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forum
frame damage - fixable?
I've had a Bianchi Via Nirone (their entry level alloy road bike) for 3 years through the cycle to work scheme. I'm pretty heavy but apart from swapping out the rubbish stock wheels & tyres it's never given me any problems - I commute about 100-120 miles a week on the dreadful london roads but it gets serviced regularly by the LBS or me depending on how lazy/broke I'm feeling.
Over the last fortnight it's developed an annoying creak, so since it hadn't been serviced since ~november I sat down on Sunday to 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 bianchi's look lovely, but I am conscious of the fact that as a ~110kg rider who covers most of his miles commuting something steel with disc brakes 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...
If you're new please join in and if you have questions pop them below and the forum regulars will answer as best we can.
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9 comments
Resurrecting the thread briefly to give a shoutout to Bianchi & bike+run in East Finchley who sorted out a very hassle free replacement frame on the warranty. Still pondering a Fairlight but can't quite bring myself to put this up for sale....especially as the new frame is full Celeste which obviously makes it faster.
Thanks everyone - consensus here and elsewhere seems to be that the frame is a goner. Will see about the warranty but in the meantime, it seems like Swift does 0% 12 month finance on bikes which makes an upgrade almost irresistible.
So final question - for a mostly commute bike (20-30 miles a day with a few hills & plenty of potholes) - strael or faran? The strael seems like it could fit G-one speeds with guards which would be perfect.
+1 for the Fairlight - maybe just get the frame and shift all your bits over - a fun afternoon in store!
Bit of araldite and it'll be right!
From years of owning and working on alloy bikes, and working with some very capable bike builders.... No. That's not fixable, especially not welded. The only fix available for it is to replace the entire drop out. In the days of steel you just sweated the old one out, slid a new one in and re-brazed it. In the days of bonded aluminium, you just carefully released the old one, cleaned the socket and bonded a new one in and prayed, in the days of carbon fibre you can cut the old one off, re-wrap and bodge a new one in (reaaaalllly not recommended), but in the case of welded post manufacture annealed aluminuim you have no choices I'm afraid.
Do NotTry To Have It Welded.
A broken drop-out seems a poor reason to scrap a frame, especially one you are fond of.
Most towns have a welder/machine shop/metalsmith hiding up a backstreet and they would fix this in half-an-hour, assuming you have enough metal to work with. Of course, you then have to buy a couple of cans of paint to make it look pretty again and maybe a can of laquer too .....
Get yourself a new one. Even if you could find someone who could fix it, it would always be a worry.
Looks like the best reason you'll get to buy that fairlight to me.
The Fairlight Strael is going to be my final n+1. Just sayin'...
On a more serious note, unless you can find a replacement dropout and find some prepared to cut the old one out and TIG weld the new one in, that frame's probably a scrapper.