Is This Fixable?

[mstrpete]

I've been riding an old Trek 830 mtb that I got for free as my daily commuter for a while now. I haul groceries, books to and from my college classes, what have you. The other day I noticed that the front end felt loose, and when I went to inspect and adjust it today, I found this:
http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y87/boysrus/186_8609.jpg
the crack goes all the way around, right above the reinforcing thing.
1. Is this even fixable?
2. If so, is it worth the trouble for a free twenty-year-old bike that's not my only ride?
I'm willing to strip the frame and walk away if need be.

[Marrock]

Time to walk away from it, IMO.

[Ziemas]

Time to walk away from it, IMO.

+1

[mstrpete]

That's what I figured. Oh well, all the components are in good condition and I have other bikes to ride. Time to plan the deconstruction, and look around for another buildable frame.

[cs1]

I've been riding an old Trek 830 mtb that I got for free as my daily commuter for a while now. I haul groceries, books to and from my college classes, what have you. The other day I noticed that the front end felt loose, and when I went to inspect and adjust it today, I found this:
http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y87/boysrus/186_8609.jpg
the crack goes all the way around, right above the reinforcing thing.
1. Is this even fixable?
2. If so, is it worth the trouble for a free twenty-year-old bike that's not my only ride?
I'm willing to strip the frame and walk away if need be.

Very fixable and probably more expensive than finding another frame of the same vintage.

Tim

[mstrpete]

Very fixable and probably more expensive than finding another frame of the same vintage.

Tim

Considering I got this one for free, anything's gonna be more expensive ;)
Seriously, though, I'm going to wait a little while before I make any drastic moves. The C&V folks have mixed views on the whole matter, so I'm going to take a long look at my options. I've got garage space for it in the meantime.

[maddog17]

it is fixable, but why spend the money to do it. i've never seen a headtube break like that before. the reenforcing thing is called a lug just an fyi.

[velonomad]

That head tube has probably been cracked for years, just took it awhile to get to the point of failure. Certainly fixable .

Just for the helluva it lets assume you have a torch and some basic metal working knowledge and could do the work yourself or had a bro who would do it for a six pack and a burrito ....You would need about $40 for a lug set to replace both the HT and DT lugs ,a $12 head tube ,another $25 for brazing supplies and a 1/2 round file, figure about $10 in sand paper and rattle can paint. You will want to plan on at least another $25 to have a shop ream and face the head tube to accept the headset. You are up to about $115 total. If you can't do the work or barter add another $100 minimum ( w/out repaint)for a frame builder to do the repair.

[Peterpan1]

It could probably be re-welded, without all the new parts. You wouldn't have anything to loose if you did the work yourself, afterall the bike only felt loose when you discovered this problem, you didn't wake up in the hospital. Welding might melt the brazing in the lug, locally, so you need someone who can really keep the heat zone to a minimum. Use a heat sink inside the tube. I think you would want to weld the lug top to the upper tube above the crack. This repair would require some paint removal in the area, so you will have to repaint.

A cold option, or a further strengthening option would be to sleeve it from the inside, possibly with epoxy. Just get some 4130 that fits in there, and epoxy it as far down as is possible while leaving the seat for the BB intact. Another option would be to turn down a piece of stock so it is the lower cup and the sleeve, then glue that in all the way to the top minus the seat. Another option would be to get a piece to sleeve the HT, and butt to the bottom cup as in the first option, but sleeve it to the lower cup first, a means of getting unity to the lower cup and the sleeve. These fits wouldn't need to be super tight, since epoxy will fill fine. This needs to be real epoxy, like some WEST 205, not just some stuff in a tube from a hardware. Epoxies sold to do golf clubs are pretty good for loose fits, meaning not loose enough to get a piece of paper in there, but you can feel a slight wiggle.

[mstrpete]

it is fixable, but why spend the money to do it.

I'd want to fix it because I don't like throwing things away if they can be restored to usefulness, plus it's a sweet ride:
http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y87/boysrus/184_8446.jpg
So I'd just as soon fix it, if it's fixable.The bad news is that my budget's super-tight, so even a couple hundred right now just won't happen. The good news is that I can stash it in the garage, ride something else for now, and wait 'til spring and tax return season. Meanwhile, I can look for another frame like that, or see if the welding department of the community college I attend could handle it for a song, or what-have-you.
Thanks folks for the input!

[ultraman6970]

get a frame in ebay and thats it my friend... Or go to craighlist asking for a fre bike, more than somebody has one but as somebody said, it is fixable but the cost will be high
thanks

[kevbo]

You would need about $40 for a lug set to replace both the HT and DT lugs ,a $12 head tube ,....

Please forgive me if this is a newb question, but why not clean up and re-use the lugs if trying to fix this on the cheap?

[velonomad]

Please forgive me if this is a newb question, but why not clean up and re-use the lugs if trying to fix this on the cheap?

If you owned this frame and wanted to repair it yourself you could certainly take the time to clean up the lugs and reuse them. I have done it myself but I only build bikes for my own use.
Someone who is repairing a frame for money might not want to do that. It is time consuming to clean and grind the filler out of a lug. IMO it's not worth the effort for generic lugs.
Plus considering how long and where this bike has been cracked there is always a chance the lug itself may fatigue next. I wouldn't want to risk my house to save someone else $40.
Also some builders don't like to reheat frame tubes more than necessary, they would grind the lugs off of the down tube and top tube ends

[JeanCoutu]

What I'm thinking is crude, but wouldn't it be good enough?:

Take an angle grinder w/cutting disk to the crack to clean it up, one half at a time. Clamp the headtube so it's pretty much straight, fill the clean metal gap with a stick welder, repeat from step 1 on other side. Then hit w/ sledgehammer to see if the weld is ok, if yes remove the uglyness out of the weld with the grinder and put some primer & then paint over it.

Since no one proposed this, I figure there must be something wrong with the idea, right?

[Marrock]

Yep, unless you happen to have a welder laying around somewhere, it's a bit pricey.

[maddyfish]

Yep, unless you happen to have a welder laying around somewhere, .

Doesn't everybody?

[dr.raleigh]

I do:)