Ok so my 05 lava dome has a crack in the dropout, not sure how long its been like it

used as a 100mile a week comuter, but i do ride a few set of steps , 50cm drops to flat on it as well as off road xc stuff
its also used to tow the kids in the trailer to nursery

its always been stiff getting a wheel in, like the dropouts are a few mm too narrow, possibly the frame needed to be faced before the sliding dropouts installed?

anyway how easy is that gonna be to weld, would it require a frame builder to replace the dropouts?

crazy idea is to get them modified to accept 142×12 and 650b wheels??

cheers

depends if you want to replace the drop out or weld over the crack
the later being ok for a commuter bike IMHO

If replacing dropouts a frame builder would be the better option

What he said. My (95) Kilauea cracked at the dropout too and I got it fixed at a local car place – they just welded a small plate to it and it’s held for many years since. The likely issue with yours will be whether the metal there is thick enough and whether there’s sufficient clearance for the chain and the sliding dropout.

Looks like a steel frame, so I would just grind the paint back and weld both sides of the crack.

Angle grinder + cutting disc. Cut through crack to 1/2 the thickness of the dropout. Fill slot with weld. Repeat on other side. Grind as flat as necessary for everything to work (you could make it completely invisible if you’re really fussy!).

OK local MOT garage did this for the price of a beer

right off to find some grey hammerite

You’ve got to love steel. 😉

🙂 … steel is …. fixable 😉

doesn’t even look bad.

Brazed steel is even better. You can take the frame to bits by melting the joints!

tin of auto paint on sale in halfords for a quid………

Mint. Another 9 years would be nice!

Where are you, I’m midlands based and will fix the crack FOC .

Cheers Alex, already fixed !