Timbone
Well-Known Member
After Thursday's commute home on the motorbike, something didn't feel right just as I got off the bike. I did a simple flex test and, yes, the Skyhawk Aluminum frame was flexing. Flexing too much at that..
It took a few minutes but I finally found a crack that traveled half way around the downtube, just below the bottom weld of the in frame gas tank.
Here are my options as I see them:
Could simply buy a new frame: $120-150.
Could buy a new bicycle and move all the stuff over. I have more than enough parts! $40-150.
Could try to find a welder to weld a new aluminum support piece. $20-60.
I am working on finding a decent tig welder because my other option has failed. I had a plan:
I have some propane so I went to Harbor Freight and picked up some of those alumalloy rods as I have used them in the past with good results. My idea was to braze the rod into the crack, grind it down and then braze an aluminum collar around the area to bulk it up.
This was a fail. The aluminum rod melted but rolled right off the base metal. Attempts to braze the aluminum collar over the crack failed, too. The rod adhered nicely to the aluminum collar, but it would not braze the piece to the bike frame. I thought it was going to but it just wouldn't. I hda scrubbed and cleaned the entire area very well. I figure there must be some kind of alloy in the aluminum bike frame.
Anyway, a good welder could fix this up in a hurry.
It took a few minutes but I finally found a crack that traveled half way around the downtube, just below the bottom weld of the in frame gas tank.
Here are my options as I see them:
Could simply buy a new frame: $120-150.
Could buy a new bicycle and move all the stuff over. I have more than enough parts! $40-150.
Could try to find a welder to weld a new aluminum support piece. $20-60.
I am working on finding a decent tig welder because my other option has failed. I had a plan:
I have some propane so I went to Harbor Freight and picked up some of those alumalloy rods as I have used them in the past with good results. My idea was to braze the rod into the crack, grind it down and then braze an aluminum collar around the area to bulk it up.
This was a fail. The aluminum rod melted but rolled right off the base metal. Attempts to braze the aluminum collar over the crack failed, too. The rod adhered nicely to the aluminum collar, but it would not braze the piece to the bike frame. I thought it was going to but it just wouldn't. I hda scrubbed and cleaned the entire area very well. I figure there must be some kind of alloy in the aluminum bike frame.
Anyway, a good welder could fix this up in a hurry.