kingsilver
Finally riding a big boys bike
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Calling All Aluminum Silver King Collectors
- Thread starter BreezyRider
- Start date
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Sped Man
Cruisin' on my Bluebird
Just to show you guys what I'm talking about - argh it sux. So here's my beautiful hextube upside down
.....and here you should be able to see the hairline crack in about the worst place a hairline crack could be. Please tell me none of you would risk riding this. I think the owner before the last owner rode it. I know the last owner didn't. I think he must have ridden it with crack and not seen it. Maybe it would carry on just fine but I am not about to try and find out
Pretty hard to get something in the crack but the good thing is it's not visible if the job is a bit messy - once you flip her round again
That crack needs to be welded shut. They will probably make the crack bigger and then fill it in. I wouldn't ride it until I found someone to weld it closed. After it is welded it can be polished. A professional welder will make it look like it never happened.
Have you tried?
Rio Welding Ltd.
15 Romina Dr, Concord, Ontario, L4K 4Z9
905-660-7146 CWB Certified Welding in Toronto and GTA
They make house calls! They do repair work on aluminum.
Like their website states:
Mobile welding for fast
service at your job site, business
or even your back yard
http://www.riowelding.com/mobile
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babyjesus
I live for the CABE
Yes I agree - and luckily it's on the bottom so if it wasn't perfect it would be out of sight.
I lived in Toronto for 8 years before moving to Switzerland - which is where I am now
- things are expensive here - plus I have to find them - I don't speak German either - but I will get it sorted one way or another. Welding is probably ideal - better maybe than epoxy/glue - but the glue I could do myself. I need to get my bearings here and work out where to get things like this done in my neighborhood. That contact you gave looks perfect, I wonder if there is one here like that where they would come over and do it. My apartment is a total mess, completely cluttered in every room with bikes and parts, including my bedroom and garage - I'd have to have it done in the shared garden area lol
babyjesus
I live for the CABE
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Thisw has to be one of the nicest M1 SKs I have ever seen. Mine doesn't come close to it, but I'm aiming to end up with a deluxe bike like yours - I even have a tank for it but it is not in great shape and might not work if I polish the M1 - but I haven't properly polished any of mine yet. Partly lazy and partly unsure because it apparently takes about 10 years to get the patina back. It's a bit of a one way ticket.
GiovanniLiCalsi
Riding a '38 Autocycle Deluxe
babyjesus
I live for the CABE
Cool - he made it look pretty easy. No huge equipment or anything either.
kingsilver
Finally riding a big boys bike
The solder video is interesting - but would that work on a 64 year old aluminum crack on babyjesus's hexbar bottom bracket? According to some people - aluminum becomes brittle as it ages. Would that mean the elements in the aluminum have changed ? Maybe the aluminum on the bike has to be tested somehow before it can be soldered or welded to ensure that the bond is permanent? Just a thought.
kingsilver
Finally riding a big boys bike
babyjesus
I live for the CABE
Having seen it crack in person and heard stories of Wingbars cracking after a gentle accidental hit - I'm inclined to agree that it's extremely brittle. It is also very rough and full of holes on the inside. It's horrible metal to be perfectly honest - 70 years later. I know of a wingbar that was cracked and reglued and ridden without a problem. The glue worked very well. It was cracked literally in half behind the seat on the downtube to the rear whilst trying to knock the screw out which bolts through joining two parts of the frame. It literally smashed in half, and inmportant part of the bike structurally without a doubt. But reglued it is unnoticeable and stronger than it was before. Don't anybody even gently bang a screw out of an SK frame on the forged parts because they are so brittle it's shocking. Don't bend them too much either. The break on my bike was on a tube, not a forged part and that was very clear evidence of brittleness.
Good point about maybe testing the metal before welding.
I collect alot of bikes, not just SKs so I only ride the SKs on short 'soft' flat road journeys and I'm super careful. I won't ride the 26x at all and possibly not the Flocycle either. They are just too weak in their construction and they are designed to flex - something great when the metal was young but not when it's old. As I am sure you all know aluminium has a memory for stretching. Once bent so far, it will bend back twice as easily, ultimately getting weaker and weaker. This added to brittleness is a terrible mixture. Probably the best bikes to ride when new and the most risky to ride now sadly. Snapping my Flocycle top tube clean apart was one of the worst feelings I ever had. From that experience alone I have become terribly scared of riding these bikes. My advice is NEVER stand on the pedals or go uphill if you don't want to risk it.
babyjesus
I live for the CABE
Same Flo with regular handlebars but hex speedostem? Great photos. I like your drawing - just I'd add the screws in 'exploded diagram' with dotted lines showing where they go - especially the ones inside the headtube. You have 2 small holes in your head tubes? Mine has 2 for the badge and one huge one to access the allen head screws on the inside. You can litterally stick and allen key inside the headtube and unscrew the wedges that screw in the ends of the tubes adjoined to the cast headpiece. Argh - it's hard to describe!
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