# Aluminum Colnago Dream repair



## E36M3pilot (Feb 23, 2005)

OK I just grabbed this bike on Ebay oh about a 6 weeks ago. It has sat for the most part at a buddies house where we disasembled, cleaned and put back together with new cables, pads, 
chain, tubes, tires etc. I took the bike to a local Tri shop to get "fitted" and this morning I come in and they tell me the lower part of the head tube has a crack in it. Now we did see the crack, but it appeared to be in the paint alone. My question is there anyone who can possibly fix this issue? I would be more than happy to have that done at my expense as a second hand warrannty isn't even an option. I live near Waterford Cycle and know that they have a frame refurbishing deal for the frames they sell. Has anyone heard of anything regarding Colnagos? This is a heeluva bummer! This was/is my first COlnago and I can see where this is going....sucks. I mean how the hell does a head tube crack in the first place? Thanks in advance!


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## atpjunkie (Mar 23, 2002)

*ouch!*

very hard to find people who do Al repairs. There are very few who can fix Al. If it's cracked depending on how bad, you might need a new HT which means breaking the HT from the DT and TT at the welds. problem here is heat required to undo those welds will weaken the TT and the DT. I'm not a pro, you are going to have to find one of those shops.


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## wasfast (Feb 3, 2004)

E36M3pilot said:


> I took the bike to a local Tri shop to get "fitted" and this morning I come in and they tell me the lower part of the head tube has a crack in it. Now we did see the crack, but it appeared to be in the paint alone.


I'd want to make sure that the crack is truly in the metal, not just in the paint. It's unusual for a tube to have a crack out in the middle. The failure is usually around a feature or the weld of an intersecting tube where stresses are concentrated or the metal affected (heat from welding for instance).

Frankly, just about any aluminum fabricator with a TIG welder could weld up a crack. The trick is for them to understand how thin the wall are on the tubing. The tendency is to use too much heat and blow through the tube. 

The weld won't look particularily nice when it's done. The paint around the area concerned will be removed before hand and some of the paint beyond that may be blackened from the welding. There are heatsink materials to control the spread but only moderately effective.


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## Dream Plus (Feb 4, 2004)

E36M3pilot said:


> OK I just grabbed this bike on Ebay oh about a 6 weeks ago. It has sat for the most part at a buddies house where we disasembled, cleaned and put back together with new cables, pads,
> chain, tubes, tires etc. I took the bike to a local Tri shop to get "fitted" and this morning I come in and they tell me the lower part of the head tube has a crack in it. Now we did see the crack, but it appeared to be in the paint alone. My question is there anyone who can possibly fix this issue? I would be more than happy to have that done at my expense as a second hand warrannty isn't even an option. I live near Waterford Cycle and know that they have a frame refurbishing deal for the frames they sell. Has anyone heard of anything regarding Colnagos? This is a heeluva bummer! This was/is my first COlnago and I can see where this is going....sucks. I mean how the hell does a head tube crack in the first place? Thanks in advance!


My Dream Plus developed cracks at the top and bottom of the headtube. It's still in my basement. I never found anyne willing to tackle repair. I contacted Harry Havnoonian and the guy there just said " I think We'll pass". If you have any luck fixing it, let us know.


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## wasfast (Feb 3, 2004)

Dream Plus said:


> My Dream Plus developed cracks at the top and bottom of the headtube. It's still in my basement. I never found anyne willing to tackle repair. I contacted Harry Havnoonian and the guy there just said " I think We'll pass". If you have any luck fixing it, let us know.


Are the cracks parallel to the tube (up and down)? Are they possibly from the headset? It's difficult to envison without some photos but I'm just curious.


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## Dream Plus (Feb 4, 2004)

wasfast said:


> Are the cracks parallel to the tube (up and down)? Are they possibly from the headset? It's difficult to envison without some photos but I'm just curious.


They started at each end of the tube and progressed inward. It looks as if they could have been caused by the headset. My understanding is that the Al used in the headtube is very thin. I had the headset installed in the new frame by the most meticulous mechanic I know at my LBS.

The cracks didn't appear at first but I noticed one while cleaning the bike after the frame was about 2.5 yrs old. I crossed my fingers and hoped it was just a crack in the paint. I continued riding the frame considering the probability of catastrophic failure was slim. As I rode the crack became more noticeable and longer, and another appeared at the top of the top tube as well.

I'm not complaining. This topic has been covered before. I knew about the 'limited' warrentee. This frame served me well for almost 4 years and 20,000 miles. It allowed me to start racing. It fit me well. It was a pleasure to ride. I wouldn't mind repairing it if I could find someone to do it cheaply enough. I'll try to post some pictures this weekend.


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