Oh Snap! Now what?

[Bigcam59]

Well I bought a frame from a person here on the website and it arrived today. I immediately begin building it up and was making pretty good progress...

Then I got to the point of running the chain. That's when I noticed something not good at all. Apparently the rear triangle had somehow gotten bent downward enough for the chain to hit the crossbar on the seat stay. There's a notch in it almost entirely through the metal...

I don't think the person I bought this from knew about the damage, so I don't blame them. My biggest question is now what? Can this frame be saved? will it continue to bend? Am I out of luck? I hope it can be rescued...I sold one of my own bikes to buy this frame, and it'll be some time before I can pony up enough money to get another...

 

[Rat Rod]

Seems like you could take it to someone who welds and they could cut out the old cross bar and re-weld in a new one about an inch higher up.

 

[olschbp]

the stays are bent so they could lower bike it looks like to me, think Rat Rod has a good solution there, is that a real Dyno frame? if so, try to save it

 

[Bigcam59]

I guess I'm heading to the welder tomorrow. My worry is that it will keep bending. I am not exactly what you would call a lightweight. It is a genuine Dyno, right down to the D in the frame behind the seat.

 

[Rat Rod]

They could also weld in the notch and grind it down, but then you'd be dealing with the chain issue again.

 

[Fireproof]

Take a measurement from that "crossbar" down to where the chainstays meet, so you have a point of refrence. Remove the rear wheel, and put something in between the chainstay tubes and the seatstay tubes to force them apart slightly . . . looks like maybe a 2X4 might work. That is with, the board or whatever parallel to how the axle goes. The point is to remove some of that sag in the rear triangle by forcing the seatstays back up where they belong. Once you start to move the tubes apart, measure the way you did before . . . it's farther apart there, right? If so, have your welder install a short piece of tube there to help prevent the sag from returning.

 

[Bigcam59]

have your welder install a short piece of tube there to help prevent the sag from returning.

exactly where do you mean?

 

[texasbigjon]

looks like somebody might have used a torch to heat the stay tubes for a quicky lowering job. pulled up a pic of my old bike as a reference point,and the change in frame geometry is really noticeable! :shock: gonna take some work to straighten it.

 

[Bigcam59]

looks like somebody might have used a torch to heat the stay tubes for a quicky lowering job. pulled up a pic of my old bike as a reference point,and the change in frame geometry is really noticeable! :shock: gonna take some work to straighten it.

I don't mind it being lower, as long as it doesn't KEEP getting lower!

 

[Fireproof]

have your welder install a short piece of tube there to help prevent the sag from returning.

exactly where do you mean?

I was thinking that the seatstays must be flexing downwards towards the chainstays when there is weight on the seat, so you might be able to sit on the bike and see where the stays are flexing . . . that's probably where you would need to reinforce the frame . . . between the upper and lower stays.

 

[Rooski]

Is this the thread from where you bought the frame?

http://www.ratrodbikes.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=41681&st=0&sk=t&sd=a&hilit=stretch

If so.....IMO, the seller had to have known about the damage. How could he not notice that. Let see......new member, and this ad is his first post. Other members asked to see a picture, and the seller just conveniently never gets around to posting a pic, like he promised. How hard is it, and how long does it take to post a pic. And, whether the seller knew about the damage, or not, he is still responsible for selling you a frame which is not what you expected to be buying.

In any case, whether on purpose, or by accident, the item was definitely misrepresented and the seller is at fault. If you can live with the sub par frame, fine. But if I was the buyer, I'd be looking for my money back, or at least a huge partial refund, as an incentive to keep the damaged item.

From the looks of it, unless you add some sort of support to that frame, it most likely will keep bending.

 

[Bigcam59]

I sent the seller an E-Mail describing what happened, we'll see where it goes.
I also cut and trimmed some braces and a new seastay bridge from an old junk frame. I taped them into position with duct tape.

Next step is to get it welded up...

 

[Uncle Stretch]

It seems like that frame design was problematic about bending in that spot when ridden by hefty people. I know I have seen several of the copies with that same problem. Anybody that can weld could cut out the old tubing and replace them with something a little sturdier, if you fix dosen't solve it. Shouldn't be too pricy to fix. Good luck.

 

[Bigcam59]

you have? Oh great... I've been riding my stretch for a while now and never had a problem. It's one of my favorite bikes...

I'll keep my eyes open for any subtle changes in geometry

 

[Spokeshave]

Hey Big C,
Keep us updated on this. Like I said when we rode I'm in the market for one of these.

 

[buckeyenut73]

really now you guys. im new to rat rod bikes and when i saw that i figured thats weird how they would run chain through frame like that. but yes if thats not stock then i guess sue me for lack of knowledge.lol and for the one guy trying to make casey anthony text book crime case because i didnt get pics up right away, yeah sorry i have a construction job that puts me working ten hours a day and i have 3 young kids that i need to help my wife with so!

 

[Highridah]

calm down guy theres no molehill for a mountain to be made

 

[roland365]

really now you guys . im new to rat rod bikes and when i saw that i figured thats weird how they would run chain through frame like that. but yes if thats not stock then i guess sue me for lack of knowledge.lol and for the one guy trying to make casey anthony text book crime case because i didnt get pics up right away, yeah sorry i have a construction job that puts me working ten hours a day and i have 3 young kids that i need to help my wife with so

really?? u got E-butt hurt from a post?????

 

[Bigcam59]

As I said in my first post, I never thought that anything was done intentionally. Buckeyenut73 did send me pictures of the frame, and I didn't notice the problem either until I assembled the bike. My post wasn't to blame anyone, simply to find out what I could do to make the frame usable again.
Repair-wise I will hopefully get the welding done by next week. I'll keep you posted. As for my chrome stretch, I weigh in at 260, and so far it's been almost 2 years sag free...knock wood! 8)

 

[Bigcam59]

sorry I haven't posted for a bit, but the welder took longer than I thought. I finally got the frame back from the welder last week and painted it. Somehow the Rustoleum bubbled up on the frame and made it look like it had acne, so I wet sanded it and tried again. This time the primer and the paint went on smooth

I had the day off so I spent it in the garage bolting it up.

HotRodJen's pinstriping really makes it shine, and I decided to keep the 2.4 tires on it once I saw they cleared the fenders. 8)