Inspired by the post of the dude who had a crack on the frame right under his seatpost, and the following discussion about bleeding ass arteries, I could only begin to think about the state of my commuter bike, a 1980s Italian cyclocross bike (picture 1).
The frame has already failed catastrophically once, at the junction between down tube and head tube (picture 2). Since the frame is made of steel, it was repaired by welding (picture 3).
Now, in the top tube near the seatpost, holes can be seen with rust around them (pictures 4 and 5). It is safe to assume that rust also reached the inside of the top tube, under the paint job.
Do you think that the frame is salvageable? Have I tempted fate too much by going to work on it every day? Or should I throw the frame away, scavenge the good bike parts, and thank the lord or any other god for not having stabbed my ass with my own frame?
It is not particularly difficult to find a quality 80s steel lugged frame for < $80. That frame is dead dead dead.
Wide-Review-2417 on
Not salvagable. What you have is more than surface corrosion. How much of it has been corroded? How to tell w/o a camera inspection of the insides? Has the corrosion spread through the top tube? Still no clue.
I wouldn’t ride that. It is a lovely bike, but its time has come.
Bellabungo on
The rust in the top tube will have worked it’s way out from the inside. The tube will be pretty thin in places. There will still be some strength in that frame, but it won’t get better and it will fail. Again.
flower-power-123 on
toast
JeanPierreSarti on
Paraphrasing John Cleese: That is an ex-bike
stedmangraham on
Stop stop! It’s already dead 😭
unwisemoocow on
This is a deathtrap, get off that shit now man. Hospital bills are wayyyy more expensive and way less fun than getting a new bike.
gregn8r1 on
Treat your next bike better. This is old, yeah, but a nice bicycle at one point in time, and you destroyed it. Get a better locking system than just allowing it to bang against and destroy the paint. Touch-up paint chips that do occur. Use frame-saver to protect the inside of your frame.
Have some mechanical sympathy for it.
FastSloth6 on
Zed’s dead, baby. This bike has served you well. Find a cheap frame and transplant parts onto it where necessary.
fsurfer4 on
Take it to a reputable shop, preferably one that has an in house builder. They can evaluate the frame and whether or not it’s worth brazing up. It may only take a few minutes to clean it up and braze it up. If the insides are heavily rusted it’s done. If it’s only a couple pin holes it might be worth it. It will have to be repainted.
Something nice like this might be worth it. It cannot be evaluated online.
Longjumping_Local910 on
Buy it? I wouldn’t even, well, let’s say look at it.
the_bearded_mastodon on
Thank you all for helping me. Unfortunately, as everyone is saying, the frame is toast – lesson learned. Have a nice ride!
14 Comments
Inspired by the post of the dude who had a crack on the frame right under his seatpost, and the following discussion about bleeding ass arteries, I could only begin to think about the state of my commuter bike, a 1980s Italian cyclocross bike (picture 1).
The frame has already failed catastrophically once, at the junction between down tube and head tube (picture 2). Since the frame is made of steel, it was repaired by welding (picture 3).
Now, in the top tube near the seatpost, holes can be seen with rust around them (pictures 4 and 5). It is safe to assume that rust also reached the inside of the top tube, under the paint job.
Do you think that the frame is salvageable? Have I tempted fate too much by going to work on it every day? Or should I throw the frame away, scavenge the good bike parts, and thank the lord or any other god for not having stabbed my ass with my own frame?
https://i.redd.it/s0jxnjnx3rtd1.gif
It is not particularly difficult to find a quality 80s steel lugged frame for < $80. That frame is dead dead dead.
Not salvagable. What you have is more than surface corrosion. How much of it has been corroded? How to tell w/o a camera inspection of the insides? Has the corrosion spread through the top tube? Still no clue.
I wouldn’t ride that. It is a lovely bike, but its time has come.
The rust in the top tube will have worked it’s way out from the inside. The tube will be pretty thin in places. There will still be some strength in that frame, but it won’t get better and it will fail. Again.
toast
Paraphrasing John Cleese: That is an ex-bike
Stop stop! It’s already dead 😭
This is a deathtrap, get off that shit now man. Hospital bills are wayyyy more expensive and way less fun than getting a new bike.
Treat your next bike better. This is old, yeah, but a nice bicycle at one point in time, and you destroyed it. Get a better locking system than just allowing it to bang against and destroy the paint. Touch-up paint chips that do occur. Use frame-saver to protect the inside of your frame.
Have some mechanical sympathy for it.
Zed’s dead, baby. This bike has served you well. Find a cheap frame and transplant parts onto it where necessary.
Take it to a reputable shop, preferably one that has an in house builder. They can evaluate the frame and whether or not it’s worth brazing up. It may only take a few minutes to clean it up and braze it up. If the insides are heavily rusted it’s done. If it’s only a couple pin holes it might be worth it. It will have to be repainted.
Something nice like this might be worth it. It cannot be evaluated online.
Buy it? I wouldn’t even, well, let’s say look at it.
Thank you all for helping me. Unfortunately, as everyone is saying, the frame is toast – lesson learned. Have a nice ride!