Kuota Frame Problem

My riding partner has a 3 month old Kuota Kabul that has developed a
problem. The aluminum alloy rear drop on the one side has started to
come loose at the seatstay joint and the frame emits a clicking noise
under hard pedalling conditions. The dealer has acknowledged the
problem and after consulting with the Kuota distributor, the proposed
solution is to repair the bonding on the affected frame vice replacing
the frame.

Anyone one else out there heard of similar problems with the Kuota
frames? Any thoughts on the distributor's proposed solution?

Jeff

On Wed, 20 Aug 2008 00:34:04 GMT,
(Bootalini) wrote:

My riding partner has a 3 month old Kuota Kabul that has developed a
problem. The aluminum alloy rear drop on the one side has started to
come loose at the seatstay joint and the frame emits a clicking noise
under hard pedalling conditions. The dealer has acknowledged the
problem and after consulting with the Kuota distributor, the proposed
solution is to repair the bonding on the affected frame vice replacing
the frame.

Anyone one else out there heard of similar problems with the Kuota
frames? Any thoughts on the distributor's proposed solution?

A lot of people on my team ride a frame from a different maker, that
has the rear stays bolted to the dropout with a some sort of
threadlock or epoxy on the bolts. The wrong adhesive was used and
they came loose. A different one was put on and no problems so far,
but it's only been a few month. Seems a reasonable solution for them,
and a reasonable solution in your case.

"Bootalini" wrote in message
news:48ab6468.98447562@localhost...
My riding partner has a 3 month old Kuota Kabul that has developed a
problem. The aluminum alloy rear drop on the one side has started to
come loose at the seatstay joint and the frame emits a clicking noise
under hard pedalling conditions. The dealer has acknowledged the
problem and after consulting with the Kuota distributor, the proposed
solution is to repair the bonding on the affected frame vice replacing
the frame.

Anyone one else out there heard of similar problems with the Kuota
frames? Any thoughts on the distributor's proposed solution?

Jeff


Here is how we fix the problem with our frames. This has been a problem with
carbon stays from a variety of manufacturers. I am not familiar with how
Kuota is done, but most frames work pretty much the same.

If the dropout is a two piece design, you need to remove the fixing screw
that holds the lower dropout portion to the seatstay male part. Remove the
male portion. You need to clean off the old cement and then create a "tooth"
surface on the stud part that goes into the frame. Rough sandpaper should
work well with aluminum. Next, you need to clean out the stay tube itself.
Chances are they used a silicone mold release agent which was not cleaned
out properly to begin with. Most clean working volatile solvents will do a
good job. After that, I would create a roughened tooth surface inside of the
stay tube. We use JB Weld or a similar high strength epoxy to complete the
repair.

If the dropout is a one piece, I imagine you will need to see if the frame
can be stretched to allow the stud to pop out of the stay tube. But, the
final repair procedure remains the same.

Hope this helps.

Bruce