Bad news - rust holes in the seat tube

yoeddyVT

New member
I have been getting real excited about rebuilding my YoEddy. It had surface rust all over the chain stays and lots of scratches. No dents or anything structural - or so I thought. I stripped the bike down to the frame and dropped it off with a local powder coater. I just got the call today that the seat tube has holes in it! Bummer, I have all the parts all ready to assemble, but no frame now. I sprayed frame saver in the seat tube when new and almost yearly for the first 5 years. It was a heavily used race bike so it has seen plenty of mud and rain...

A local frame builder could replace the tube for couple hundred dollars, but is it worth it? This is my foul weather commuter bike now, not my MTB or even trail bike.

I guess my options are to sell the damaged frame to somebody who can fix it and then sell off all of my components or put more money into a heavily used and possible further rusted bike. If I sell the fat, I would build up a new commuter bike with 700cc wheels, possible a Surly.

Ideas?

Here is my bike before I took all the components off:

http://www.fatcogs.com/forum/showthread.php?t=3334
 

tvcreative

New member
i think the seat tube is about the only thing to get - super sickly rust - so fixing it would be a viable option...especially for 200 bucks. You would be all in for what? $350ish?

I think a surly is more than that....
 

yoeddyVT

New member
i think the seat tube is about the only thing to get - super sickly rust - so fixing it would be a viable option...especially for 200 bucks. You would be all in for what? $350ish?

I think a surly is more than that....


Sure I would spend more money on an all new build, but I would be getting all new. If there is as much corrosion on the seat tube, what about the rest of the frame?

The flip side of course is that I wouldn't be able to use most of the components I have for a new build. Many things are Fat Chance sizes. I would have to sell the parts individually.
 

MonsterMan

New member
Seat tube rust holes

My vote would be ride it until it breaks, since "rediscovering" my Monster a few years ago, and rust holes at the same time, I figured "what the heck" and just hammer my bike on ride and some racing. I will restore it someday, but it is all the same, a new tube now or a new tube then....

Plus I have never broken a frame before.... here is a link to my Monster and its life.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/paulmoseleyphotos/4415682667/in/set-72157623491141518

Have a great weekend....

Paul
 

yoeddyVT

New member
My vote would be ride it until it breaks, since "rediscovering" my Monster a few years ago, and rust holes at the same time, I figured "what the heck" and just hammer my bike on ride and some racing. I will restore it someday, but it is all the same, a new tube now or a new tube then....

Plus I have never broken a frame before.... here is a link to my Monster and its life.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/paulmoseleyphotos/4415682667/in/set-72157623491141518

Have a great weekend....

Paul

Yikes! I don't think I would ride that frame:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/paulmoseleyphotos/4416474676/in/set-72157623491141518/
 

yo-Nate-y

Moderator
Staff member
Why not, projects are entertaining. It's not all that much money in the grand scheme of things. You could get it fixed and painted for less than a lot of less interesting frames sell for new.
 

tvcreative

New member
Once you get over the heartbreak of knowing that your bike has cancer, you do what you have to do to fix it...

or you give it away and let somebody else that's comfortable fixing it - do it.

they aren't making any more fats...

Taiwan, indonesia, and the rest will always have a Surly for you...

I was always told that the other tubes are sealed and probably would not take on that much moisture...the seat tube on my fats are sealed at the bottom and prone to water coming in from the seatpost clamp, and depending on your seatpost from the top of it...

(perhaps why the green rubber ring around clamp was pretty important)

...most people didn't bother to clean up their bikes after a dirty wet ride, so the moisture would sit at the area where you have the most damage - for extended periods of time.

the other thing that I was told that the metalurgy of the tube itself and treatment/condition of the tube prior to construction - was one that might have been prone to rust/oxidation.

Someone else here who may have worked in the plant - feel free to correct me...

since you have it blasted already you should inspect the welds and the entire frame for additional rust spidering...

It's not the end of the world, it's just the start of another adventure for your FAT.
 
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