Bicycle Mechanics - Hole drilled in frame, can it be fixed?

Bikeforums.net is a forum about nothing but bikes. Our community can help you find information about hard-to-find and localized information like bicycle tours, specialties like where in your area to have your recumbent bike serviced, or what are the best bicycle tires and seats for the activities you use your bike for.



PDA
KLW2
12-12-06, 04:19 PM
I picked up a 1988 Schwinn Voyageur that I really like. Took off the kickstand and found that someone drilled a hole through the cross tube between the chain stays to put the kickstand bolt through. The hole is about the same size as the inside diameter of the cross tube. Can it be repaired? Is it a worry? I want to do some weekend camping/rides with it so it will be somewhat loaded with front & rear panniers.
Thanks.....

Phantoj
12-12-06, 04:21 PM
It probably came with that hole from the factory - for mounting fenders (and kickstands, I guess) to. No worries.
cooker
12-12-06, 04:27 PM
Yeah, it's normally there on bikes that accomodate fenders.

KLW2
12-12-06, 04:39 PM
It probably came with that hole from the factory - for mounting fenders (and kickstands, I guess) to. No worries.
No this one is obvously drilled by the previous owner and badly at that, there is almost no metal on either side of what is left of the crosstube where the hole is drilled. My worry is that it will soon break there and I don't know how critical that cross tube is for frame stiffness and integrity.
well biked
12-12-06, 05:03 PM
I had a similar issue on an old steel tourer recently, but on mine the previous owner had partially crushed the chainstay bridge when installing a kickstand (I've never liked kickstands :D ) . I tried repairing it myself, but since the tube was crimped, I never got it to my liking. I posted a question about it on the framebuilder's forum, and the consensus was to just fill it with bondo and go. But I ended up finding a framebuilder who replaced the bridge for me for a reasonable price www.southwestframeworks.com and in my case with the crimped bridge I'm glad I did, as it's a very nice frame and the damaged bridge was going to bug me regardless. With yours just having a hole in the bridge, it would probably be fine as is, or you could fill the hole and repaint it. Stucturally, I don't think the bridge does much, although it surely stiffens the chainstays at least some. If you decide to have it repaired, the framebuilder can replace the bridge, and you'll need to prime and repaint the repaired area. Good luck-

edit: I just fixed the link to Southwest Frameworks