Oh no, not again.

[unkleGsif]

It's not a challenge, but a genuine request for advice.

I am not going to argue with Sheldon if thats where you took instruction, as to do that, is to tempt the wrath of the cycling gods..... :shock: however to my simple eye, that rear loop of cable to the rear mech is rather long.

It may be the design of the frame, with the outer stop being so far up the stay that in order to get a straighter cable into the mech, requires such a long cable, however is just looks rather long

Anyway, cable length is the last of your issues right now, so lets not get sidetracked, shall we


G

 

[Neil]

What size of frame?

Yes, what size as I think I have the same idea...

The 17 inch is too small for me though. I'm 6ft. I think I'm more suited to a 20 inch. Was it cutting the head tube you were referring to?

BTW, I promised you some pictures of the Bromwich, and forgot. My apologies.

Here she is as she was picked up:

I'll post some pics once she's tidied up. I've cleaned her up a lot already, and she rides great, even if too small for me, but a nice bike, and quite rare I think.

What's going on with the stem?

And I realise you're dealing with a fait accomplis here, but these pictures perfectly explain why so many, wrongly, slate cantis, and say rim brakes only worked when Vs came along, or that Vs are sooo much more powerful - cantis are seemingly so rarely setup correctly.

 

[legrandefromage]

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 !

So two cheap mass produced frames have cracked leading to believe somethin written 20 years ago to hold true. What about the 30 plus year old aircraft in service or Alan, Vitus and other manufacturers frames that are into their 4th or 5th decade. For every frame tghat has cracked there are thousands that haven't so use some common sense before typing or quoting bunk.

Take my own frame as an example - its had about 10 different headsets has done around 45000 miles and shows no signs of fatigue. Don't be put off by ill informed guff, there is plenty of quality alu frames around for little money.

 

[David B]

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 !

So two cheap mass produced frames have cracked leading to believe somethin written 20 years ago to hold true. What about the 30 plus year old aircraft in service or Alan, Vitus and other manufacturers frames that are into their 4th or 5th decade. For every frame tghat has cracked there are thousands that haven't so use some common sense before typing or quoting bunk.

Take my own frame as an example - its had about 10 different headsets has done around 45000 miles and shows no signs of fatigue. Don't be put off by ill informed guff, there is plenty of quality alu frames around for little money.

Never been a massive fan of aluminium frames but I'm with LGF here - there are a good many Vitus and Alan frames still knocking about after umpteen years' use (though as with Look carbon bikes, these early examples used comparatively thick-walled tubing which might help their structural integrity) and the flipside of the coin is that relatively new steel and Ti frames can still fail prematurely; Litespeeds went through a phase of being notorious for it.

David

 

[Barneyballbags]

Obviously nobody told GT Zaskars that they were only meant to last 4-5 years

 

[unkleGsif]

Using the logic quoted above, all these people spending thousands of £££ on 20year old Kliens, are utter fools...

I only live 5 minutes from an aluminium recyclers...

I will take their frames there if they want, and promise to post them the scrap value of the frame


G

 

[Rusty Scrubber]

 

[unkleGsif]

Aint no warrior-ing or dodging going on here, buddy :roll:

G

 

[silverclaws]

Okay,here we have two examples of aluminium frames cracking with one owner, so is it truly bunk as you say LGF ? What is it, the manufacturer too low end and using less durable materials, supplier of the raw material, the alloy, the manufacturer, just plain bad luck or the fact that aged and used aluminium cracks ?

I have had aluminium castings in other applications crack, no extra loading, just okay one day cracked the next.

And then there was the aviation industry, and although I was not a rigger, I have seen a lot of cracked skins and spars and know of the non destructive testing the airframes had to go through periodically to look for cracks that could not be seen by looking, but with the stresses of flight and unseen crack depending on where it is can lead to the airframe breaking up or otherwise endangering the crew and whoever the thing falls on.

Aluminium has it's uses, but it is not a material to be trusted for longevity, but it's availability and cheapness make it a material that can be cheaply replaced.

Nothing lasts forever, but some things fail earlier than expected.

 

[unkleGsif]

Aluminium has it's uses, but it is not a material to be trusted for longevity, but it's availability and cheapness make it a material that can be cheaply replaced.

Nothing lasts forever, but some things fail earlier than expected.

Better tell all those Audi drivers that their aluminium bodoed cars will crack prematurely then... especially all those people STILL paying up to £5k for an over ten year old A2

G