Broke My Bike, Figured I'd Share

Blk06CompIRL

Blk06CompIRL

Active Member
Hey all! I figured i would share the possible end of my primary bike a 2012 Santa Cruz Nomad v2 Alloy. One of the welds cracked near rear derailleur after 1880 miles per strava and i am out of the 5yr warranty by 10 months. It was truly a sad day and the few welders i know believe it was "weld fatigue". I have contacted SC about the lifetime crash replacement warranty and currently under negotiation with them as the triangle / frame is no longer available. It looks like they are offering me a discounted frame off a new model (no shock). So now i have the ultimate decision on buying a frame and building up over next year or wait until next year for clearances... or getting mine re welded as a last resort. I am also looking into 2nd hand frames as a possibility if price is right.
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this sucks -

hopefully you find an equitable (almost free) solution.
 
Have you work through a bike shop which carries SC? Not that you'll get a replacement, but they could leverage a better deal for you. Being without a ride sucks, good luck with the solution
 
Ryan.P said:
Have it welded , hell add a gusset if the welder is skilled and experienced this is an easy fix
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So far this is definitely the cheapest fix as if i help grind and prep the area it'll be well below $60 as its a co-workers lifelong friend.

qclabrat said:
Have you work through a bike shop which carries SC? Not that you'll get a replacement, but they could leverage a better deal for you. Being without a ride sucks, good luck with the solution
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No, i initiated it personally as i got the bike as a floor model left over directly from santa cruz and since I'm an auto mechanic by trade i do all my own work and buy bits and pieces from misc bike shops pending who is local to me at the time so i do not really have a relationship with a SC dealer and i would feel like a asshole to ask one for help when i probably have given no money to the buisness and didn't get the bike from them. That may just be my paranoid mind set and it's probably to late now that I initiated the claim already.
JimN said:
You can borrow my Yeti again if you want to have something to ride in the meantime.
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Thanks Jim that's much appreciated, but I don't want to get addicted to 29er again lol with winter coming and day light dropping i probably won't be riding much anyway so i will just go out on my Trek HT and try not to break it too. I will let you know if i change my mind.
 
Your rear triangle is made from 6061 aluminum that has been tempered to a T6. That has a yield strength of at least 35,000 psi. When it is welded, it will return to an annealed state which has a maximum yield strength of 8,000 psi. The only way to return it to a T6 state is through solution heat treatment, quenching, and then artificial aging. If your co-worker's buddy doesn't have the facilities to heat treat this after welding, I would strongly suggest avoiding that option. Oh......and there'll be a lot of distortion during the quench cycle unless some sort of fixturing is used to hold the geometry.
 
mstyer said:
Your rear triangle is made from 6061 aluminum that has been tempered to a T6. That has a yield strength of at least 35,000 psi. When it is welded, it will return to an annealed state which has a maximum yield strength of 8,000 psi. The only way to return it to a T6 state is through solution heat treatment, quenching, and then artificial aging. If your co-worker's buddy doesn't have the facilities to heat treat this after welding, I would strongly suggest avoiding that option. Oh......and there'll be a lot of distortion during the quench cycle unless some sort of fixturing is used to hold the geometry.
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i
Thank you for the heads up, I kinda just ask if he could weld 6000 series aluminum... maybe i should ask if he can weld 6000 series aluminum properly lol he owns his own business off welding, sand blasting and powder coating i believe soo the suspense is on now. Welding is my last resort as i fear if the one weld broke another may not be far behind... I am not the most delicate with rear wheel placement so it takes some abuse
 
agree w/ mstyer. I've broken a few aluminum frames and the general consensus has been that re-welding is not a preferred option. I'm not a welder, so i have no personal experience. Other than common sense which tells me a rewelded crack in that location won't be as strong as it was when it was built.

At least you got a lot of miles on it! If it makes you feel better, I got hit on my brand new carbon Ibis earlier this year and broke the downtube. I only had it 10 weeks and maybe had 200 miles on it. I settled for buying a new crash replacement offering from them. Can't reweld carbon yet.
 
mstyer said:
BTW, my advice comes from 20 years of being a welding engineer.
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so how much would you charge to weld it? lol

Chris(NJ) said:
agree w/ mstyer. I've broken a few aluminum frames and the general consensus has been that re-welding is not a preferred option. I'm not a welder, so i have no personal experience. Other than common sense which tells me a rewelded crack in that location won't be as strong as it was when it was built.

At least you got a lot of miles on it! If it makes you feel better, I got hit on my brand new carbon Ibis earlier this year and broke the downtube. I only had it 10 weeks and maybe had 200 miles on it. I settled for buying a new crash replacement offering from them. Can't reweld carbon yet.
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oh man that sux, i think i heard gorilla tape is a direct carbon fiber replacement kidding of course dont do that.

@JimN haha $5.00?
 
mstyer said:
Your rear triangle is made from 6061 aluminum that has been tempered to a T6. That has a yield strength of at least 35,000 psi. When it is welded, it will return to an annealed state which has a maximum yield strength of 8,000 psi. The only way to return it to a T6 state is through solution heat treatment, quenching, and then artificial aging. If your co-worker's buddy doesn't have the facilities to heat treat this after welding, I would strongly suggest avoiding that option. Oh......and there'll be a lot of distortion during the quench cycle unless some sort of fixturing is used to hold the geometry.
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It’s most likely heat treate
mstyer said:
BTW, my advice comes from 20 years of being a welding engineer.
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I am not an egineer I just fix stuff that engineers designed wrong. That weld broke how aluminum is supposed to break. Unlike steel it doesn’t break next to the weld but down the center(because aluminum fillers are typically softer than the parent material). Just clean it, weld it and plate it properly and you will be fine. It’s almost impossible to post heat treat it especially being coated as heating, quenching and reheating is required. I’ll help you out. $25 or a premium 6 pack of IPAs. On a side note titanium is virtually impossible to properly reweld as it’s usually broken initially from poor weld prep/welding practice and the parent material is irreversibly damaged.
 
mstyer said:
Your rear triangle is made from 6061 aluminum that has been tempered to a T6. That has a yield strength of at least 35,000 psi. When it is welded, it will return to an annealed state which has a maximum yield strength of 8,000 psi. The only way to return it to a T6 state is through solution heat treatment, quenching, and then artificial aging. If your co-worker's buddy doesn't have the facilities to heat treat this after welding, I would strongly suggest avoiding that option. Oh......and there'll be a lot of distortion during the quench cycle unless some sort of fixturing is used to hold the geometry.
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Listen to Morgan. This is her bread an butter.

Btw. I'd be glad to act as a go between with SC, or provide you contact info of the local rep.

J
 
Chris(NJ) said:
agree w/ mstyer. I've broken a few aluminum frames and the general consensus has been that re-welding is not a preferred option. I'm not a welder, so i have no personal experience. Other than common sense which tells me a rewelded crack in that location won't be as strong as it was when it was built.

At least you got a lot of miles on it! If it makes you feel better, I got hit on my brand new carbon Ibis earlier this year and broke the downtube. I only had it 10 weeks and maybe had 200 miles on it. I settled for buying a new crash replacement offering from them. Can't reweld carbon yet.
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Just a heads up that Carbon is wildly more repairable than alloy.

I've been using Ruckus for a few years. They also have an entertaining an informative podcast on the topic.

https://www.ruckuscomp.com/
 
@jdog i appreciate the offer, does it matter that i already contacted them about it and got ball rolling? i can PM you what they offered me and maybe let me know whats your thoughts are. i know often what a company offers is generally a minimum to hope the person doesn't argue with and accepts when in reality more wiggle room is to be had.
 
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