Broken frame story and such

[sethpo]

So around February of this year I bought the steel frame CX bike from Nashbar to use as my main commuter. It’s served me very well with over 5k miles on it. The only real problem I can “blame” on the bike I had was the bottom bracket which I had to replace at about 3500 miles. Not that big of a deal.

Well, I was riding home Thursday night when the part of the frame above the dropout where you bolt in a rear luggage rack broke off. I had a pannier on that side and I guess I hit a bump and it snapped although I don’t recall any serious jolts that would have caused the failure. I can’t really tell if this bit is welded on to the frame or molded with it. See pic below.

I called Nashbar and they quite readily agreed to exchange the entire bike. So, I’ll be stripping off my new wheelset, saddle, and V-brakes and sending it back for an entire new bike. I guess that’s not a bad deal, huh. I’ll just have to manage commuting on my road bike and MTB for a few weeks until the swap is done.

I have a neighbor who thinks his dad can weld the piece back on but I think I’ll just go ahead and take the new bike instead.

Just thought I would share this story of a broken frame bit and the exchange Nashbar is making for me.

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[jabberwocky]

Welding on a new rack eyelet to a steel frame is probably about the simplest frame repair there is, but I agree that you may as well let Nashbar take care of you.

[sethpo]

@jabberwocky 101522 wrote:

Welding on a new rack eyelet to a steel frame is probably about the simplest frame repair there is, but I agree that you may as well let Nashbar take care of you.

I am tempted to let my friend’s dad weld it just to avoid the hassle since the exchange will leave me without my daily commuter for about three or four weeks but I was also worried about frame integrity with a repair. And let’s be honest, getting all new components at this point isn’t horrible.

[KLizotte]

I’d get a new bike from them. A new bracket after only 3,500 miles and this kind of failure?!? I wouldn’t trust it. My Cannondale road bike has over 8,500 miles and the frame and major components are still in fine condition.

[jabberwocky]

Its a pain, but honestly things could have been a lot worse. I’ve personally never had a steel frame bike make it past 6k miles or so (broken 3 of the damn things). As far issues go, a minor piece like that breaking off is pretty minor.

As for the BB, if you ride in crappy weather, those are gonna wear out. Especially cheap ones.

[sethpo]

@jabberwocky 101528 wrote:

Its a pain, but honestly things could have been a lot worse. I’ve personally never had a steel frame bike make it past 6k miles or so (broken 3 of the damn things). As far issues go, a minor piece like that breaking off is pretty minor.

As for the BB, if you ride in crappy weather, those are gonna wear out. Especially cheap ones.

Yup. My purpose in posting this was to share an overall positive experience with the bike and how Nashbar is taking care of me. I paid $631 for the thing w/ 105 group. I replaced the canti brakes w/ V-brakes, the BB, and the stock wheels weren’t great. All in (not counting chains, chainrings, brakes pads, tires, pedals and saddle) I’m at about $850 for the bike that would cost double that w/ lesser components in a name brand like Janis or All-City. And now I’m getting a brand new replacement bike with no questions asked.

I’m pleased.

[Steve O]

@jabberwocky 101528 wrote:

I’ve personally never had a steel frame bike make it past 6k miles or so (broken 3 of the damn things).

Wow, you have bad luck. My previous Fuji steel touring frame was used when I got it in 2003 or 04 or thereabouts. I put another maybe 30k on it before it was stolen 16 months ago. Granted, the head tube was warped (take that, bike thief!), but it hadn’t broken.

My new Fuji now has about 7k miles. I’ve had some issues with the bike, but the frame seems to be doing fine. I ride it year round in all weather and it resides outside 24/7/365 in the shed (that is, when I’m not on it). And it wasn’t even all that expensive.

[jabberwocky]

@Steve O 101570 wrote:

Wow, you have bad luck

So I’ve been told.

My two fixies, touring bike and DJ MTB are currently all steel, but none are very high mileage. I’ve broken one steel fixie frame and a few MTBs though. From a materials standpoint, steel has good fatigue resistance but it isn’t very strong. It has pretty much the lowest strength to weight ratio of anything bikes are commonly made of.

To be fair, my highest mileage steel bike (a Lemond Poprad disc) was over 5k when I sold it to a friend, and as far as I know its still going strong.

[mstone]

@jabberwocky 101573 wrote:

So I’ve been told.

My two fixies, touring bike and DJ MTB are currently all steel, but none are very high mileage. I’ve broken one steel fixie frame and a few MTBs though. From a materials standpoint, steel has good fatigue resistance but it isn’t very strong. It has pretty much the lowest strength to weight ratio of anything bikes are commonly made of.

To be fair, my highest mileage steel bike (a Lemond Poprad disc) was over 5k when I sold it to a friend, and as far as I know its still going strong.

Also to be fair, saying that the bike is “steel” isn’t much more revealing than saying that it’s “metal”. Which is also something people should keep in mind when shopping.

[Orestes Munn]

My workout (I can’t say “racing” anymore) bike is 30 years old. I never crashed it hard, but I must have put better than 3500 mi on it for many years, back when I was riding a lot. I recently sent it back to the builder to have the rear dropouts up-spaced and he pronounced it showroom after a detailed inspection. By contrast, I broke the down tube on a midrange 1990s MTB, essentially right out of the box, by doing nothing in particular.

Don’t steel frames break at the site of small cracks or defects, which develop crevice corrosion? That’s not exactly a wear issue, if true.

[jabberwocky]

@Orestes Munn 101583 wrote:

Don’t steel frames break at the site of small cracks or defects, which develop crevice corrosion? That’s not exactly a wear issue, if true.

All mine have been adjacent to welds, once on a downtube and twice on the top tube, both right near the headtube. My understanding is that welding steel weakens it somewhat (the point of butted tubing is to increase material at the welded ends for that reason), so breaks are usually there. None were corrosion related.

[Orestes Munn]

@jabberwocky 101584 wrote:

All mine have been adjacent to welds, once on a downtube and twice on the top tube, both right near the headtube. My understanding is that welding steel weakens it somewhat (the point of butted tubing is to increase material at the welded ends for that reason), so breaks are usually there. None were corrosion related.

That makes sense, but you must be a gorilla.

The treacherous thing about crevice corrosion is that it’s not apparent to casual inspection.

[mstone]

@Orestes Munn 101583 wrote:

Don’t steel frames break at the site of small cracks or defects, which develop crevice corrosion? That’s not exactly a wear issue, if true.

Pretty much all bike materials break at the site of a defect. If you see a broken Al crank it’ll be dark on one end of the break (where it was cracked and corroding) and shiny on the end of the break that eventually snapped. It tends to be more surprising on Al or carbon, because steel tends to develop a big rusty spot. If it’s a break at a weld you might not get a lot of warning on Al or steel, and if it’s a break in the middle of a piece you might be able to ride it bent for a while on steel where Al might suddenly snap.

@jabberwocky 101584 wrote:

All mine have been adjacent to welds, once on a downtube and twice on the top tube, both right near the headtube. My understanding is that welding steel weakens it somewhat (the point of butted tubing is to increase material at the welded ends for that reason), so breaks are usually there. None were corrosion related.

Depends on the alloy & treatment–some get more brittle at welds, some don’t.

[jabberwocky]

@mstone 101588 wrote:

Depends on the alloy & treatment–some get more brittle at welds, some don’t.

Yeah, I’m not totally up on my steel welding, I just know what the manufacturers have told me when I talked to them post-break. All three were relatively high-end bikes (one was a true-temper OX Lemond and two were custom MTB frames). All were sort of lightweight for steel, which was probably what doomed them. My DJ bike will likely last forever, since the frame weighs like 8 pounds.

FWIW, two were replaced under warranty, and the third hangs in my shop as a reminder to stop buying steel frames. One of these days I’ll find a framebuilder to cut the top tube out and replace it for me, but I just haven’t been motivated enough to do so up till now.

[Crickey7]

Bike No. 3 is lugged steel. Some real opportunities for artistry with that technique.

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