sailorbenjamin

I think I already know the answer but I hate to throw out anything in my size that's actually mad in Europe. It's just a gaspipe bikeboom bike, right? These splits in the stays are more or less fatal, right?


See the daylight coming through the left one?

non-fixie 

My, my. What's going on today with all these frames splitting in the weirdest places? How did this happen?

BTW, kind of a cool bike. It would be nice if you could save it from the trash.

unterhausen

slap some duct tape on there and call it good. Probably better off at the metal recyclers

dbakl

Looks pretty low end. Almost anything would be as good.

Bianchigirll 

Did I start something? Is everyone running to the bike cave inspecting their frames?

lostarchitect 

Yes, they are hi-ten steel. I had one for a while. They are decent riding bikes, but not worth that kind of repair. I wonder if that was done with a kickstand mount?

sailorbenjamin

I was sort of thinking it got full of water and then froze. Anyone want any parts off of it?

non-fixie 

Cut off the front triangle and it'll make a nice stool for the workshop.

harpon

Can you "sleave" it with some other sheet- braze fill or tack- use aluminum and worm clamps, for god's sakes- if you want to trash it- send it this way. I'll pay shipping.

I LOVE "gaspipe" vintage!

miamijim

Factory crimps for tire clearance.

Boat anchor.

RubberLegs

Atala, Italian equivalent of Schwinn...or a bit lower with Murray and Huffy coming to mind? I have seen some Atala's that looked pretty niece, but many looked very "Entry Level"

sailorbenjamin

Yeah, I'll send it your way. Are you sue you really want it, though?

auchencrow

You're just lucky you weren't riding it at the time.

Look here what can happen when gas-pipe breaks!

oddjob2

Nice seat designs

https://www.raymondrawls.com/?page_id=73

JohnDThompson 

Nothing weird about this one: the splits appeared where the stay was crimped for wheel clearance.

ThermionicScott 

Is it seamed tubing, with the seam toward the inside?

3alarmer 

[h=2]This Atala is dead, right?[/h]...........yes.

JohnDThompson 

No, the crimping work-hardens the metal, which creates a stress riser that allows a crack to form.

Mace350

Run a weld down each split and call it a day

harpon

Yeah- I'd take it and give you something for handling too.If you're serious, send me a personal message, and let me know what it would cost.

sailorbenjamin

PM sent. Better you than the scrap metal guy!

harpon

This Atala will have a new lease on life!

So Ben was kind enough to send me this for the shipping, along with a few things that go on it-

It's been here about six hours I guess and I've painted it and started touching up the decals-
the frame damage isn't as bad as I expected- being open creases at the bottom of indentations put in the tubes during manufacture- I'll probably at least sweat some kind of metal into the surface and mostly fill the crease otherwise- they are behind the support and probably don't take that much away from the frames integrity- except that it's a 24" and will probably be ridden by someone pretty big eventually-

my thought before it arrived was perhaps that it could be partially filled behind the damage- get some ball bearing or plug to go into the chain stays behind the creases, and then fill it with what/ Bondo? Epoxy? JB Weld? Sweated metal?

It 's gonna be tough to do anything there either way- but I'd be more likely to try some bondo or epoxy behind it- I think it would be tough to get any melt inside the tubes-

So anyway- I used a can of Krylon Metallic Gold I had around- I use the silver Chrome to recondition a lot of parts and it matches a brushed alloy sheen- Red Devil from Big Lots is a little more shiny chromy- but Big Lots nearby has closed- I bought a can on my road trip to pick up that 3 speed south of Ocala-

I'm SURPISED at how nice the Metallic Gold does look on a bike frame- and HIGHLY RECOMMEND- if I ever paint any others, this may be a high choice- since it was canary yellow already- I just gave it a light sanding and let the gold paint fly- very pleased with the results- and I'll clearcoat both the paint and the reconditioned decals and the repair area when that's dealt with-

the decals I was also fortunate with- to have literally dug out of the trash a couple of years back some nice oil based metallic blue- and so I'm using an artists brush to paint that around the letters and some white enamal sprayed into the can lid to lightly touch the letters- the top rainbow stripes on the seat tube are practically now all by hand as the decal was torn up there. The first coats are done and most of the decals tears are now visually covered- the hand painted blue metallic paint is going to give the decals a metallic look now to match the frame paint- , and I've masked around the headbadge which is in great shape-

The flat blue anno bars I took off another bike and painted just a few days ago, the red bianchi in the background in fact- replaced with some alloy ones I had..

I'm amazed at how great the bike looks in several hours. I almost hate to do this to Ben, but he asked me to post pictures- so here are a few:

BEFORE

sailorbenjamin

Wow, that looks great!. I think this bike found the right person.
I'm fond of JB Weld. Make sure the metal is clean. Maybe put something like a piece of coathanger in the grove so that the JB doesn't have to make the whole fillet by itself. Brazing would be ideal, though.

harpon

I've never used JB weld- What is the consistency like? I'm thinking of it down the inside of the tube- is it liquid enough to run down into the tube?
I think Bondo starts a little thick to get it to pour down into the tube- I haven't used any for years- and don't recall the working time before it hardens-
Expanding foam might give it some support from inside too-

I'm going to read up on brazing- I thought maybe I could just fill the crease and much of the manufactured indentation with solder? Don't know much about it this point- but just got a soldering iron and some flux to fix some loose connections on an old Pioneer Receiver I found in a thrift store.

So the fill is just for the inside really- Yes- some kind of metal for the outside- that alumalloy stuff? right now I don't have a brazing torch.

Grand Bois

Just be sure to make full disclosure when you sell it.