Road Fan

Looking for someone to do a frame tube replacement and repaint, in or near Michigan. Anybody have recommendations or experience to share?

BlazingPedals

Assenmacher's in Swartz Creek?

Frame Repair & Paint - Assenmachers.com

79pmooney

I took my Mooney to Mark Nobilette in Ann Arbor. He did good work but you will need a time machine. (I was there in 1986.) He's been in Colorado for decades now.

Ben

Henry III

You could try Herbie Helm or possibly Doug Fattic. He mainly teaches so I don't know if he does side work anymore. I would give Assenmacher a call as I was just there yesterday getting my headtube faced and reamed on the frame I just built. Really nice guy and stayed open past closing for me.

OldsCOOL

My friend John, here in Boyne City is a framebuilder. His shop is called "Bike Fix". He does good work.

Road Fan

For the repair I need, Matt A. costs about as much as a new frame. In previous discussions with Fattic he's tried to send me to Herbie. If you look at Heim's frame prices, I dunno. It's not a super workmanship finely-finished frame though it is a famous maker, Mondonico.

When I spoke to Matt Assenmachers I could see how good it would be to work with him, but I'm not sure any more that saving this 1984 frame is worth the price of a really fine new frame like a Boulder Allroad or Rando. It's a great old frame, but ... I have a few other good road frames.

Blazing, you've seen this silver frame on the OHR rides, though only briefly as you flew past me!

My previous go-to frame person, Ralph Ellis in Ypsilanti, said he could only do the repair for near his price for a new frame.

Road Fan

Thanks, all!

CliffordK

What brand/model of bike are you fixing? What is the damage?

Everything I see is that retail cost of frame repairs are very expensive. There are quite a few old frames up on E-Bay, Craigslist, or at the local bike co-ops for cheaper.

A tube replacement might be a fun challenge.

Road Fan

It's a Mondonico, a hand-made Italian road frame. Frontal crash, the TT and DT are kinked at the head tube lugs.

Road Fan

I can't tell you how many current and former Ann Arborites have shared that with me. It's usually, "isn't that guy, you know, still there over on ... ?" AFAIK he's been in Boulder since the early '90s? The shop that bought all his stuff went out of business a couple of years ago.

CliffordK

There is apparently a headtube straightener/alignment tool that can be used without tube replacement, at least on moderate damage.

https://www.bikeforums.net/classic-vi...take-note.html

No tubes to replace, or paint to do. It might be at least worth considering.

Henry III

I was thinking of the same thing with the park straightener. There's a C&V member who's got one and is regular I believe. No shop I've ever been to had one. Heck I had to take my frame I built to Matt A last month because no shop in the Tri City area (Saginaw/Bay City/Midland) had a head tube face to do my one inch head tube. Matt dusted off his Campag tool box and didn't bat an eye.

Road Fan

I need to post a picture of my Mondo frame. It's Columbus with an unmarked label, but it does not feel super-light, I've always assumed it is equivalent to tradition SL, which it may have preceded. I'm sure it was before super-alloys like Nivachrome and 753. So if it's Cyclex, the metallic composition is the same as CrMo, so it might be possible to straighten the kinks if they are not too deep.

Henry III, are you saying there's a tool in Michigan? If so, that's a weekend day project at worst to drive up and borrow it or to confer in person on my frame.

I took my frame to Matt A. and while he is willing to tackle the tube replacement, he didn't offer the possibility to press out the tubes.

Road Fan

Sorry, duplicate post! My bad!

Henry III

Oh I was just saying there's a member in the C&V forum that has the tool. Sorry for the confusion and got your hopes up. lol.

Road Fan

Ok, finally here's a picture of my Mondonico damage (I don't know why it auto-rotated!):

Road Fan

I've worked with a nearly local builder-repairer on an accurate quote, and it is looking more reasonable at about $1k for the replacements, all labor, a little braze-on upgrading, repainting and all frame prep.

Replacing this frame is not an attractive option. There are very few Mondonicos out there to use as replacements, and I'm not crazy about going back into the cycle of fitting I would need with another frame, especially a new one. New frames I would actually want include the Boulder Allroad or Randonneur, an Ocean Air Rambler, or a L'Avecaise. Any of them would be at least $1600. Since Mondonico went out of business, a US bike shop started working with the family members to keep the flow of product up, but the prices are now above $2500 for the modern version of what I have. I'm not going there.

This frame was my go-to for at least 10 years. I'd really just rather have it back, since a good replacement is so much more $$ and/or would require a lot of time investment for fitting and tuning.

I've also been discussing on another list (not BF) about using lighter-gauge replacement frame tubes to improve the riding of the bike - more like "planing." I need yet to to talk to the builder about that, but I think it should be about the same price - the tubes are not much different in price.

I think I have a thread in Framebuilders or C&V on this general topic. I'm going to move my discussion over there regarding mods to road frames.

Scooper

The top tube and down tube are far too wrinkled to be fixed with the Park Tool HTS-1.

The only reliable fix is to replace the TT and DT with new tubes. Yellow Jersey in Arlington, WI, does nice work at moderate cost (likely less than a new frame). IMHO, it would be worth shooting them an e-mail with that photo of the damage to get an estimate for replacing the tubes.

Here's an example of one of their TT and DT replacements.

Road Fan

Thanks, Stan, I'll have to check out YJ. I didn't know they were prolific in frame repair!

Road Fan

What's the story today?

I spoke to Yellow Jersey, Fattic, and Franklin Frames, and I don't recall what all the responses were, but I wasn't motivated - it was late last summer. Last autumn I took the frame up to Assenmacher Cycles in Swartz Creek, MI and decided to have him do the work, with a few more braze-ons, repaint, and making a set of repro decals. It's always been one of my best riders and really my go-to ride, although my newer ELOS Mondonico is extremely good as well! We talked about going to an 8/5/8 tube in both positions, and he's in favor especially since the modern design that is now called SL (by Columbus) uses 8/5/8 rather than 9/6/9 as used in the '80s or earlier. The metalwork was finished about 2 months ago and it's in his painting process. Cost will be $1k +/- 20%, which is much less than the cost of another bespoke frame (Ocean Aire about $2k), and Rivendell higher than that.

Thanks to Scooper for always showing those Columbus tubing specs!

chas58

Glad its working out.

I was thinking there is a frame builder in Easter Market Detroit (and a couple other guys at the annual spring bike expo in Cobo), but Assenmacher is the way to go if you got the time and $$$