Cracked headtube !

[SLIM]

thats the one i saw ........... :shock:

when you say that heat treated ally cant be rewelded , i think its just that it needs to be retreated after, or left to cure for a few weeks after

on that photo , the guy said he nearly cried when he saw the repair

cry , i would have frigging killed him

 

[gump]

that is awful!!

But hey, he has got pink and green wires.... makes the welding look good

 

[THWANG-666]

yep you can reweld ally what grade is it can bob jacksons help in anyway.
if not try http://www.frameforum.net/forum2/index.php? the people on there have a world of info

 

[gaf16]

i've looked into this before.
aluminium can be rewelded but, it should be heat treated again as slim said.
bob jackson cycles only repair steel frames.
contact argos and they will put you on to a specialist frame builder who repairs aluminium.
my bradbury manitou developed a frame crack and i think there is a manitou fs for sale on firstflight web site which is cracked.
i think there is a bit of a theme developing here :cry:

 

[rody]

Lee,

Could you post a pic of your frame's crack?

Depending on how attached you are, all is not lost. As we've spoke to before, repairing over/around/in a deteriorating zone is not optimal. To breathe new life into the frame, what I would suggest is shipping it off to a trusted framebuilder and have him...

- Cut out the old head tube and weld area.

- Fashion a new head tube and attach support sleeeves that will insert into the top and down tube.

- Align and tack in place in a frame jig

- Lay two passes of weld, one root pass to fuse the headtube/sleeves/existing frame and a second to widen the zone to new metal and provide additonal support.

- Dependent on original material composistion, the tubing may have been previously heat treated or chemical hardened, which one will affect any further steps but regardless, by following this process you will have a repaired frame with greater support than originally that may be ridden hard for years to come.

Price? Each builder is different, but expect to pay around 150 - 250 US.

Hope this is some prospective good news,

rody

 

[Hotgolf]

welding

I read something years ago that 6000 series needs to be heat treated for maximum strength, but the 7000 series can be treated but isn't necessary.
Why don't you get a local machinist to turn a small ring that press over(size on size or a thou interference) the bottom of the head tube to reinforce the original. If you poilsh it first it'll look spot on and regain alot of the original strength without having to put a torch near it.

 

[gump]

you could use some small stainless steel rings sized to a slight interference and hot drop over ends? very strong.

Could you use a king steelset with super long press into frame and not worry?

 

[mikee]

headtube

the welding on that looks fine the welder must have known what he was doing its so easy to f**k something like that up
have you tried a good frame builder and asked them to fit a new headtube? someone like the boys at pace or dave hinde might do it
for you. (pace did an excellent job replacing the downtube on my rc200)
if you intend to ride it the repair sofar will only be short term,
there will be other cracks in there, just not at the surface yet remember
this is a highly stressed area and could lead to catastrophic failure.
i think the frames worth saving and its worth doin right.
mike.

 

[Rich]

I'm feeling for you Lee, bad news, hope it can be fixed dude!

 

[scant]

Oh dear - horrible news.

Manitou frames seem to suffer a lot from cracking?

I saw 3 break in 1 day at the grundig world cup in plymouth one year... poor b'stds...