[juice]

I got a small 3/8" crack on the top of my Seat tube right at the base of the slit that allows the clamp to work. I'm past the warranty on my Azonic Saber, and it was my own damn fault anyway. Cased the root gap at SST - late in day, getting dark, tired, went too slow... stuff broke but I was able to ride out of it.

Anyway - If the seat tube fails I don't get hurt, so I want to try and keep the crack from growing any larger and keep the frame alive. If the crack stays as is, the frame will be just fine. I wonder if I could have someone weld a little dab at the end of the crack so it won't get any bigger?

Maybe someone could recommend a frame shop in the Seattle area that does aluminum welding and I could have them take a look at it.

 

[Gex]

might take it 2 a an auto body shop and get it zapped.

 

[buildyourown]

I wouldn't go near an autobody shop with it. Car guys use mig, you want tig.
I know a guy in P'land that can do it, but I can't think of anyone in seattle.

You might try davidson. It's a long shot, but framebuilders with the setup to do Ti can usually handle a little aluminum. They won't garrantee thier work cause they won't be able to heat treat it. Otherwise, you might be better off just riding it.

 

[Corporatefailure]

i do my own frame reapir, i fix my rocky in 2 places, pritty big cracks to.
i have welding certifications in mig,tig,stick, and flux core (dual sheild).
i got a miller syncronowave 250 water coold. i still need to get it hard wire tho, just moved to new shop.

 

[juice]

If Ti guys can do some alum, then maybe I'll swing it by Ti-Cycles. Its close to me and I just need one little tack at the end of the crack. Actually, Ti-cycles makes aluminum bikes, I'm just not sure if they're done in house like their steel and ti frames.

I'm not too worried about heat treating at this spot since I have a nice fatty 31.6 seatpost that should take a lot of the stress. This bike is pretty burly, but it will become my xc bike if I can salvage the frame, so no more stupid casing of drops (on this frame). I'm actually a bit surprised more stuff didn't break, just a seat rail and this little crack. God bless D321's!

 

[DamienC]

If Ti guys can do some alum, then maybe I'll swing it by Ti-Cycles. Its close to me and I just need one little tack at the end of the crack. Actually, Ti-cycles makes aluminum bikes, I'm just not sure if they're done in house like their steel and ti frames.

I would definitely have Ti-Cycles at least have a look at it. They did a pretty good job fixing the dropouts on an aluminum swingarm for me a few years ago.

 

[seand]

If Ti guys can do some alum, then maybe I'll swing it by Ti-Cycles. Its close to me and I just need one little tack at the end of the crack. Actually, Ti-cycles makes aluminum bikes, I'm just not sure if they're done in house like their steel and ti frames.

I'm not too worried about heat treating at this spot since I have a nice fatty 31.6 seatpost that should take a lot of the stress. This bike is pretty burly, but it will become my xc bike if I can salvage the frame, so no more stupid casing of drops (on this frame). I'm actually a bit surprised more stuff didn't break, just a seat rail and this little crack. God bless D321's!

...are you serious that you are going to bet aluminum welded and not heat treated?

 

[juice]

...are you serious that you are going to bet aluminum welded and not heat treated?

I dunno, just a hunch. I'll let the pro's tell me what I should do when I take it into the shop.

 

[seand]

you have to heat treat, otherwise there will remain residual stresses due to the heating and cooling. these residual stresses will cause local failure, ie failure in that region. That's one of the reasons bike places won't take back a welded bike, even if heat treated they cannot ensure that it was done right and will not fail in that area
again.

i know its only the seattube, but if you truely love your bike, and it sounds like you do ... why not ensure its done right so your bike lives a longer and happy life

 

[NECROMONGER]

I used to be a welder at Klein Bikes, You don"t need to heat treat the frame. If you find a welder, He needs to use a hardend rod like 5356, he/she needs to weld a little bit and then poor cold water on it and then weld somemore and poor. You don't won't to put alot of heat in to it, and the cold water is to quech it. Basicly, hardens the weld. I had the same thing happen to a old GT wishbone frame. My seat post was to short!

 

[vibiker]

Another source for welding expertise is an aircraft welding shop. There should be a few around Boeing Field. I used one on Airport Way near Alaska St., N. of BF. Can't remember the name of the shop or exact address. I used them for some bike part repair. Very pleased with the quality and durability of their work.

 

[Corporatefailure]

quenching a weld with water is the worst thing you can do, you make it brittle by bring down the temp so fast, making more likly to break.

 

[juice]

Here's the crack. I'm still planning on taking into a shop and finding out what they recommend. All the black crap on the seat tube is just goo from black zip ties rubbing against there for a year. Worst case is I have to buy a used Saber and I have lots of spare parts and a spare Romic. Wouldn't be all bad, but I'd have to put off the purchase of a VPFree for a while.

 

[NECROMONGER]

Hmmm, the last time I checked, I've been working for Gary Klein since 1995 as a frame builder at R&D, so.....,what would I know about bikes!

 

[buildyourown]

I would suggest Ti Cycles, as I used to do a lot of frame repair when I worked there. However, the framebuilding part of Ti Cycles is now in Portland and the retail store has been sold off. I don't think the current retail location still retains any employees that have any knowledge of frame repair. In my experience doing repair on alum frames, you can get away without heat treating in some cases. The alum will naturally age back to about T4.

Looking at that pic, I'm really suprised that it cracked there.

 

[Corporatefailure]

Well what would I know; all the welding I do is industrial. Aluminum is not one of my strong points, but I could tell you heaps about mild and stainless steel.
when I was a south my teacher told me not to quench welds it makes them brittle, we proved that with my tig certs, we used quenched weld samples and placed them in the hydraulic u-bender and the quenched one snapped in half, the air cooled ones just bent (bouth had good root and crown passes).

 

[juice]

Looking at that pic, I'm really suprised that it cracked there.

When I landed I also broke the left rail on my PowerV seat, so I have a hunch there was 190 lbs of meat falling down and with forward-leftward pressure. Still can't beleive I was able to ride out of it. Definitely my most stupidist move without getting hurt. Hmmm, I wonder why I've broken 5 frames since I started mtbiking in '92? Actually, 2 of them were Cannondale, so they don't count.

 

[Corporatefailure]

wtb seats suck, i bent the rails on my laser v.

 

[juice]

Thanks Necromonger for hooking me up! I was expecting some rough looking scar, like the rest of the welds on my azonic. Nope - this thing is a thing of beauty! Other than the clearcoat and some grinder marks, you can't even tell there used to be a crack here. Looking from the inside, it looks just as good. Not a single pit or void. The Saber lives!

Before:

After:

 

[jodysbike]

Man that looks really bad. My 7 year old could have done better! :devil:

 

[NECROMONGER]

Thanks Jody neaky: , thanks for reminding me not to ride those wheels you built me! :evil: