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There is a crack in my Chameleon’s seat tube by the clamp.
See picture :
I was thinking of drilling a hole to stop the crack expanding further and covering it with a double bolt clamp- out of sight out of mind.
Alternatively would it be possible to get this tig welded?
Not sure how wise it would be to drill a hole where the post is being clamped.
Cut it off at that point and cut a new slot below for when you move the seat collar down.
Looks like enough room for collar to sit below crack, yeah?
I can’t cut it off there as it is level with the welds on the top tube/front, so not enough room. 🙁
What size frame. I have a 26" medium hung up in the garage just waiting for a new home
Is it just a paint chip on the LHS or is that another crack forming?
I'd do your first option (drill and big clamp) and see what it does / how it grows.
Partly cut down and big clamp would be my second option / something to try if it still grows.
Welding will just crack again.
I now don't make (steel) frames with lots of exposed seat tube above top tube because they tend to crack if not very thick / sleeved. I did the cut off and lower collar on one of my early frames which I still commute on - meet the offcut Cracky McCrackface:
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Is it just a paint chip on the LHS or is that another crack forming?
A paint chip...
Thanks for the offer Tracey. I believe this one is a small/26. I bought it used as a jump bike off eBay to join my son at the pump track.
Can’t return it though as I paid cash and it’s a 300 mile round trip (impulse buy whilst working away).
How much would you want for your frame?
Of course you could always just epoxy your seat post in position so you could just cut off the excess clamp area.
Think of it as a type of contemporary Drillium.
I asked the same question earlier in the year - various suggestions, but I ended up drilling the cracks and bonding a shim in. Haven't used it yet, but it'l be a 27.2 seatpost when I do.
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Looking for £90 + postage.
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What width is the seat post? As above, bond a sleeve into it and fit a 27.2 seat post and get a good deep seat post collar and forget about it. Cover it with a sticker and pretend it's not there. Use a long seatpost to reduce the stress.
Get a seat clamp without the lip, like MT ZOOM ultralight, slide it down over the crack,no need to cut down seattube and use it under your other clamp.
What Robo said. Or alternatively, you may be able to source a "double height" seat clamp with two bolts on it - I know DMR used to make one (years ago).
When this happened to me (lower down the seat tube), I cut a seat post flush with the top of the seat tube, and used a thinner post in the inside of the cut post. Totes ghetto but it kept me rolling. Yours doesn't look that bad though 🙂
Didn't the Chameleon come with a l lifetime frame warranty?
When this happened to me (lower down the seat tube), I cut a seat post flush with the top of the seat tube, and used a thinner post in the inside of the cut post.
How did that address the crack propagating, and how did you hold the thinner post in position (assuming you didn't slot the cut down post)?