Alan racing frame - should I repair?

Modern adhesives are so much better than the original ones used to bond these frames, so yes repair it. You could even do it yourself with a homemade jig, cleaning agents and patience!

I remember there as an article in Cycling about repairing an Alan frame, I think it was done by a bike shop or framebuilder.

I think you would have to take into account that Alan frames are screwed and glued, and when they were made they had to screw the tubes together in a certain order.

Yep, I am fortunate enough to have a framebuilder who can do this but the cost is just too much. I am emigrating in the next 12 months so will not be taking the bike with me. It has some lovely campag components, the wheels are Record hubs on Mavic MA40 rims and double butted spokes, very comfortable. Is it worth putting it on the 'For Sale' section to try to find a good owner who would rebuild and enjoy it?

Were alans screwed and glued or just glued ? If its screwed then both ends will have to be loosened and reglued (one LH and one RH thread?), if its just glued here is what i would do , you should be able to "sweat" that joint all the way apart with some dry heat from a heatgun or hairdryer (much cooler) or with wet heat and a boiling kettle (100c max) .you should take off the cranks ,BB ,wheels and maybe bars so those parts are not flopping around or in the way , then dry and clean off old adhesive(then mask off the outside of the lug and the part of the tube that will be visible) apply a copius amount of new adhesive and flex the frame to position the DT inside that lug. wipe it all clean including inside the BB shell and let it cure.

I would find out the best adhesive for alloy/alloy bonding ,but that might be a methamcrylate like plexus or some type of two part epoxy glue? .It should be easy to find that out in England/Europe as planes used to be all alloy as did F1 cars.

ps why Europa stickers (that was a chain of bike shops in Australia) and what are those cranks ? The rear mech looks like Victory to me but not the brakes ?

Very astute of you to notice the Europa labeling, as you can also deduce. I am Australian and had the bike shipped here in the late 1980s. I have decided to return in approx 6 months time. I bought the bike from Europa bikes in south Australia. The cranks are labelled 'Master', never heard of them before or since, the brakes are not campag either. Thanks for the advise, I will have a think about what to do next. Skip.

Skip":1pn1zact said:

Yep, I am fortunate enough to have a framebuilder who can do this but the cost is just too much. I am emigrating in the next 12 months so will not be taking the bike with me.

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Any reason why you wouldn't bring it with you or get it sent ahead of time?

The cost to repair seems quite ok to me and if you like the ride then even getting it sent out prior to emigrating is relatively cheap.

Thats my $0.02 worth

nice bike, like to build, well balanced

if you like the ride, lets have it repaired.

Alan frames definitely glued AND screwed. There's a entry somewhere on the site that I posted of a leaflet explaining it. The seat tube was the last one fitted which screws into the BB shell but just 'passes through' the seat cluster as this is the only joint that can't be screwed if you think about it.

Sequence is probably -

Head tube into top and bottom lugs
Top tube into top lug
Down tube into bottom lug
BB shell onto down tube
Seat cluster onto top tube
Seat tube through seat cluster into BB shell
Seat and Chainstays then added.

How to get the Down Tube loose enough to re-glue it without straining other joints is probably the worst problem - but how does it come loose in the first place?

Skip":34asgp7u said:

Very astute of you to notice the Europa labeling, as you can also deduce. I am Australian and had the bike shipped here in the late 1980s. I have decided to return in approx 6 months time. I bought the bike from Europa bikes in south Australia. The cranks are labelled 'Master', never heard of them before or since, the brakes are not campag either. Thanks for the advise, I will have a think about what to do next. Skip.

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I was from SA too so thats why i recognised the Europa brand. I think Ofmega may have had a "master" in its range then ???