Velorific

Jesus Christ! Now I am looking at a _steel_ frame (not carbon etc) correct? If so, I've never seen anything quite like that before! Wow! So just left-right pedaling caused this? Surely there was some fault in the metal _and_ with the tempering/hardening/quenching etc? Is this Columbus tubing?

CliffordK

Whew.
Got it home

Apparently it is a home-built conversion.

The welds aren't too great.
The paint is really bad.

Another buyer beat me to it yesterday, but discovered that one of the welds had cracked and balked at it.

The seller wanted to drop the price to $20 before I even saw it.
I just couldn't do it for $20.
Anyway, I ended up with the cargo bike PLUS a Schwinn OCC Chopper that I'll probably end up parting out for $80 total.
I thought it was a good deal. And the seller was ready to sell me everything else he owned too.

So, then the only challenge was to drag it all home on my bike.

I thought the Cantis were missing, and sure enough... Cantis in the photo, no Cantis on the bike
I had planned on repairing it on the spot and riding it home, but not with a broken back.



The seat post isn't bad

Don't some people say that the seat and pedals are just for show, and most serious bike buyers will replace them anyway

CliffordK

The Colnago BiTitan is Titanium. I am somewhat new to the use of Titanium in bikes, but I think it is both more springy than steel, but also more brittle than steel which has been a challenge to some frame builders.

I am pretty sure the frame was raced on. I don't know about crashes, but I could imagine in the heat of a race that a rider would not necessarily stop to investigate strange noises originating from the frame.

Velorific

Ti. OK. I've read there are 2 types (3Al/2.5V and 6Al/4V) commonly used for the manufacture of bicycle frames.....I wonder which yours is?..... Still I suspect something was off with the tempering/quenching etc What did Colnago have to say? I would think they'd want to replace that under Warranty--having that floating around is not good advertising for their brand....

Clang

Picture is a tad dark. Use your imagination!

[h=2]TREK OCLV CARBON FIBER BIKE 9700 - $800 (st paul, MN)[/h]TREK OCLV CARBON FIBER BIKE 9700



This is a really nice bike in great condition. It is super lite and fast tires are new. Just in time for spring

CliffordK

It is beyond me why the sellers don't spend a few seconds to adjust their brightness/contrast, although that photo is difficult to get a good image with.
There are, of course, the upside-down images, and sidways images.
Anybody hear of a FLASH? They aren't even disposable today.


Usually I don't use my dirty laundry as a background for my images. Perhaps that is a St. Paul thing. Are they buried under a 10 foot snowbank?

The prices seem to be all over the place on late 90's former high-end mountain bikes.

KonAaron Snake 

The Colnago ti twin tube bikes are well known for failures. A local shop owner had one and i was with him when it cracked on a climb a few years back. If memory serves, Colnago had a czek outfit build those.

6/4 isn't used much - it's harder on tooling and difficult to work with.

CliffordK

Most of the manufacture warranties only cover the original purchaser which I am not.
It looks like Colnago's warranty is also only a 3 yr warranty (today). I have heard of people with broken dropouts on CF frames and major problems sourcing spare parts.

As far as I can tell, Colnago is only making bikes out of Steel, Carbon Fiber, and Aluminum. I think Titanium has been dropped from their lineup, so finding a suitable substitute would be difficult. I sent a note to Colnago asking what alloy they used, and got no response, although perhaps I should have kept at it, or tried a phone call.

Since it is a welded frame, it is more complicated to replace the downtube than would be true with a brazed frame. My original plan was to carefully trim the seat tube away from the bottom bracket, and splice in a new piece of Titanium at about the "O" in Colnago. That should leave enough seat tube for most seat posts, and should be a reasonably good place for the splice as far as overall leverage.

Or, perhaps it will be a wall hanging.

Velorific

Yeah I know about many Manufacturers Frame Warranty restrictions only covering the Original Owner. I am though, surprised Colnago's Frame Warranty is only 3 years. My Koga frame has a Lifetime Warranty.....

Finally, just curious, if you have the resources & experience to Tig weld Ti bicycle tubing [the repair you mention] why not just build a new bike (and hang the Colnago on the wall)?

Velorific

Interesting background info.... Thanks! I guess it pays to know who actually makes the frames(!) If I were spending what Ti bikes cost I think I'd just add a bit more & go w/ something from Dario Pegoretti or Richard Sachs

CliffordK

I suppose some of the issue is just getting started.

My welds aren't perfect. Still working on that. I haven't tried welding Titanium yet. After wanting to do aluminum for quite some time, I finally tried it out last fall and found it rather frustrating as my weld would either pile up on top, or fall out to nothing.

I did build my current cargo bike. Well.. merging two bikes together to make a unique one of a kind build. Plus the scratch build cargo trailer. And have a second cargo trailer in the works. I suppose some of what I need is more practice.

I will probably do a scratch build of a lugged steel frame sometime this spring which may be a game changer. But, I still need to make the jigs to hold everything in place.

One of the issues that one runs into is the price of used frames vs new parts.

For example:
Recently purchased Titanium Litespeed Forkless Frame: $100 (with seat and Titanium seatpost).

From Nova: Titanium Tubing Set, $370.25 Plus Titanium Dropouts $40 Plus Titanium Bottom Bracket $36.50 Plus???

It is hard to justify building my own at 4x the cost of buying it complete.

Even looking at a steel frame, it is easy to get $200 to $300 in tubes, lugs, and dropouts, especially when including the fork. That is the range of many complete used bikes.

I have a couple of Carbon Fiber Frames to build up with less than $200 invested in each. Even so, I should probably prowl for donor bikes for the components.

I was going to begin my next cargo bike build soon (and probably will make another long tail this year). But, it is hard to compete with finding a nearly complete one for $40.

But, I suppose that is where the benefit of custom builds is. Making the stuff that is not readily available cheaply. The unique stuff. Cargo bikes, Folding Bikes, etc.

My machining capabilities are still a bit rudimentary, but slowly getting better. My Litespeed build did include a custom drill guide to drill my brake bridge which worked well as well as making a bushing/shim to mount the jockey wheel on the rear derailleur.

I suppose I could make things like Jockey Wheels, but again it is hard to justify the labor for a $5 part.

Another need is to just try out a variety of bike styles to get a feel for each. So, for example, while I like my long-tail cargo bike, the front load bike will be interesting to try out once repaired.

zazenzach

Original Italy Frame Bianchi FE Steel English Threats 56cm 21inch | eBay

came across this gem.

Check out the bottom bracket and the "chrome" on the rear triangle.

CliffordK

It says it was professionally repaired.
But it looks like they used playdough.

I certainly could use a better description of the damage, and the unpainted repair.

Vintage_Cyclist

[h=2]Centurion Dave Scott Ironman '80s steel road bike - $2500[/h]
Such a deal

CliffordK

Perhaps This guy will buy it

Velorific

"I suppose some of the issue is just getting started."


CliffordK, Yes, I agree--the 2,000 mile journey begins with the first step. As far as the welding goes I know there's a lot to Tig welding Titanium & a lot of choices have to be exactly right: AC or DC, Torch Size, Power Settings, Type of Shielding Gas, Amount of Shielding Gas, Post Flow Settings (Amount of time the Shielding Gas remains flowing over the weld after the welding arc has stopped) etc etc etc. I watched a very helpful video on Tig Welding a while back (Tig Welding Basics by Ron Covell, 2006)--if I recall the author does charge for the DVD (at least he used to). I'm sure you can find his website via Google Search.

As far as pricing tubing etc, the closest I'd come to anything like that was perusing Richard Sachs website [Lugged Steel Frames only]--some pretty interesting reading from someone who is IMHO one of the 2 best bicycle makers in the World (the other is, of course, (again, IMO) Dario Pegoretti [Tig Welded Steel Frames]). Here is a link to RS's site: Richard Sachs Framebuilding Material | RICHARD SACHS CYCLES

Best of luck with whatever you end up building. If you do decide to do more Tig welding I highly recommend at least considering watching Ron Covell's Tig Welding Basics video--it helped me to get a very thorough understanding of the basics of Tig Welding (plus more!) pretty quickly. ::I think I need to re-watch it for a refresher!::

P.S. Thanks for those links to Nova Cycle Supply--I hadn't heard of them.

smontanaro 

This isn't really wacky. Perhaps it's anti-wacky. I have a weakness for buying odd groups of parts where I only want one or two items, planning to sell off the rest (or toss 'em in the parts bin). So I noticed this eBay auction today by eBay user "davaroo". It's your normal oddball collection of parts, but unlike most such auctions, the seller actually took decent close-up pictures (in focus, properly lit, close enough to determine manufacturer, etc) of the parts he's selling. In fact, I thought enough of it, I sent the guy a note:

Rocky Gravol

What's with that stem?


Very Cool Bike!

CliffordK

It looks like a home-made stem extension.

Just the perfect bike to replace Scott's busted up frame.

reiker

Looks like they used a seatpost adapter or something...

Murray Missile 

No, it's a quill stem extender but it is definitely a strange arrangement.

Bikedued

All info is wrong, and so is the price... If only they would let me buy the frame only.,,,,BD

GARY FISHER WAHOO 21 SPEED MOUNTAIN BIKE. 19" FRAME

CliffordK

It would make a nice commuter.

Looking at Bikepedia, the older bikes were Chromoly, the new ones Aluminum.
1996 Gary Fisher Wahoo - BikePedia
2010 Gary Fisher Wahoo - BikePedia

No doubt they had no idea what kind of bike they had and were madly copying information off of the internet.

Aren't rim brakes just big disc brakes afterall?

Looks a little rusty on the cassette/freewheel, and chain which worries me a bit about the overall condition.

Perhaps $75 on the moderate low side,
$150 to $175 on the high side.

The 25" bicycle wheels are rarer than hens teeth, and would be worth a bonus.

radeln

Looks like the recalled Shimano cranks also.

CliffordK

So, a free brand new set of cranks in the deal too.
That would be nice.

And, if you're wanting to rebuild, something you could throw up onto E-Bay