and they suggested brazing on a sleeve, so I may go for that.
Appreciate the reply. I did take those pictures in a haste and have since taken it apart. Here's the real damage...It's no longer a crack and is instead a clean break of the seat clamp collar.
I've asked several people who know better than me and some suggest a slap dash TIG weld, others a full tube replacement since they believe a TIG weld would break again.
I asked Dave Ballie at Vernonbarkercycles and he suggested "brazing on a re-enforcing sleeve and then braze a new seat bolt boss to that, cut a new slot and stress relieve the slot"
I think this is the middle ground I'm looking for. What do you think?
Attachments
Jonny69
Senior Retro Guru
Another option might be to tidy up the top of the seat tube and simply use a quill seatpost. They exist. That way you don’t lose any original paint. It would just be a question of whether the potentially thinner tubes here would take the load from the wedge without bulging.
