Cautionary tale - Orange Alu 'O'

[BlackCat]

I know people re-weld cracked high value alu frames.. yeti, pace, Klein, manitou.. and supposedly ride them again. Personally, I wouldn’t, but to each his own.

If you’ve had the frame a long time and basically rode it ‘til it cracked, have a pat on the head for actually riding one of these bikes to its full limit (for few of us do), then hang it in the garage out of respect, nostalgia, war stories or whatever. If it’s a more recent refurb purchase I would suggest you are less sentimental about it and just get rid.

Either way, I wouldn’t spend the money on a risky re-weld and respray. It’s not worth it financially.. nor from a self preservation perspective.

 

[Imlach]

I'd never ride a repaired alu frame

 

[Carge]

Kinda depends on who does the repair - and how hard you want to ride it

 

[brocklanders023]

Been thinking about selling my orange/white O that I got last year so drop me a line if you fancy another.

 

[Carge]

Serial is A112nnnn



PM me if you want to chat

 

[icsparks]

Serial is A112nnnn

View attachment 716758

PM me if you want to chat

Hi, thanks for the picture. What would you be looking for the frame only?

 

[Carge]

PM’d you

 

[icsparks]

Been thinking about selling my orange/white O that I got last year so drop me a line if you fancy another.

Can you PM me

 

[brocklanders023]

Yes mate.

 

[danson67]

@danson67 What do you think?

Depends on which alloy Orange were using.

If it's 7005, than I'd happily clean up around, repair weld the crack (5366 filler) then fit a reinforcing gusset over the area to spread the stresses better than the original arrangement. Then either an artificial age in the oven (6hrs@95C + 4hrs@160C), or naturally age at room temp for 2-3 weeks.
Next step up would be a whole new downtube, but probably not worth it unless the frame has special value to you.

If it's 6061...then there's a whole different requirement for intensive solution/quench/align/ageing process post-weld.

All the best,