guygadois 

Yeah, the previous owner tried to put a water bottle cage in the Bertin I just bought. The holes are in the seat tube. I would like to fill them in. what is the best way to do this without breaking the bank.



GG

Sirrus Rider

Bondo, Epoxy, or plastic steel are my gotos to try.

realestvin7

You could buy those inserts that actually make them usable. Don't remember who has them.

randyjawa 

A couple of grommets, pirated from another bike, and silver soldered into place would be the easiest way to get the job done. Any competent welder will be easily able to silver solder the grommets into place.

Paint will, of course suffer, but this fix will be much better than trying to plug the holes. Plugging the holes would require a really really competent welder, and the paint will suffer even more.

Michael Angelo 

Steel rivnuts. Do not use the aluminum ones, they do not last. Other than that, you would have to concider repair/ painting.

Bianchigirll 

I am with the do it right crowd. since the holes are already there find a builder painter who can install bottle bosses. you'll have to repaint as pointed out but it gives you a chance to be creative. you could either just touch up the seattube or paint it to contrast the bike.

Personally I am not sure I like the whole rivenut idea.

SteveSGP

Rivnuts work great, that's what's used to install factory roof racks on car/truck roofs.

Hoss Cartright

Steel 'TIME-SERT" is what we use in the racing motorcycle business.

For water bottle cage mounting, I have them installed on some of my less valuable Varsity Continental type riders as well as my 1981 Super LeTour. (I wont mess with my Paramounts, they are too perfect and I want them to remain OEM) But for a rider type, these have worked well for me.

I use red stud and bearing mount lock-tight as well as the fact that the installation tool expands the insert to lock it into place.



web site link - https://www.timesert.com/

Video - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qFSyfY1VLtU

----------------------------------------------

I also have this tool which is nice as well.
Without the air over hydraulic tool the steel inserts are a bear to compress, this is why most people use aluminum.



Website link - https://toolmonger.com/2008/09/19/dea...-nut-tool-kit/

Video - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9rQNB...eature=related

NOTE: It is a good idea to remove the BB beforehand and clean everything as the drill-swarf will drop down the tube and could over time wipe-out your bearings down there.

randyjawa 

I just became a better bicycle restorer, thanks to this thread. I really like the rivet-nut thing and plan to use it on a couple of frames I have hanging in The Old Shed. Thanks Hoss Cartright.

Bianchigirll 

that is why I have a Thule. I always cringe a bit when I see people driving down the road with stuff on the factory roof rack. I always felt (especially in recent years) they were more for decoration than actual use.

SteveSGP

Having worked in the automotive industry for more than 20 years I can tell you that most factory roof racks are very, very solid.

I've got actually got a factory Thule rack for my car, it was designed by Thule for Ford and bolts to hard points that Ford built in to the older Focus hatchbacks and it works great.

The front two mounts are rivnut/timeserts installed by Ford and I've had three road bikes up top in pretty heavy winds and at 70mph freeway speeds and so far no sign of any trouble at all.

Michael Angelo 

Steel rivnuts is all we use in our shop.

guygadois 

I'll look into the rivnuts solution a bit more. I am not sure this bike warrants a repaint which would set the cost in the multiple hundreds although the paint is in very rough shape. I'll post the frame on another thread on opinions on its restorability. It's a neat frame just not sure if it is that neat.

GG

Otis

I had a similar problem with a 70's Centurian (one the nice higher end ones). Some nut had tried to drill it for a seat-tube cage and botched it. Luckily he stopped after the first hole but that was because it was way off center. The original paint and chrome on the frame were almost perfect and I did not want to ruin the paint.

I reamed the hole to the closest fractional size it would clean up to round , then tapped it for that size fine thread screw. I ran in a stainless screw with some green Loctite. After setting up I cut the bolt and carfully filed it flush to the tube without disturbing the paint too much. I got lucky in the fact that this bike had a seat-tube crest decal (which was more like a sticker) right above the hole and it was not clear coated. I was able to remove it and re-attach it a bit lower to cover the repair (which I had put some touch-up paint on). Most cases you would not get that lucky but those world stripe of national color band decals can come in handy for stuff like this.

Bianchigirll 

I think your over thinking the paint. I don't think there is enough heat involved in the brazing/soldering to mess up much of the paint. I think touchup would be minimal and you could even do contrasting stripes.

what about just a few quick wraps of this??

ultraman6970

+1 with hoss catright... my question is, why the bike did not have the holes already, is a city bike or something??

U can use any type of putty anyways, fill the hole. sand, paint and ready to go.

rootboy 

I like this

Bianchigirll 

back before say '86 most lowerend end bikes did not have any bottle brazeons, and most of the mid to upper end only had one set.

ultraman6970

Interesting what u say bianchigirl, forgot that detail

DId u go or will go to the swap met in chicago???

squirtdad

disagree. Based on my own fiddling around with brazing and similar (ok I will fess up removing a brake cable boss for my son's fixie) the amount of heat needed will give something like at least a silver dollar sized paint burn. which it pretty big for touch up.

there is an alternate to touch up or total repaint.....paint the tube a different color. you see that pretty often and it both covers both brazings and is less work/cost than a total repaint

dbakl

In my experience those won't hold in a thin hole. You could weld or braze 'em, but it would wreck the paint!

As someone mentioned, there were water bottle mounts that could be added to a right sized hole, but I never used them or know if they're still made.

dbakl

Ha, ha.

A bicycling friend who is very, very unaware recently ripped giant holes out of his Lexus roof when he drove into the garage with the family bikes on top. But it all worked out because he left the garage door open and their 3 brand new expensive bikes were stolen. Now he has duct tape on the roof of his car covering the gashes and they pile their old POS bikes in the leather back seat.

Bianchigirll 

I mentioned that, and I think even a 6 or 8" band of color on the seat tube will not look too bad

Alan Edwards

Go to Aircraft Spruce and Speciality, they carrie everything aircraft.