I’ve had a Bianchi Via Nirone (their entry level alloy road bike) for 3 years through the cycle to work scheme. Over the last fortnight it’s developed an annoying creak, so sat down on Sunday to give it a clean & stick in a new BB/chain/cassette. After taking off the rear wheel, I discovered that the drive side dropout had sheared off the frame completely! Pic below – the wheel had basically been held on by the QR done up tight against the RD hanger.

So….is this fixable (without spending silly money)? I’m fond of the bike (it was my first ‘proper’ road bike) and it looks lovely, but also conscious of the fact that as a ~110kg rider who covers most of his miles commuting something steel with disc brakes and wider rubber might be more sensible. I could probably persuade my better half that this would be a good time for an upgrade, and the Fairlight Faran looks awfully nice…

Great excuse to buy a new bike 🙂

(I’d consider it scrap if it were mine, tbh)

Normally cracked alloy frames are busted, even if they can be successfully welded, they can’t then practically be re-heat treated.

But as the actual triangle on that is still sound, (i.e. stays are still attached to the dropout), with a proper clean, preparation of all surfaces and some decent glue, (Loctite 326 and the associated activator) I think I’d risk that. Probably relegate it to pub-bike duty and maybe a bolted spindle in rear hub rather than QR. Obviously if you ever needed to replace the hanger you’d be buggered then.

It’s toast. New frame time. The hanger is barely held on, so I wouldn’t bond the drop out.

Yup, clean it up, stick it together and ride it until its properly dead…

It can’t be repaired.

OK, that’s your due diligence done, you tried, go buy the fairlight

Get the frame replaced under warranty.

Warranty

Yep. 5 year warranty

Thanks everyone – should have added, I emailed the dealer I got it off to start a warranty claim but the paperwork all went missing during a house move a few years back. I have a vague idea that the manual specified a max rider weight (almost certainly <110kg) but will see what comes of it.

In terms of a replacement – for a ~100 mile a week commuter bike that I’ll take out for 30-50 miles probably once a month, is the strael 105 worth the £300 over the faran? Is the difference between 853 and 631 steel better strength at lower weight? I don’t necessarily need clearance for massive tyres – being able to run some 30c G-one speeds with guards would be fine, so the strael looks perfect, but not sure I’ll squeeze the extra £s past the holder of purse strings.