OP
OP
Houthakker
A Happy Wanderer
- Location
- Lancashire coast
Ah, I'll check tomorrow when I get the frame back but seem to rememebr that theer was plenty of post inserted.
Weldable - Yea or nay?
- Thread starter Houthakker
- Start date
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biggs682
Touch it up and ride it
- Location
- Northamptonshire
Warranty will only be valid if original owner remember
Drago
Legendary Member
- Location
- Suburban Poshshire
I'm tall and heavy, and that's why I run 400mm seat posts in all my bikes. It's a slight ballache getting a new seat post for each bike, but less of a ballache than breaking a frame.
MrPie
Telling it like it is since 1971
- Location
- Perth, Australia
It is indeed weldadble. However, it’s prolly too big a job as you’ll need to remove a bunch of the paint, properly prepare the ends, apply a shed load of preheat and then find a top notch welder to TIG it, repaint. Welding thin aluminium requires great skill. More hassle then it’s worth I suspect.
mickle
innit
- Location
- 53.933606, -1.076131
Its repairability depends on what kind of aloonyman it's made from. The two most common alu alloys are 7000 series (Commonly 7075) and 6061. Both may be rewelded by a competent alu welder, but 6061 requires a highly specific heat treating process (T6) after welding to eliminate the brittle zone created between the area heated by the welding and the rest of the frame.
First thing - claim a new frame under warranty. This has a very high chance of success if you hold a proof of purchase. If not, read the label, if it's 7000 series a local engineering workshop might be persuaded to tackle the repair. Factor in the cost of reaming the seat tube internally and the cost of powder coating the frame after. And the cost of strip down & rebuild if you're not gonna do it yourself. At which point, unless you have a particular emotional attachment to it, it's probably cheaper to buy a new frame.
First thing - claim a new frame under warranty. This has a very high chance of success if you hold a proof of purchase. If not, read the label, if it's 7000 series a local engineering workshop might be persuaded to tackle the repair. Factor in the cost of reaming the seat tube internally and the cost of powder coating the frame after. And the cost of strip down & rebuild if you're not gonna do it yourself. At which point, unless you have a particular emotional attachment to it, it's probably cheaper to buy a new frame.
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rogerzilla
Legendary Member
I haven't seen many broken alu frames (not sure why; either they're designed very conservatively or people don't rack up the mileages they do on steel and Ti), so that is interesting. Absolutely not worth repairing, though.
Rule of thumb for min seatpost insertion on normal frames is an inch below the top tube. Obviously you can't achieve this on frames without a top tube, or with huge seat tube extensions.
Rule of thumb for min seatpost insertion on normal frames is an inch below the top tube. Obviously you can't achieve this on frames without a top tube, or with huge seat tube extensions.
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stalagmike
Enormous member
- Location
- Milton Keynes
Sorry this has happened, but thanks for sharing because I never realised this could happen. I'm now going to check how far my seat post is inserted and maybe replace with a longer one if need be.
SkipdiverJohn
Deplorable Brexiteer
- Location
- London
Replace the frame. With a steel one next time. Welding ali is a different ball game to steel, more difficult to do well.
I've seen loads of industrial aluminium fabrications crack, and they nearly all start from a welded join or very close by, within the heat affected zone of the weld. You wont generally see a piece of homogenous aluminium alloy crack midway along it's length, unless there's a bad stress-raiser present. Usually the trouble begins at a weld.
I've seen loads of industrial aluminium fabrications crack, and they nearly all start from a welded join or very close by, within the heat affected zone of the weld. You wont generally see a piece of homogenous aluminium alloy crack midway along it's length, unless there's a bad stress-raiser present. Usually the trouble begins at a weld.
OP
OP
Houthakker
A Happy Wanderer
- Location
- Lancashire coast
Halfords phoned me today and the frame isn't covered under warranty (2 years for frames of that age) but they did offer me a new replacement frame at the discounted price of £65. As I know the bike and find it comfortable I'm happy with that and the way they have dealt with it. Should be back on the road by the weekend!! Old frame bound for the bin.
ColinJ
Puzzle game procrastinator!
- Location
- Todmorden - Yorks/Lancs border
That's a pretty good response. Not quite as good as a free replacement frame, but the next best thing.
One suggestion - why not use the old frame to make a turbo trainer bike? (Or offer it to someone else to use for that.) I wouldn't trust it on the road but I couldn't see it failing catastrophically on a TT unless you went crazy on it.
One suggestion - why not use the old frame to make a turbo trainer bike? (Or offer it to someone else to use for that.) I wouldn't trust it on the road but I couldn't see it failing catastrophically on a TT unless you went crazy on it.
This is a good summary. It's do-able, but it will mean repainting the frame. What with the welding and the re-painting, I can't see it being worthwhile. If it were some historic bike or something of very high value it would be worth considering, but not for a 6 year old Boardman.
