what to do with broken frame

Hi folks,

My 30 year old Campania Professional (DB Chromoly?) frame has finally
succumbed to thousands of miles commuting, fitness riding & loaded
touring. It started as a $250 bike with sewups, Weinmann centerpull
brakes, etc & evolved to commuter bike with its triple crankset,
friction barend shifters, fenders, panniers, & clinchers. Nothing
original hangs from the frame, not even fork/headset. No braze ons
grace the down tube, which sports small dents. She needs new paint.
She won't shift to the small chainring going up a hill. She rode well
and very little rust has attacked. Now the bottom bracket lug has
broken at the bottom of the seat tube. How much $ might I have to pay
to fix her up? Would anything less than a new Bottom Bracket work? or
would a bead of tig welding hold the lug together?

Should I just paint it and sell it to an Italian restaurant (Cucina
Cucina & its hanging Bianchis in Tacoma comes to mind) Perhaps keep it
to hang in my house after my wife dumps me (thereby freeing me to
decorate as I see fit)? :0

I believe the time has come to stop throwing new money after old and to
start riding my wife's neglected bike (a DB chromoly Nashbar triple
with index shifting). Any opinions?

Thanks, JW

wroteclip) Would anything less than a new
Bottom Bracket work? or
would a bead of tig welding hold the lug together?(clip)
^^^^^^^^^^^^^
I think brazing would make the bike rideable, but I'm not sure what effect
the heat would have on the tube next to the repair. I suggest posting to
sci.engr.joining.welding--the pooled knowlege in that group could move the
world.

On Fri, 31 Dec 2004 22:57:24 -0800, jeffreywong wrote:

Hi folks,

My 30 year old Campania Professional (DB Chromoly?) frame has finally
succumbed to thousands of miles commuting, fitness riding & loaded
touring. It started as a $250 bike with sewups, Weinmann centerpull
brakes, etc & evolved to commuter bike with its triple crankset,
friction barend shifters, fenders, panniers, & clinchers. Nothing
original hangs from the frame, not even fork/headset. No braze ons
grace the down tube, which sports small dents. She needs new paint.
She won't shift to the small chainring going up a hill. She rode well
and very little rust has attacked. Now the bottom bracket lug has
broken at the bottom of the seat tube. How much $ might I have to pay
to fix her up? Would anything less than a new Bottom Bracket work? or
would a bead of tig welding hold the lug together?

You got plenty of use out of it. Everything has its lifespan. Your bike
had its. Time for a new one.


--

David L. Johnson

__o | "A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds, adored
_`\(,_ | by little statesmen and philosophers and divines." --Ralph Waldo
(_)/ (_) | Emerson

wrote:
Hi folks,

My 30 year old Campania Professional (DB Chromoly?) frame
has finally
succumbed to thousands of miles commuting, fitness riding
& loaded
touring. It started as a $250 bike

There have to be hundreds of thousands of mid-1970's bikes
out there, many with decent frames and crap for
components -- this was the end of the steel rim era, after
all.

You have a bunch of upgraded components and a messed up
frame.

It's winter, when time might be available for rebuilding, if
you are up for it.

You can make one of these old frames very happy by returning
it to the type of useful service it was built for but may
not have seen since, oh, 1980 or so.

--
Mike Kruger
"So class, who can tell me how much of our genetic code we
share with
chimpanzees?" "Ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh! I know, sir!"

You may have a lot of rust inside that frame in places you can't see.
It's probably not worth fixing. However, I agree with Kruger- move the
parts to another frame. if you really want to spend some $$ you can
get a LEADER or Nashbar frame for less than $150. If you're really
attached to it and you get near Portland Oregon- David Feldmen is great
at fixing that sort of stuff.

You should be able to find something with the same top tube length and
pull parts over if you want to. Watch the threading on the bottom
bracket- especially if you end-up with a French bike.

Gofastdaddy wrote:
You may have a lot of rust inside that frame in places you can't see.
It's probably not worth fixing. However, I agree with Kruger- move
the
parts to another frame. if you really want to spend some $$ you can
get a LEADER or Nashbar frame for less than $150. If you're really
attached to it and you get near Portland Oregon- David Feldmen is
great
at fixing that sort of stuff.

You should be able to find something with the same top tube length
and
pull parts over if you want to. Watch the threading on the bottom
bracket- especially if you end-up with a French bike.

Thanks, GFD and everyone else. I do live near Portland, but you're
right--I've gotten my money's worth out of the bike, especially after
getting it to do things racing bikes weren't supposed to do. I hope I
can eventually convert it to an objet d' art as is, but with a new
d.i.y. paint job--the current motley group of components didn't seem to
work together well before and probably will continue that iffy
performance on a different frame.
I am,
Moving on

Optimism is true moral courage--Ernest Shackleton.