850 Trek freeze crack

[AL_BUNDY]

I left my 850 out side one to many times when I thought my riding days were over. It got water inside the chain stay and froze. there is a small bulge on the bottom of the stay with a 1/2" long crack running lengthwise. Can any good welder with a heliarc repair this. I do have a frame builder 15 miles away but he may not want to do it. I just had a bike shop do a overhaul on it and they didn't mention it until the work was done so I have a good dependable ride with a cracked frame.

[JohnnyCO]

Your welder buddy may or may not want to do it. Liability thing. Probably want to do something yourself with it. The classic JB Weld would be my line of action. BUT, being a mechanic I would advise you NOT to ride this anymore, cause you could jack yourself. If its a bike your real happy with, you could strip it and build up a new frame. Even another used frame. Those Trek 850 frames are a dime a dozen. Garage sales, craigslist, or bike shops always seem to have random bikes in the back. Check it out. Good luck.

[AL_BUNDY]

I shot an email off to Teesdale asking him to look at it. I cant believe they did all that work and charged me knowing this crack was there. In fact they made me sign a release saying they showed it to me.
It was Scheels running a special. They told my the shifters were junk and wanted to sell me new ones for $40. I told them I wanted to think about it and took the old ones home. I had them working in 5 minutes. The grease had just thickened. So they put them back on. Ill probably junk it. Its a shame. It has fairly recent new bottom bracket and headset. It has LX equipment but Im just not into another build. I have the Raleigh M 60 in the picture + a Raleigh R-300 tourer in showroom condition, and an old Maruishi. so Im not hurting for something to ride. I just though the trek would be good for when there was snow on the ground

[xerxes]

If the parts are serviceable, don't throw away the whole thing, strip all the parts off the frame and either sell them or keep them as spares.

[X-RAY]

in the words of roy d. mercer,"how big a fella are ya?" have you noticed any flexing around the crack? how hard do you ride it? i completely understand why others say not to trust it,but if it was my ride i would try it. im not saying you should though. remember lassie or whichever dog movie made us cry as a kid? felt better when you saw their puppy at the end. (maybe im thinkin of joe dirt). anyhow, the spirit of your bike can live on by taking all your components and putting them on another frame. it will be a great experience if you havent done it before, you can learn alot.

[AL_BUNDY]

I built this one. I bought it at a police auction. It was a bare frame with the crank-set. I just dont have it in me to do that again. Thats why I paid scheels to overhaul it. Never thought maybe stop drilling brazing it is a good answer. The crack is at least running in a good direction

[X-RAY]

stop drilling may work, i dont know about brazing as im not familiar enough with it. i must admit, something about al bundy and crack made me half afraid to read this thread.

[RobAR]

I'm not a frame-builder but I have a friend that is. I pointed him to this and he said "no problemo". BUT... then he said "but", you can't just sew it up. It needs a plate welded over and even then no guarantee. Luckily it is rearward of the stress zone and not dangerous on a hardtail. He recommends putting the bike into Light Duty / Loaner service.

[Bill]

Being that you said it was intended for a "winter beater" (excuse the lingo lol) you I have to agree with the light duty service. Usually I would say just strip it and build another one. But if you are not going off road jumping and etc you may be ok, BUT I would probably strip it.

[KC-Steve]

(11-07-2010, 10:31 AM)X-RAY Wrote:  . . . i must admit, something about al bundy and crack made me half afraid to read this thread.

He-he, X2. If the original poster is anything like the character on the TV show "Married With Children" then I would say watch out, he's gonna crash!

The final scene in the TV show has ole' Al Bundy bandaged from head to toe laying in a hospital bed.

Steve

[JohnnyCO]

JB Weld and cruiser riding. BUT...

[AL_BUNDY]

Well Got-er welded buy non other then Tom Teesdale. $10. And Scheels give me my money back. That means something bad must be a coming.

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