Did I Just Buy A Big Mistake!!! Cracked BB, '76 Bob Jackson
#1
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Did I Just Buy A Big Mistake!!! Cracked BB, '76 Bob Jackson
Well, I had just gotten back from a ride on Saturday morning when I took a look at my local online bike-parts site and saw this '75 Bob Jackson frame, only 6 minutes into it's posting.
I immediately called the number and asked if I could come look at it, got there in 45 minutes and looked it over. Of course it was filthy and had quite a bit of rust, the bubbling kind. Okay I thought, here's my chance to paint a frame the color I want and it's my size! Although it had Bob Jackson head-tube and seat-tube decals, it did not have the usual Bob Jackson text on the down-tube and I couldn't find any tubing type decals. It did have several Campy components still on it and "Prodotti Campagnolo Speciali" decals, as well as large red Campagnolo decals on the top-tube. The dropouts were also painted red, with no chrome underneath. But when I looked at the bottom bracket, I could see a little bubbling of paint running midway along the BB-seat-tube flange. I didn't see a crack and just hoped it was a scratch in the paint that had gotten rusty. Bought it, took it home and started to clean it up and inspect the BB. I took a fine Exacto blade and started to peel off some of the bubbling paint around the BB, and then the rust. Now I could clearly see a crack ! The more I cleaned off paint and rust, the more the crack was exposed. My heart just sank and my stomach started turning. I felt awful !!! Did I just make a big mistake or what.
I had no experience with this sort of thing so I spent the next day researching what to do, only to come to the conclusion that it was going to cost some big bucks to fix. Big bucks that I would rather spend on my other cycles.
The next day my stomach still felt awful, so I decided I would try calling the seller back and see if he would be willing to take the frame back. Well, before I could finish saying that the paint bubbling had turned out to be a crack, he said "just bring it back and I'll give you your money back"! So back went the bike and I got my money. I did buy the Campy bits on it.
The guy re-posted it and made a special note that it had a BB crack. Someone bought it a few days later.
Anyone on the forum ?
Here's a few pics of what the crack looked like.
Anyone else have a bad buy turn out okay?
I immediately called the number and asked if I could come look at it, got there in 45 minutes and looked it over. Of course it was filthy and had quite a bit of rust, the bubbling kind. Okay I thought, here's my chance to paint a frame the color I want and it's my size! Although it had Bob Jackson head-tube and seat-tube decals, it did not have the usual Bob Jackson text on the down-tube and I couldn't find any tubing type decals. It did have several Campy components still on it and "Prodotti Campagnolo Speciali" decals, as well as large red Campagnolo decals on the top-tube. The dropouts were also painted red, with no chrome underneath. But when I looked at the bottom bracket, I could see a little bubbling of paint running midway along the BB-seat-tube flange. I didn't see a crack and just hoped it was a scratch in the paint that had gotten rusty. Bought it, took it home and started to clean it up and inspect the BB. I took a fine Exacto blade and started to peel off some of the bubbling paint around the BB, and then the rust. Now I could clearly see a crack ! The more I cleaned off paint and rust, the more the crack was exposed. My heart just sank and my stomach started turning. I felt awful !!! Did I just make a big mistake or what.
I had no experience with this sort of thing so I spent the next day researching what to do, only to come to the conclusion that it was going to cost some big bucks to fix. Big bucks that I would rather spend on my other cycles.
The next day my stomach still felt awful, so I decided I would try calling the seller back and see if he would be willing to take the frame back. Well, before I could finish saying that the paint bubbling had turned out to be a crack, he said "just bring it back and I'll give you your money back"! So back went the bike and I got my money. I did buy the Campy bits on it.
The guy re-posted it and made a special note that it had a BB crack. Someone bought it a few days later.
Anyone on the forum ?
Here's a few pics of what the crack looked like.
Anyone else have a bad buy turn out okay?
#2
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Kudos to the seller taking it back! We need more honorable people like that in this crazy world we live in!
Good for you getting your money back too, and getting to purchase the nice bits from the bike!
Chombi
Good for you getting your money back too, and getting to purchase the nice bits from the bike!
Chombi
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That bike is awaiting a disastrous failure.
Good thing you were able to give it back, and part with the desirable parts.
Good thing you were able to give it back, and part with the desirable parts.
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Brian Baylis has done a bottom bracket shell transplant, a lot of work. This one also probably requires a new seat tube. It can be done, but is it worth it? I don't think so, I would hang it up or sand blast it and have it tig welded to see how long it would last, if it were to fail again it will not be a catastrophic failure, but of course would happen far from home as that is the nature of things.
Bob Jackson in the middle 70's was pumping them out in quantity, in comparison to times before and after. I am surprised they don't show up more often.
Bob Jackson in the middle 70's was pumping them out in quantity, in comparison to times before and after. I am surprised they don't show up more often.
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The simplest (and not simple) way to repair would be to pull the BB shell and replace with a fillet brazed shell. Still a big job. It certainly might be possible to build up a fillet around the crack without removing the shell, but it would be ugly.
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Man, I'm just happy you didn't discover that after you'd built it up and taken it for a test-ride!
+1 kudos to the seller; in this day and age "tough s**t" would be the most likely answer.
Glad it all worked out.
DD
+1 kudos to the seller; in this day and age "tough s**t" would be the most likely answer.
Glad it all worked out.
DD
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Good karma all round, that seller did the right thing.
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SP
Bend, OR