Titanium frame repair/filler

[steve_d]

I recently picked this up from an auction for a reasonable price, certain it's a Merlin Rock Lobster Ti with stickers. In the photos I could see something going on with downtube which I thought might be a crack. On close inspection it looks like a thin coat or maybe filler. Anyone have an idea of what it might be before I start picking at/removing it, I'm thinking it might be a dent filled in. The integrity of the frame as a whole looks good.

Steve

 

[Markybeau]

@danson67 might be the man to ask

 

[bikeworkshop]

It's filler

Hopefully just over a dent -
It's an unlikely place to crack, and you don't fill cracks anyway, so there's no reason to think it's anything more.

It's also a popular location for large dents, where the bike falls against a Sheffield stand.

If you removed the filler, you'd most likely want to fill the dent anyway, as it's not an easy shape or location to pull out.

This sort of damage heavily undermines a frame's value, but won't change the weight (much) and is unlikely to affect its rideability.
There may be some effect on reliability, as the dent will create stress risers at the edges, but old frames often carry invisible stress damage anyway.

Great for a rider
Poor for a collector

 

[Frankenorange]

That 100% looks like some metal filler to me. You can see bits glistening in it and around the fill looks like some wet and dry has been used to key the metal.

 

[Frankenorange]

Dent from a bike carrier on a roof rack, or out back, maybe?

 

[bikeworkshop]

Close inspection advised

 

[steve_d]

It's filler

Hopefully just over a dent -
It's an unlikely place to crack, and you don't fill cracks anyway, so there's no reason to think it's anything more.

It's also a popular location for large dents, where the bike falls against a Sheffield stand.

If you removed the filler, you'd most likely want to fill the dent anyway, as it's not an easy shape or location to pull out.

This sort of damage heavily undermines a frame's value, but won't change the weight (much) and is unlikely to affect its rideability.
There may be some effect on reliability, as the dent will create stress risers at the edges, but old frames often carry invisible stress damage anyway.

Great for a rider
Poor for a collector

Thanks for the info, I thought a dent would be detriment to the value though not as bad as a crack, I was thinking £300 in good condition, maybe £150-200 with a dent and £100 or less with a crack. Bought it for the XTR components with the intention of moving the frame on, too big for me.

 

[steve_d]

View attachment 1018265
Close inspection advised

Something like this is what made me think there was a crack in the initial pictures, close up seems to be something akin to a shadow/wear line