Actually, aluminum frames are generally stiffer and likely just as able or more able to handle a heavy load. Keep this in mind if you decide to buy a new bike. I don't know what the used bike market is like in Malta, but in North America it might be cheaper to buy a used replacement bike of similar quality than to pay someone to weld it.

I don't know it it will be all that expensive to grind and wield that plate. I do agree however the Aluminum has almost replaced steel in mountain bikes because they hold up better to the abuse MTBs get. That then makes them ideal as utility bikes. Now if I were touring in third world countries by bike steel might make sense but even there I am not sure. My nephew is just now getting into bicycles and so far is fond of old Schwinn 3 speeds. They were over the other day and his wife had just come home from her first MTB ride. Her brother in law is a big MTB guy and let her use a Top of the line MTB and she is hooked. After the ride they took the two bikes down to the beech for a ride together. Coming home they came to a long stairway from the beech up to the main highway. She picked up the MTB and almost ran up the stairs. He had to follow lugging the 35 pound 3 speed. I am willing to bet when they get her a bike it will not be steel.

Appears aluminum,, 1st seek a warrantee replacement,
If a 2nd hand buy, and so not covered, If there is a Boat repair,
a lot of boats are welded aluminum, so they can weld up the crack,
Given Malta is an Island they certainly must have a boat repair.

There are several misnomers within this thread OP. First of all, there is no way that aluminum can "hold up better to the abuse", than steel framed MTN bikes. Aluminum framed MTN bikes are usually slightly lighter and give a stiffer ride. Most MTN bikers appreciate a stiffer and lighter ride, due to the fact that they feel that they have a greater ride response in both handling and speed.

Also, bicycles made of chromoly steel, are rarely more than a pound or two greater than their aluminum counterparts. In fact, when it comes to your lower end, entry level bicycles there some cases where aluminum bicycle frames even weigh more than their steel counterparts. When we get into the higher end road bikes, you'll get to observe the state-of-the-art highest grades of chromoly steel, such as the 853 and the 631 series. These are the lightest of steel frames and can easily compete with the lighest of aluminum framed road bikes.

When it comes to the durability and resilience of MTB frames, it's more about design and construction, than the material, itself.

Of course, it is easier to abuse an aluminum frame, than a chromoly steel frame....

* Any experienced welder, certified in both MIG and TIG welding, should have no problem repairing the bicycle. Hopefully, he will have some brazing experience, as well.

Your cable is rubbing against the bracket. It might be routed incorrectly.

Augured in...
 

Damaged frame?

...I bought this 15-speed Huffy for $10 to strip for parts to upgrade my 10-speed $10 Huffy.
The previous owner augered it into a creek bank. :( He wasn't hurt, but the headtube is angled the slightly in the wrong direction now. It is cracked under the top tube where it joins the seat post also.

The plate was welded to the chain stay and the plate is braking away from the weld, rather than the weld breaking at the chain stay... to me this would indicate that the plate may have been mis-fitted when it was welded and may have been mitred (if it was mitred) poorly or was contaminated so the weld failed. The contact area between the plate and the chain stay is very small and this contact has broken while the contact at the stay is actually overdone. The bead should have lapped over that plate a little more.

When that plate comes away from the weld you will see the chain stay and the welded bead and would expect that the stay is completely intact as the plate looks to be separating itself.

If the bike is new and under warranty it is a dealer issue.

Repair would be pretty straightforward if you know someone who knows how to weld or braze thin walled tubes and this is the really important part... make sure the person repairing the bike has experience working on bicycles and run away from anyone with a MIG.

Anyone who tells you that any welder can fix this is giving you bad advice.

I don't see that getting fixed... it is a testament to how much abuse even a low end frame can handle but then, they use extra steel when they build Huffy's.

Since you like to talk so much about bike tubeing, in another thread I suggested that you take 3 or 4 steel frame bikes of various price ranges and cut them apart. This is another place where that advice would be appropriate. There is a world of difference in the tubeing wall thicknesses of bikes in the various price points. Basically, the more expensive the frame the harder it's going to be to weld. I'm not sure if a nivecrom frame can even be welded.

That's how bikes are made Retro, they're either brazed, lugged, or TIG welded. TIG welding is the primary method of constructing steel bicycles, these days. Therefore, either TIG welding or brazing would be the two methods available to offer a fix, for the OP's problem.

What does the weld look like where the chain stay meets the bottom bracket? You have to look pretty close. If you see what looks like a human hair adjacent to the weld, that's a crack.

...if the welder has experience with welding thin steel tubing. That ain't the kind of welder you are going to find in "most autobody repair shops". If dabrucru wants to follow your advice, I'd suggest that he take along a 'tin' can (really a steel can) and ask the welder that he'll find at "most autobody repair shops" to weld a plate like the one on his bike to it. If the guy can do that, he might be able to do the weld on the bike without burning a hole in it. Bike tubing isn't much thicker than a 'tin' can.

Hmmm. I'm too lazy to do the research but I'm pretty confident that the tubes on my nivecrom tandem are significantly thinner than a steel soup can. I'm thinking butted cromoly tubes will likely be thinner than a soup can too. OP's bike probably has stays that are a little thicker than that.

A lot of this discussion could be short cut if SlimRider really would cut some bike frames apart so that he could see the differences in wall thicknesses for the various grades of bicycle tubeing.

Steel frames fail because of road vibration resonance that slowly tears a steel frame apart where the vibration is stopped, i.e. the bottom bracket. Thicker walled steel tubing will stop some of this breakage by being better able to sustain/absorb the road vibrations

http://www.brighthub.com/engineering...es/111822.aspx

"The nature of resonant vibration and the accompanying amplification of fatigue stress are discussed in relationship to the damping energy absorbed by a vibrating system. The resonance amplification factor is defined as a measure of the severity of a resonant condition. The sources of damping in a
vibrating system are discussed and classified according to whether they are external (structural) or internal (material). Data on the internal damping properties of a variety of structural materials are presented and the generalizedbehavior is discussed. In cases where internal damping is significant, the
importance of both fatigue strength and damping properties of materials as joint criteria for resonant strength is demonstrated and quantitatively expressed. The analyses are made in terms of the resonant strength constant for the material (the material factor) and the volume-stress function of the part (the part factor).

http://www.dtic.mil/dtic/tr/fulltext/u2/039439.pdf

Slim, I no longer find your special brand of horse puckey annoying. I now find it to be almost inspirational. You are like Rudy, plugging away hoping to make the Notre Dame team, no matter what the odds. Except of course Rudy had a better grasp of football than you apparently do of metallurgy. I think I am going to start to start speaking like you actually. Ah an aluminum frame with Easton tubes. The finest frame material known to man or God. Most if not all stores would be happy, nay, honored to have a bicycle made of such a magnificent material on the floor of their shop.

OMG!!!

I'm so relieved that you can actually make a complete sentence! So you see, there is a God! I've been praying for you ever since that most blessed day, back in May of 2011. Finally, my prayers were answered!

Troll.