I'm not sure of the best place to ask this but I've got a small crack in the underside of a steel bottom bracket shell that I need repaired.

Can anyone recommend a welder in the Boston area?

Thanks.

That is the most unlikely place for a crack that I can think of, can you post photos? There are lots of framebuilders in the Boston area. Maybe ask Geekhouse if they know someone that would do the repair

Thanks for the quick reply.

I thought it was an odd spot too, here's an image of the crack. It's about 14mm in length.

there is almost always a seam there, which can cause a paint problem which might lead you to believe it is cracked when it isn't. I would check inside the bb shell to see if it's really cracked. Just from what I see, I can't imagine that welding that frame is economic

I took off the lockring but haven't removed the entire BB yet, the crack did show where the lockring was removed. I'll take out the BB to see how bad it is from the inside.

The frame itself is a 1972 Peugeot PX-10, it's all going to depend on the cost of the repair.

Maybe check with Geekhouse bikes? Antbike Mike? Call down to Broadway Bicycle School and see if they can recommend someone?

So you need someone who can weld this, which shouldn't be all that hard to find (what were they made of in 72). Then when the welding is done they need to own, or you need to go to someone who has expensive tap/reamers, and doesn't mind running them through a weld. And they need to have the tools to do a French BB. So you are looking for an expert tig welder with a passion for French lugged bikes... Who works cheap... And doesn't know what expensive tap/reamers are supposed to be used for...

Realistically...

If I was fixing this, I would probably get a piece of tubing that is in the range, and braze it over the whole mess. Maybe it could be configured to do something else useful like run cables. That way you still have the BB in a condition from which it might be reamed. But you still need to have the French tools?

I think it could also be fixed with a bunch of carbon tow.

Or a band like a strong band clamp

interesting it showed on the end of the bb shell, maybe it was defective from the factory

Thanks for the feedback everyone. I've put a feeler out to Geekhouse.

If it turns out to be something that's out of budget I'll probably just part the bike out and perhaps sell the frame to someone willing to fix it or deal with it.

Thanks.

there will need be a re tapping the Threads inside after welding outside ..+ a repaint.


kind-of like D..
Knock off those rivets take it down to bare metal and you can lay a sheet of steel over that seam, curved to match.

and braze it over the whole bottom of the BB..shell doubling it's thickness ..

to be perfectly honest, I don't think it's a crack. They formed these out of flat pieces of metal and welded them where the "crack" is. Maybe this was a bad weld, but I really doubt it's going to propagate. I would ride it and keep an eye on it. The bb will start creaking long before anything serious happens

If you consider Providence as Boston area, I know Circle A in Providence does a bunch of steel repairs.