sageo3000

I was looking at wobbly wheel, and I noticed something new, the chainstay and the seat stay are riveted, or what seem to be riveted, into the dropouts. there is a 2mm gap between the stays and the dropouts; it's still structurally intact and as sturdy as ever, but i never noticed it before. is it because i never paid attention or is my bike falling apart?

Dan Burkhart 

Spot welded I think. Doesn't look great, but hey, cars have been held together with spot welds forever.

xizangstan

(Never make fun of another person's ride) HOWEVER... You might start saving your pocket change every night, and save up for a new bike. Yes, it looks like spot welding to me, too. But there's space there for water to enter and to rust and loosen the welds.

Maybe you can start looking around for a good second hand bike. Maybe something a friend is selling...

waldowales

Be sure the gap is sealed with paint, ride it and keep an eye on it, watching for any sign of rusting.

sageo3000

would silicone work?

ryanwood

do you use brakes? using the rear wheel to slow and stop could be causing that gap in the frame. I would glue a small piece of paper across it to see if it is spreading while riding.

if it is I would consider converting to ss or replacing that frame.

unterhausen

I'm not going to say those welds never break, but it's really rare. They look fine to me, there is always a little gap at the end of the tube. Horrible, but normal. You just never noticed it before.

sageo3000

i use the rear wheel to stop.

cyccommute 

They look like they are cold crimped, not spot welded...no bothersome melting involved. Not an old Huffy or Murray by any chance?

sageo3000

the head badge says Echo. pic before i put it on . i've tried searching for info about the brand. found nothing. i'm guessing 60's though.

wrk101

Brands that do not show up on Google = Low end private label department store brands, almost always from the bike boom. During the bike boom, every gas station, lawn mower shop, department store, discount store, and whatever sold bikes, often with "their" brand. Of course, they were all made by contract manufacturers. I got my first new bike from a lawn mower repair shop (they didn't even sell new lawn mowers), and they sold their own brand. The bike was a relabeled Huffy or Murray, I forget anymore.

DannoXYZ 

Here's how spot-welding works. If you take a close look at how your car's unibody is held together, there are thousands of those little dimpled spots everywhere. Spot-welding is very fast and efficient production method. No filler-rods needed, no clean-up, etc.



However, due to the non-uniform contact area, it's not as optimized a solution as seam-welding or brazing around the end of the tubing for lightweight designs. In this case, there's enough material in that area so it's fine for the intended usage.

Echo's a department-store brand seen at Sears, K-mart, etc. They also have accessories like tubes, helmets, pedals, etc. Sealing the gap with silicone will work, just make sure to clean off all grease and dirt beforehand.

Chombi

Those are the biggest spot welds I have ever seen if they are spot welds.
As mentioned already, it could also be a crimp. There could be a corresonding indents or holes on the dropout legs that goes into the tubes that the crimps might key into. I'd trust a spot weld more than a crimp though, so I hope they are indeed spot welds......

chombi

hiero

Whether spot welds or crimps, this is a low-end frame, no question. That doesn't mean it isn't serviceable or rideable. If the dropout becomes loose in the stays, it would be wise to look around for another frame. If they are tight - you may well break something else before these broke. While in college back in the 70's I rode an el cheapo 10 speed until the seat stay broke free. It took a lot of beating till then. My kid brother then welded the seat stay back on - and o, was that an UGLY weld! - and proceeded to ride the bike for several more years.

This looks like a "no-theft" mod single speed - intentionally using serviceable, but low-end, parts to make a whole that works better than the original, but has no "looks". And is therefore unlikely to get stolen. The paint job goes with that style - flat black. Battleship grey is good, too, imo. I like what you've got.

Silicone would help seal the openings - but like other answers have said, I wouldn't worry about that much. Unless you are leaving the bike out all the time in wet weather, any damage from the water that got in there will probably take more time to create a problem than the frame's lifetime from normal riding.

cyccommute 

Spot welds aren't usually as clean edged and uniform as the picture without some extra work. Given the kind of bike it is, i.e. a cheap department store bike, I doubt that they'd spend a lot of time and money cleaning up welds.

Crimping chainstays is pretty common on department store bikes

sageo3000

I do love passing shiny bikes. I'll get someone to weld it, that'd the best from what i can tell.