Originally Posted by
rseeker
So I need to replace my frame. It's old, it's aluminum, I'm a big guy, I like to stand up on hills and work it, and I can see cracks forming.
I don't want to get a whole new bike because I like this one, I've nursed it back to health from being pretty far gone, and even though I will eventually have replaced everything, I still want to think of it as the same bike, the one I know every nut and bolt on.
I'll talk to the maker but I don't think they sell bare frames. If that's the case, who else sells frames? Is there the equivalent of bikesdirect.com for frames only? (I'll be looking at steel too, as well as aluminum.)
I'll be checking craigslist but ours isn't very good here, we don't have much of a bike culture (yet -- give it five years). Right now I'm stuck riding in my driveway and up and down my little street. If I run out of patience I'll just buy a new frame somewhere, and that's what I'm asking about.
I just saw it a couple days ago. The paint flaked off along the edge of it, which is why I noticed it. I went back and looked at old pictures and it definitely wasn't visible last year. I scraped some more paint off across that area and then buffed it with scotchbrite to get a clean surface. It's hard to see it even under magnification, but there is a thin line crossing the exposed area, it's a crack. Darn it. The bike has been creaking for a while, maybe this is why.
We don't know where "here" is but you can get a number of frames from just about any bike shop through QBP (Quality Bike Parts which is a major distributor of bike parts in the US). They might not be as cheap as Nashbar but they are still good bikes. They can get you All City and Surly as well as some others.
Another option is always Fleabay. You need to be discriminating but I've found some very good deals over the years...two titanium mountain bikes, a full suspension frame and a touring frame. One thing to look for now is titanium frames which are becoming dirt cheap as people dump their titanium for carbon...less so than about 5 years ago but you can still find some very nice Ti frames for a fraction of the original price.
On the other hand, it may just be cheaper to go with a new bike. Swapping parts from one frame to another is fraught with fit issues. Most of the time the parts fit but not always. Seatposts are the most common item I've found that doesn't make the transition but, if the new frame doesn't come with a fork, forks can end up too short and they are much more expensive to replace. There can also be issues with headsets. If the original bike has a classic headset and the new one has an integrated or zero stack, that's an added cost.
If you haven't swapped frame parts, the process can be daunting as well. You'll need tools you may not have...extra expense. You might need cable and housing...extra expense. If you don't have experience with doing the job, it's easy but not simple. I've done it many times and can generally build up the bike in an afternoon but for a newbie, you can make mistakes that can really screw up the bike. Crossthreading a bottom bracket can ruin your day and it is really easy to do.
I don't mean to put you off the idea of doing a bike frame swap...it's a lot of fun to do...but just realize that there are some pitfalls and try to avoid them.