Opinion on a welded frame...

[Rat Rod]

Looked at a bike yesterday with a frame exactly like this one.

It appears that someone crudely welded the frame in the three places that I have circled.

What do yall think....is it worth saving or not?

 

[Anonymous]

you should ship it to me for inspection :mrgreen: can't see how bad they are but lil grinding should clean em up

 

[Protowrxs]

Any frame can be welded back together. If it's not crunched up it would be worth having to me.
-Stephen

 

[outsider13]

The question you should ask youre self is---- not how BAD the frame is...
BUT....how GOOD can you make it

and ofcourse HOW much$$ 8) 8)

 

[Anonymous]

I'd wire brush those welds and inspect them REAL GOOD.

Youre not gonna be jumping off any curbs or ramps with it,right?

 

[Rat Rod]

Yeah...no ramp jumping for sure.

Just unsure of how good the welds are...they've got that chicken poop look like the bike Hooch found that time.

 

[Firewalker]

Steve are you able to take a close up picture of each of the welds for us?

if it looks like marbles then there was not enough heat in the metal and poor penitration....you may have to grind it clean and do it again.

FW

 

[sensor]

personally id do what firewalker said any way ive seen some scary looking welds by people who THINK they can weld :roll:
better safe then lying on the ground whit a collapsed frame around you

 

[karfer67]

i say save it as well. those frames are getting more and more rare so even the bad ones need to be saved. i would look the frame straight down and look if it is really bent to one side. as long as it is fairly straight i say go for it. even the higgins boardtracker is a little bent in the middle. you can always grind the welds down and have the bad spots rewelded i would think that would not cost too much. or heck send the frame to college and let my co worker ike grind the bad stuff down and braze it back together so not only is it strong it looks killer. ike helped me braze the rear light bracket for the ratty truck because the first one snaped at the bend from the weight of the light. after he tosted a braze in the corner of the bracket no mo bending

 

[Firewalker]

do not get rid of it! I should have also said that!

karfer67 is right...... that is another option.....and great idea :mrgreen: .

its hard to tell without closer shots, however If I was at all worried! I would weld a gusset to the inside of each drop out. :mrgreen:

FW

 

[TornadoDave]

I have to agree that old frames are CERTAINLY worth saving. They've got a style about them that new bikes can't match.... AND the metal is usually thick enough to allow welding.

I guess i've re-welded about a dozen frames with similar cracks and/or poor welds. It's not that hard to do if you have the tools...... namely a side grinder and a MIG or TIG welder. I use a cheap MIG, and it does fine. (I used to use a stick-welder.... and could never get a good weld on bike metal.)

The real trick to it is to grind away all of the old weld, and remove all of the paint in that area. Then just keep your heat low enough so as not to burn through the metal. Weld up a pass, then grind off the bumps..... and if you have hollows or bad spots, grind 'em a bit and then do another weld.

 

[Jim Richards]

The frame in the pic is a Roadmaster they ride very, very nice--very good geometry. Unfortunately the welding process they used was not the best.I have seen the bottom bracket spot in your pic brake and the rear drop outs were "pinched" together (in all four places) and can be a bit cheesy and weak. You said these spots were crudely welded--thats too bad because it's harder to fix something after someone else has done a poor job---but still doable-just more work (grinding the old crap out of the way and such) In my opinion these frames are worth the effort--as I said before they ride and handle just beautiflly--I think it has to do with the seat post tube angle--it puts the seat farther to the rear and not so strait up with the crank alowing a full sized rider more room to "stretch out" and I think they are one of the nicest looking frames of all time. One other thing, this frame may have been abused and needs to be checked for "straitness" sometimes the tail section can be off (dog legging) The forks on some of these frames were some of the best spingers of all time. Have fun!