Hi bikers
I see this is an old topic, however hoping both to get a little bit of help here, as well as shedding some light on the alleged breaking of old Alan forks.
First of all let me give you the story, short version. Being nearly 50 years old living now in Switzerland, when I was a teenager (15 years, in 1978), I assembled a racing bike all by myself, buying the pieces mostly directly in Italy when I was on vacation with parents. I loved this stunningly shiny bike, the frame is really a piece of art, never seen more beautiful, in my humble oppinion.
As adult I moved to Switzerland, and the old bike had a dark time in my moms basement for a couple of decades or more, collecting dust. Now I got it down home to the alps and started restoring and shining it up. All original pieces from the 70s, Campagnolo 4000 Record gears and brakes, FT titanium stuff etc. Everything is there, even the smallest pieces with "Brev. Campagnolo" stamped into them. I loved, still love, this bike. And I want to bring it back to life for careful riding on sunny days.
Taking it all apart (using, I might proudly mention, original Campagnolo tools from the 70s that I also bought back then), I noticed the upper aluminium tube of the fork - the piece where the handlebar holder fastens in the fork using an expander bolt has cracked (not sure if my English is correct).
And it broke my heart. The bike will not be used until I have a sustainable solution. Being a mechanics engineer, I got some ideas, but lack the tools and the experience to do it myself. Basically I think cutting off the fractured tube about 5 centimeters under the crack, carving out new threads inside the remaining stub of alu tube (it's thick enough) going down some 5 more centimeters. Then creating a new (steel?)tube that would make it up for the sawed off piece all with threads on top to fit the rollerball fittings there, screwing it into the alu stub with some silver-glue to make it hold. Never mind that it is much heavier, the bike will not be competing in Tour de France or any other competition. Just for slow rolling show-off on dry sunny days.
An alternative idea a friend of mine suggested is to weld the tube back together, however I do not think that will last or even work.
If anyone here has experience with such matters, or know of anyone who does, I am keen to know about it. Please post here or PM me.
Here are some pictures:
The frame and fork cleaned for other parts. NOT polished yet and still shining. Imagine how this looks once I have it fully polished. It draws more attention than a Ferrari, at least here in Zug where I live and where Ferraris are a bit too common. This artfully designed old frame beats everything else ;-)
A close-up of the crack. It goes through the tube, visible from inside too. Expanding the handlebar-holder screw just opens in further. Won't work no more. /cry :-(
The upper part of the fork with the crack visible, and my idea of how to mend it.
This post led me to sign up here and post this message. I will send Dutch Cheese a PM. Hopefully he's still a member here. If anyone else has the contact details to Alberto Falconi, please help. I also found the "alfa" email, and it is not the right one.
By the way: if you want to contact Mr. Alberto Falconi ("alfa") and the e-mail address you have doesn't work, you can PM me.
I found out that the "alfa" account didn't work.
Mr. Falconi is always very helpful, as long as you don't ask him to repair a broken Alan frame ;-)
I won't ask him to repair it, however I need advice on how to get it repaired and if he thinks my idea will work. And I would suspect nobody knows better than him, so I am keen to hear Alberto Falconi's oppinion. Especially since this frame is reputed to break occationally in the fork, and I'd much appreciate not to scratch my forehead on the tarmac, nor scratch this lovely frame. But I definitely want to ride this beautiful bike again, carefully in nice weather only, like a vintage car. It's not meant for a museum, yet :)
Cheers from Zug, Switzerland
Hi bikers
I see this is an old topic, however hoping both to get a little bit of help here, as well as shedding some light on the alleged breaking of old Alan forks.
First of all let me give you the story, short version. Being nearly 50 years old living now in Switzerland, when I was a teenager (15 years, in 1978), I assembled a racing bike all by myself, buying the pieces mostly directly in Italy when I was on vacation with parents. I loved this stunningly shiny bike, the frame is really a piece of art, never seen more beautiful, in my humble oppinion.
As adult I moved to Switzerland, and the old bike had a dark time in my moms basement for a couple of decades or more, collecting dust. Now I got it down home to the alps and started restoring and shining it up. All original pieces from the 70s, Campagnolo 4000 Record gears and brakes, FT titanium stuff etc. Everything is there, even the smallest pieces with "Brev. Campagnolo" stamped into them. I loved, still love, this bike. And I want to bring it back to life for careful riding on sunny days.
Taking it all apart (using, I might proudly mention, original Campagnolo tools from the 70s that I also bought back then), I noticed the upper aluminium tube of the fork - the piece where the handlebar holder fastens in the fork using an expander bolt has cracked (not sure if my English is correct).
And it broke my heart. The bike will not be used until I have a sustainable solution. Being a mechanics engineer, I got some ideas, but lack the tools and the experience to do it myself. Basically I think cutting off the fractured tube about 5 centimeters under the crack, carving out new threads inside the remaining stub of alu tube (it's thick enough) going down some 5 more centimeters. Then creating a new (steel?)tube that would make it up for the sawed off piece all with threads on top to fit the rollerball fittings there, screwing it into the alu stub with some silver-glue to make it hold. Never mind that it is much heavier, the bike will not be competing in Tour de France or any other competition. Just for slow rolling show-off on dry sunny days.
An alternative idea a friend of mine suggested is to weld the tube back together, however I do not think that will last or even work.
If anyone here has experience with such matters, or know of anyone who does, I am keen to know about it. Please post here or PM me.
Here are some pictures:
The frame and fork cleaned for other parts. NOT polished yet and still shining. Imagine how this looks once I have it fully polished. It draws more attention than a Ferrari, at least here in Zug where I live and where Ferraris are a bit too common. This artfully designed old frame beats everything else ;-)
A close-up of the crack. It goes through the tube, visible from inside too. Expanding the handlebar-holder screw just opens in further. Won't work no more. /cry :-(
The upper part of the fork with the crack visible, and my idea of how to mend it.
This post led me to sign up here and post this message. I will send Dutch Cheese a PM. Hopefully he's still a member here. If anyone else has the contact details to Alberto Falconi, please help. I also found the "alfa" email, and it is not the right one.
I won't ask him to repair it, however I need advice on how to get it repaired and if he thinks my idea will work. And I would suspect nobody knows better than him, so I am keen to hear Alberto Falconi's oppinion. Especially since this frame is reputed to break occationally in the fork, and I'd much appreciate not to scratch my forehead on the tarmac, nor scratch this lovely frame. But I definitely want to ride this beautiful bike again, carefully in nice weather only, like a vintage car. It's not meant for a museum, yet :)
Cheers from Zug, Switzerland