Hey y’all – as title says, my dream vintage alu frame popped up for sale but they are notorious for wear on the alu dropouts. Seller says there are no cracks to be found. The ones on this frame are especially worn, looking for advice as to if I should pass on it or worth the risk. Thanks
by nowbenefits
24 Comments
I personally wouldn’t buy that.
Hell no.
Sorry to nitpick, but these are ‘track ends’ not dropouts.
Personally, I’d pass, as I’m unsure how aluminium would hold up for much longer or if having new ones fitted would be feasible. If it was steel, it wouldn’t be an issue.
Yikes that’s a nightmare, not a dream, sorry
Not so dreamy. Some machining needed
In this state it’s closer to a nightmare of you ask me, but when someone more knowledgeable can confirm for a fact, that structurally it’s a ok, than it only needs a bit of cleanup and good to go.
if it’s your dream bike and the price is right I would pick it up in here is why.
It’s aluminum and repairable. any decent weld shop can fill that groove from the nut bite with a TIG welder and it’ll be just as good as new when repaired right. A machine shop might have a guy that can TIG aluminum too.
ask the good folks at r/welder if that wear can be filled and filed flat again. .
“my dream vintage alu frame” hahaha
Snag it for cheap. You can get some 2mm steel plates and sandwich the dropout. Lots of aluminum frames have this type of reinforcement already.
And this my friends is why you use chain tensioners. They sandwich between the frame and track end
I’d buy it. This can be repaired by a frame builder, worth it for a dream frame.
What’s the frame btw?
Another one always comes up.
Pass.
That would have to be one hell of a rare dream frame
Send those photos to a metal shop for a quote. Any decent shop should be able to pull that drop out of and manufacture a new one. They’re essentially end caps on tubing
Why people don’t use dropout savers is beyond me.
People point to frame builders here, but genuinely interested if there’s are any small frame builders that work with alu?
I’m wary of ANY aluminum frames and THiS. Looks ESPEDBCIALLU dicey
Aftermarket track “dropout” plates. Ya gonna need to do some prep to make them work.
Lots of variations of those plates that are make/model specific. You’re gonna need to get some measurements before you just buy any.
Also, your “dropouts” are THICK… big ole’ chunky bois. You gotta lot of meat still left, so ain’t no worries.
(Just woke up. Forgot what bike nerds call track horizontal “dropouts”, cause I know someone here is gonna correct me)
Keep dreaming (and shopping for another frame). If the drop outs look that bad, what does the rest of the frame look like?
I’d buy it and fix it if it’s a dream frame that’s difficult to come by
Keep looking.
Dude that aluminum has been severely deformed. If it isn’t cracked already, it soon will be. Aluminum doesn’t like to be deformed. It forms tiny cracks in the surface that will turn into big cracks.
Weld, grind, ride.