Help identify damaged frame [pic heavy]
 

This frame belonged to a friends' uncle. She tells me that he built it up himself 'back in the 80s' and did a lot of touring on it. It had a mix of Shimano 600 and Suntour ax 5000 parts. Eventually he managed to crack the seat stays off, perform what may be the world's worst ever welding job trying to re-attach them, and then crack them off again (surprise) before putting the bike in his basement for the next 20 years. I moved all of the components to a new frame for her and she is merrily buzzing along on her new bike now, but I can't help to wonder what this frame was before it met such a sad end.

The only marking I can find is the RGF on the bottom bracket lug. Dropouts on the frame are Campagnolo. The fork and fork dropouts both say Tange. The frame itself is very light. Can anyone shed some light on what this frame may have been or where it may have come from?

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-C...605_194233.jpg

https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-4...605_194011.jpg

https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-G...605_194301.jpg

https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-o...605_194329.jpg

https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-t...605_194020.jpg

https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-3...605_194347.jpg

https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-D...605_194156.jpg

wow, that is the worst weld job i've ever seen. no penetration whatsoever and apparently zero attempt at any kind of technique. i wonder if that was done with a wire feed welder with the wire moving way too fast or they just melted an entire rod onto it.

looks like it was a very nice frame. i'm sure it could be fixed...

btw here's a San Remo with the same bb shell

http://www.flickr.com/photos/hurrica...n/photostream/

I found a Torpado about 15 years ago that looked like that. Just a horrible attempt to wire-feed a set of stays...

I know very little about frame repair. Is this something that could be repaired well enough that I could ride it? And the second question would be is this frame worth sinking the money into? I assume it wouldn't be cheap.

Sweet. What are you going to do with it? I'll take it off your hands. I know a frame builder that can fix'er right up.

RFG was a French company, I believe. I have a bottom bracket of theirs that's Italian thread. What thread is the BB?

i'd say no unless there is sentimental or some other unknown value - many vintage frames that are undamaged can be easily had on the cheap (or for free)

It looks like a pretty nice frame except for the "Ohmygod" fail weld.

Marley's right, it's unlikely that you could get it professionally repaired for less than you could simply buy another usable vintage frame. Looks like it might be a fun project for an advanced beginner who has learned to braze and wants to try something practical.

I forget what the treading was, I took it apart quite a while ago. I'll take a look tonight when I get home from work.

that would make sense. I have a Bertin with that stamp on the bb shell, but French threaded. same lug windows too.

Did you ever figure out the threading and what you wanted to do with it?