As the title really, i’m hoping to have a frame i bought repaired (once i find someone to do it) otherwise it’s money down the drain.

Just looking for others to tell me horror stories or happy stories (about frame repairs, not pixies etc)

Bikes an orange 66 if that makes any difference

Just to clarify do you mean aluminium alloys rather than steel alloys, as just about any steel bike that is not made of pig iron is going to be made of an alloy.

I’ve had a 4130 BMX repaired before, worked ok for a year.

I’m guessing he means aluminium and you need a new frame builder.

OP lots of folk say il’s impossible many have had it done.

main issue is frame builders don’t generally work in aluminium so you need to go elsewhere.

I had my Socom welded up. It’s been fine for a year now.

Critically in my case, the frame did not fail at a highly-stressed area. It failed because the PPO didn’t insert their seatpost enough, loading the frame in a way which it was not designed to withstand. With the seatpost inserted the area is not highly stressed.

The reason I mention this is because it’s pretty important. Most aluminium alloys used in bike frames need to be artificially aged to achieve the material properties the frames were designed around. Some can be naturally aged by leaving them a few months, from memory Kona’s are 7005 which can be aged in this way.

If you weld two bits of a material together, you get a heat affected zone around the weld. The material in this area will generally be weaker as it will be partially annealed. This might mean the grain structure won’t be as fine, the precipitates might be the wrong size/density etc etc. Point is, the area around the weld is now weaker than before the frame broke in the first place.

What I’m trying to get to in a round about sort of way, is that if the frame broke because of loading conditions which will be seen in normal use, if it broke before, it will break even easier after you weld it up. Unless the break is due to exceptional circumstances (like on my socom) or you have access to the required facilities to re-heat treat the thing, it will probably be a waste of time.

Best of luck if you go ahead with the repair. Can you TIG weld?

I have an Orange sub 5 frame in the garage that has had 2 swing arms and been welded 3 times before the owner gave up on it and sold it to me for parts. I bet it’s cracked in the same place!

Cheers for the replies,

I’m surprised at the cracks location, back of the swingarm shock mount in the weld pool.