Oh no, not again.
- Thread starter Rusty Scrubber
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old skool babe
Senior Retro Guru
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Full suspension or hard tail
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I remember seeing that one in the eBay section of the forum indeed.
You can probably break it down and recover your money by selling the parts, or you could buy a good frame from a fellow RB-er and put the parts on there.
You can probably break it down and recover your money by selling the parts, or you could buy a good frame from a fellow RB-er and put the parts on there.
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RobMac":2l3z2nf9 said:
Yes, what size as I think I have the same idea...
Hang in there - I've had similar tales of woe with road frames in the last year or two but my luck did change eventually; swapped my twitchy Look KG241 for a TIG-welded 853 job which developed a hairline crack at the BB (though it did yield a very nice Stronglight aheadset and Time carbon forks for future use so I got my money's worth out of it), bought a nice 531c Orbit America to replace it only to find, eventually, that the BB was seized in the frame and the seller either didn't tell me this or was oblivious to it himself. Finally ended up with my current frame - a Ribble 653 - at a bargain price off eBay. It did need new paint but has built up into a really nice bike.
David
David
silverclaws
Senior Retro Guru
My question would be why are they cracking, could it be aluminium though light is not an ideal material for cycles if one wants a cycle to last ? Fine for the racer who can use, abuse then chuck it away, give it away or sell it on or the fashionable that change fashions with fashion changes, consumers that consume and discard.
Cracks in aluminium tell me the material has had enough, it has gone beyond it's design capabilities and is at best a costly annoyance and worst an accident waiting to happen.
But understanding the construction of aluminium frames, what aluminium was used and what metal treatments were employed, should aluminium be re treated periodically ? Some annealing perhaps or some stress relief or is best that aluminium was left alone in terms of bike frames, if one wants something to last.
From the 1992 retro cycling book ; Ultimate bicycle book by Grant and Ballantine regarding frame materials ;
Metal breaks either from an impact which exceeds the strength of the metal, or from the fatigue of the small, repeated stresses. Steel and titanium both have fatigue limits and will not break so long as the stresses remain under limits. Aluminium has no fatigue limit, so each and every stress causes wear and weakening, and eventual failure. Aluminium frame designers take this fatigue factor into account, over building with enough strength for long term safety. If well thrashed ( but not abused) , a steel or titanium frame will stay almost as good as new, but not aluminium frames, which are thought to have a useful life of three to five years.. The life of most steel and titanium frames is measured in decades. While aluminium frames are extremely inexpensive for their weight, in the long run steel or the very expensive titanium frames may be of better value....
So retro aluminium bike frames with perhaps five years useful life in them, well by the definition of retro that this website uses, what is out there that is aluminium should be nothing more than art now as they have exceeded their useful lifespan and so should not really be trusted for mountain bike applications.
And for those that say steel goes dead ;
..but it has been found that if theses ''dead'' frames are re aligned they spring back to life in top condition.
So as regards what you have discovered with two frames now, learn by your experience keep away from that material frame and with me it is steel all the way and that because I can't afford titanium.
KISS !
Cracks in aluminium tell me the material has had enough, it has gone beyond it's design capabilities and is at best a costly annoyance and worst an accident waiting to happen.
But understanding the construction of aluminium frames, what aluminium was used and what metal treatments were employed, should aluminium be re treated periodically ? Some annealing perhaps or some stress relief or is best that aluminium was left alone in terms of bike frames, if one wants something to last.
From the 1992 retro cycling book ; Ultimate bicycle book by Grant and Ballantine regarding frame materials ;
Metal breaks either from an impact which exceeds the strength of the metal, or from the fatigue of the small, repeated stresses. Steel and titanium both have fatigue limits and will not break so long as the stresses remain under limits. Aluminium has no fatigue limit, so each and every stress causes wear and weakening, and eventual failure. Aluminium frame designers take this fatigue factor into account, over building with enough strength for long term safety. If well thrashed ( but not abused) , a steel or titanium frame will stay almost as good as new, but not aluminium frames, which are thought to have a useful life of three to five years.. The life of most steel and titanium frames is measured in decades. While aluminium frames are extremely inexpensive for their weight, in the long run steel or the very expensive titanium frames may be of better value....
So retro aluminium bike frames with perhaps five years useful life in them, well by the definition of retro that this website uses, what is out there that is aluminium should be nothing more than art now as they have exceeded their useful lifespan and so should not really be trusted for mountain bike applications.
And for those that say steel goes dead ;
..but it has been found that if theses ''dead'' frames are re aligned they spring back to life in top condition.
So as regards what you have discovered with two frames now, learn by your experience keep away from that material frame and with me it is steel all the way and that because I can't afford titanium.
KISS !
