Had my 2017 Trek Fuel EX8 in for tuneup and the shop owner alerted me to a hydraulic line that had rubbed through the rear suspension seat stay tube pretty deeply. He told me the tube walls were only about 1.5mm thick, and the line had rubbed almost completely through the aluminum. The line has since been rerouted but I'm concerned about the structural integrity of the tube.
Should I replace the stay tube (if I can find one)? I've been told that a decent aerospace welder could repair it, provided I could properly identify the aluminum alloy series.
Been thinking about an upgrade to a Salsa anyway, maybe this is my excuse 🙂
by dankoman30
15 Comments
It’s going to be a point of “is it worth the repair”. It’s aluminum so it’s not going to be as easy (and cheap) as a steel repair, plus your points re: tubing and material if you can find an exact replacement are also valid.
>Been thinking about an upgrade to a Salsa anyway, maybe this is my excuse 🙂
Easiest answer. Happy new bike day OP!
Can you upload more photos?
Holy crap dude.
Never seen cable rub that bad. If you can get a new rear triangle, you definitely should. Otherwise new frame day
That’s the deepest cable rub ever, wow. Yeah, I would be afraid to ride it.
Congrats on the new bike OP!
It is your excuse😉
I would not bother finding the right welder cuz you will need a seasoned TIG welder who will weld it by filling the grinded area and make it seamless. And then you have to paint it. I would also consider cevlar or carbon +epoxy as a bandaid. Maybe you will leave this bike as a backup.
Good news is you get to buy new bike
Best option would be to find a rear triangle off a used Fuel EX8. But that seems like a longshot. This seems like your excuse to pickup a Salsa. What model are you thinking? Saw the older carbon frameset for the Horsethief (Trail 140/120) is on sale. If you want longer travel, alloy Cassidy (Enduro 180/165) was on sale too.
Also that amount of rub is just wild. Take it as a point of pride that you rode enough to do that?
On a scale of 1 – 10 for how fucked that is you score around a 50.
Won’t be economically viable to repair it because it’s not just a case of weld some material in because that would destroy the heat treatment the frame has so you would need to get it re treated again, If you did find someone who could do it the cost would probably be multiple times the value of a new frame and that’s before the cost of having it repainted.
Yup. This is a garden decoration now.
I’d say the shop was right to let you know. It’s a good idea to get a new frame. I’d not even mess around with getting it repaired.
Don’t ride this unless it’s to go to the corner store. And don’t even drop the sidewalk.
Could it possibly be warranty work?
My reasoning is that has to be a design flaw. There should be no way the engineers who designed the bike meant for the hydraulic line to run that path along the frame and cause that failure.
Was that hydraulic line supposed to be there?
I think it’ll be absolutely fine. As long as you are not hitting huge drops or gaps.
The seatstay is a replaceable part. [https://www.trekbikes.com/us/en_US/equipment/cycling-components/bike-rear-suspension/trek-2017-2019-fuel-ex-aluminum-seatstay/p/14111/?colorCode=grey_greydark](https://www.trekbikes.com/us/en_US/equipment/cycling-components/bike-rear-suspension/trek-2017-2019-fuel-ex-aluminum-seatstay/p/14111/?colorCode=grey_greydark)
If you wanted to spend an extra $150, you can even go with a [carbon](https://www.trekbikes.com/us/en_US/equipment/cycling-components/bike-rear-suspension/trek-2017-2019-fuel-ex-carbon-seatstay/p/27321/?colorCode=grey_black) version.