Cracked chain stay - repairable?

[Bowak]

531 Colin -

Back in the early 2010s the bike did go through a lot of commuting with some properly crap rear wheels and was often ridfden for longer than it should have been with somewhat broken axles, so that can't have helped.

One thing that always appealed about the Trucker is that I'm not at the very top of the sizing range on it, whereas for most other manufacturers I tend to be right on the limit or 1 or 2 cms above it. Is there any Spa size you'd recommend for someone at 6'5" with an approx 35" inside leg - or do I need to do a bit of homework with a tape measure on my Dawes and look at the charts on Spa's site?!

[531colin]

What size?
Errr....the biggest?
Seriously, go ride some.

Anecdote alert.....when I started designing the bikes, I gathered a few volunteer testers. I'm about 11 stone, and I was 5'10"....I'm much shorter now! I can cover the "average male height/on the light side" ground, but once you get more than 1 size away from your own size it gets harder.
I got a lass under 5 foot as a tester, but my man for the big stuff was similar build to you...around 6'5", and North of 20 stone. I first came across him because he was looking for somebody who could build wheels which didn't fall apart under him.
I shall be 75 in the summer, so memory gets a bit dim, but my recollection is its only the smallest sizes which use the old standard inch/inch and eighth tubes.

Wayf. great and small 002 by 531colin, on Flickr

Biggest and smallest Wayfarers

[Bowak]

Fair enough!

I'll give them a call and see if Saturday's any good for trying some out.

In a bit of a tight timescale as need to get a bike ready by mid-May for a 6 week tour from Holland to Italy which seems to be cutting it tight right now with a lot of shops. I do have a Cannondale Topstone if I really fancy a long lightweight tour - it has some appeal to be fair, but not really enough luggage capacity and I think would need two days of walking uphill in the Alps due to 30-34 being the lowest gear available.

[Bowak]

Oh, and another question about general fatigue. Is it likely to be a similar level on the non-drive side, or no way of knowing?

Just thinking that if I do get the dropout replaced ahead of a respray to convert it into a town bike, maybe it'd make sense to replace both dropouts at the same time?

[pwa]

Fair enough!

I'll give them a call and see if Saturday's any good for trying some out.

In a bit of a tight timescale as need to get a bike ready by mid-May for a 6 week tour from Holland to Italy which seems to be cutting it tight right now with a lot of shops. I do have a Cannondale Topstone if I really fancy a long lightweight tour - it has some appeal to be fair, but not really enough luggage capacity and I think would need two days of walking uphill in the Alps due to 30-34 being the lowest gear available.

Assuming you do get a new bike, I'd retain the old saddle for a tour that is just around the corner. You don't want a new and untested perch at the start of a lengthy tour.

[531colin]

The old screw-on freewheel block left a lot of unsupported axle on the right (drive) side, so it was always the right side of the axle which failed, and therefore the right dropout.
Failed dropouts are a thing of the past now with the freewheel part of the hub and no silly length of unsupported axle.
Having said all that, if you want just one dropout replaced, that will depend on somebody finding a replacement dropout with identical dimensions, or you risk the wheel being wonky.

I wouldn't rush into buying a bike.
You kept this one 17 years. Its worth getting it right.
Covid may yet stop your planned tour.

I guess your Cannondale doesn't have properly low gears because its got a double chainset rather than a triple?
There are 2 ways round that;
A rear mech. extender and a cassette with huge sprockets....probably the cheapest/easiest, some big jumps between sprockets.
A "super-compact" double....generally using 2 rings from a possible 3 rings on a triple....so square taper. I have ridden a bike with 24/40 rings
..changing was faultless, but its a huge jump, you have to double shift.

[thirdcrank]

If you do decide to explore the professional repair route, Ellis Briggs of Shipley still advertise these services and publish a price list which is at least a guide.

https://www.ellisbriggscycles.co.uk/res ... e-repairs/

[Jdsk]

Oh, and another question about general fatigue. Is it likely to be a similar level on the non-drive side, or no way of knowing?

Just thinking that if I do get the dropout replaced ahead of a respray to convert it into a town bike, maybe it'd make sense to replace both dropouts at the same time?

Good question.

You're taking it to an expert... I'd ask them.

Jonathan

[Bowak]

Covid may still stop the tour. But on the other hand, like I'm sure many people do, I often have a bit of a nosey at possible new bikes so already have a reasonable shortlist to consider. It's definitely not something I'm looking at just from scratch!

I'll definitely look into range extenders for the Topstone too. There's quite a few blogs etc where people have taken them all over the place so I should be able to find out what is/isn't possible. Though as well as the gear range, carrying capacity is another possible weakness there, though it does have rear rack holes and it takes a 3rd water bottle too so there's options to consider there as I already have a full frame and handlebar bag for it.

[Bowak]

I'd just like to say thank you very much for all the advice on this. It's been tremendously helpful.

I got a lot of help from here 8 years ago too when I upgraded the whole gearing setup on this bike, so you've all helped keep this bike rolling.

[djnotts]

"....definitely look into range extenders for the Topstone too."

Sub-compact, even 46/30, plus a mech hanger extender allowing a 40T rear will serve your purpose cheaply enough!

[Bowak]

So does the mech hanger extension effectively increase the range that the drivetrain can handle as well as physically allowing the larger cassettes to fit?

My Topstone has 105 7000 which has a capacity of 39 - this is currently fully taken up by the 46/30 front and 11-34 rear. Would an extender effecitvely increase the capacity by a few teeth? (and does the capacity really matter that much as long as you're aware of any cross-chaining combo that would exceed it?) As if I can get a bottom gear of 30-40 to work then it definitely helps shift the planning towards how to get some packing at the front - how I wish that bike had mounts on the fork!

Edit: I'd also need a new dynamo hub wheel too. Still definitely worth researching if there's a way to get a bit more luggage on the front without totally messing up the handling as it could still work out a lot cheaper overall.

[djnotts]

Not sure of the numbers! I first kept original 50/34 front on my Boardman and fitted a hanger to replace 11-34 with 11-40. No problem - although obviously best avoided, would run big-big and small-small. Then changed to 46/30 front and still no problem. I think would go to 42T.
Can't guarantee ok on Topstone, but I would certainly try it!

[Bowak]

Sounds great. Even if I don't go with it for the Alps tour due to luggage, that sounds like just the option I want available on the Topstone so I can swap in lower gears when needed for trips to the Lakes/Peaks etc.

Cheers!

[TheBomber]

So does the mech hanger extension effectively increase the range that the drivetrain can handle as well as physically allowing the larger cassettes to fit?

The hanger extension is designed to allow for larger sprockets at the rear - not to increase overall capacity of the mech to take up slack. Remember that you can often exceed the capacity stated through a 'suck it and see' approach. If you still want to hang on to the biggest gears this can be done by consciously avoiding small front to small rear combinations (which are probably duplicated anyway). Set your chain length based on the big to big combination and just avoid the small to small ones. I ran my MTB that way for years.