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Excellent info. That all makes sense and does tally with other things I've read.
It's all a bit arbitrary now in terms of my original reason for asking the question as I've just told Spooky to arrange to collect their frameset and provide me with a full refund without delay.
In the end I've weighed it all up and head has won out over heart. I am gutted to be so close to getting the frameset I wanted, but in the end the fact that my frame has got through all the various stages of their full process without anyone noticing this fundamental flaw leaves me thinking that they're a company under pressure (not sure whether this is time/finances/lack of man power) and therefore it's too risky to accept the goodwill gesture of using the temporary "sticking plaster" frame until the proper one is fabricated. There's too much risk that I'll become low priority and/or they go bust in the meantime.
I've already lost 4 months, had a load of hassle and will lose out on PayPal fees and exchange rates etc when the refund is issued (plus I've got to argue with the tax man about getting my import duties back) but will prefer to cut my loses and buy an OTP frame in the UK that I can just build and ride without further fuss.
Let's see how quickly they honour the offer of the refund. I don't see why I should wait for them to collect the frame. The least they can do is give me my money back without delay. If they'd have done their job right I'd be happily building my new bike by now...
yetidamo-
I've read the whole thing, and my opinion counts for nothing, but I'd cut my losses and move on. You wanted the frame of your dreams, it hasn't happened. It'll always leave a bit of an after taste.
I don't want to shit on Spooky, and do wish them the best of luck, but it's a great time for custom bikes at the moment, and there's a lot of small scale manufacturers doing amazing work. You're not really short of selecting someone else to fulfill your needs.I'm particularly excited by @TvH new ride for example, and it's a showcase of what small builders can accomplish.
Do what you said, and just wait till next year to see what comes up then.
Best of luck.
Chak
It depends on what aluminium the frame is made of. Each type has its own alloys and heat treatment, or temper. In my previous life as an aircraft mechanic I did lots of stuff with aluminium and somewhere in my study books I have lists of the types of alu and the treatment processes. I’m buggered if I can recall it all now, but for example the most common alu alloy is 6061 T6 It’s a 6000 series aluminium alloy, with alloys like copper, magnesium and zinc. T6 is the heat treatment. I can’t recall offhand the details of the treatment involved but it’s basically heating and then cooling at a specific rate. Ageing then completes the treatment. You can repeat the process after more welding or repairs. The point with 6061 is that is that you can re-weld it, but the whole piece needs to be heat treated again to regain full strength - a structure can lose about 45% of its strength when its heated, so it must be re-treated to T6 spec.
There are other grades of aluminium alloy which need other T heat treatments, but some of them can’t be repaired by welding again. I must dig my books out again and have a read.
Steel alloys are also heat treated, too. I remember that dear old Reynolds 531 and the later 753 were both identical in composition (manganese-molybdenum steel) but given a different temper. 753 was given a harder temper and so the tubing could be made a lot thinner than 531 and so it was lighter. It was a bastard to braze, though.