Steve, you have done the right thing by asking experiences builders their opinion. When I looked at an enlarged view of your photo of the patch, it is possible to see a crack that extends beyond your added gusset. This crack filled with silver when you did the repair. A crack left like that means you have not met the minimum standard of acceptable framebuilding tolerances. It clearly has the potential to break and therefore is a liability to whoever may ride it in the future. Unless you replace the tube or cut the frame up, it is always possible that someone will get hurt riding it. We have a moral/ethical responsibility as framebuilders to make sure we always meet the minimum standard – which is that to the best of our knowledge we have made a frame good enough that won’t break under normal circumstances. Yours does not pass that minimal test.

Of course before you either replace the tube or cut up the frame (I can’t think of a 3[SUP]rd[/SUP] option) you (and only you) can ride it around the block a few times to see if the fit is right and the geometry is what you want. But to leave it as is means it is always possible for the frame to be ridden sometime by someone else when it breaks.

Learning to build frames is expensive. Either you pay a good instructor to teach you the right way or you make a bunch of mistakes trying to figure it out on your own. The disadvantage of doing it yourself is that poorly built frames in the beginning can hang around hurting your reputation long after you have gotten better.