Realigning aluminum road frame?

[Sloan]

When I was changing a tube on my Trek 1200, I've had it for the last 20 some odd years, I noticed that the wheel leans a little to the right at the top by the brakes. I took it to a local shop today and he told me that it really isn't a big deal as long as I'm just riding it around town. If I do want to have it realigned he quoted me a price of $170 including tear down, realignment and rebuild. My question is will it be worth it or would I be better off getting something new?

 

[Louisd75]

When I was changing a tube on my Trek 1200, I've had it for the last 20 some odd years, I noticed that the wheel leans a little to the right at the top by the brakes. I took it to a local shop today and he told me that it really isn't a big deal as long as I'm just riding it around town. If I do want to have it realigned he quoted me a price of $170 including tear down, realignment and rebuild. My question is will it be worth it or would I be better off getting something new?

Are you sure it's the frame? Sometimes a bent axle can cause a similar appearance. Try rotating the axle 1/2 a turn and see if it changes the lean or put a different wheel in and see if that changes things.

If it's not the wheel, do you notice it while you're riding? If it's causing problems (with shifting, hands free riding, braking) I'd lean towards a new bike. If it's not causing problems I'd leave it be. As far as pricing goes, lots of shops have different labor rates. From my experience (keeping in mind the bike isn't here in front of me), I'd reckon you're looking at removing the crankset and bottom bracket, rear wheel, and rear derailleur at a minimum. The chain shouldn't be in the way if it's left in the front derailleur. After that it's just a matter of bending the frame back into alignment. Have a look here to see what that entails:

http://www.parktool.com/blog/repair-help/frame-alignment

I've got a steel cyclocross bike that was in an accident that necessitated replacing the top tube. After cutting the old top tube out and brazing a new one in, the rear triangle wound up being 1/4" to the right at the dropouts. I figured I'd ride it and see what it was like. I've since commuted, raced (road, cyclocross, and xc mtb), and toured (San Fran to San Diego with saddlebags). I honestly can't say that the frame being out of alignment caused any problems.

Of course, if you've been looking for an excuse for a new ride...

 

[4xdog]

Scrap it. As much as I love old bikes (with my 1917 Swiss Army Bike the oldest), aging aluminum just isn't worth it. My 1973 full-Campy Alan aluminum was retired to trainer duty about twenty years ago after tens of thousands of miles and millions of stress cycles. My Cannondale went to the recycler. Fatigue is an insidious demon of aluminum.

Steel is real, they say. I trust a steel frame implicitly, and my Waterford or Alex Singer will outlast me. I don't plan to ride an Aluminum bike forever.

Don

 

[keezer37]

Are you the original owner? Maybe it's covered under their lifetime frame warranty.

 

[Christophe Noel]

It's highly unlikely the frame lost its original alignment due to general use. It was probably like that from day one, and unfortunately pretty common. It also may not have any impact on the ride of the bike or tracking of the bike. As for "re-aligning" it. It's an aluminum frame, and that will require "cold setting" the frame. That's fancy talk for "yank, bend and tweak." Not a wise move.

I wouldn't worry about it. That frame will likely outlive you, even with avid use. Those who say aluminum frames will eventually fatigue and fail are being dramatic. All materials can fail. While it is true aluminum does fatigue over time, that doesn't mean one day your frame will. I train with a guy on a '97 Carrera aluminum frame. He says it has roughly 90,000 miles on it. Maybe someone should have told him it was going to fail at maybe 40,000 miles.

By the way, those late 80s Alan aluminum frames are likely the most durable of their kind. Those aren't just bonded lugged frames. Those are "Duo-Dial" threaded lugs. Very cool technology at the time. Flexy as a licorice stick, but cool.

 

[4xdog]

I'm six foot six, 250+ lb. My Alan isn't one of the '80s cyclocross frames, or even the late '70s beefed-up road frames. It's one of the originals from circa 1972-73. And it still has the spaghetti-thin original fork. 35+ years on, the combination of gold-anodized aluminum tubes, polished lugs, and satin Campy NR is still a gorgeous bike. But the number of S-N cycles it's been through are enough to retire it to inside duty. The deflection on the BB is something to see, but I love that bike.

I still ride alunimum with aplomb, though -- my KTM Teramo trekking bike is strong as can be and a wonderful commuter. I'll be riding it for decades! I'm sure.

I would rather ride a slightly-bent aluminum frame than a cold set one. If it takes bending back into shape to ride, especially the fork, I wouldn't do it.

Don

 

[bluedog]

When I was changing a tube on my Trek 1200, I've had it for the last 20 some odd years, I noticed that the wheel leans a little to the right at the top by the brakes. I took it to a local shop today and he told me that it really isn't a big deal as long as I'm just riding it around town. If I do want to have it realigned he quoted me a price of $170 including tear down, realignment and rebuild. My question is will it be worth it or would I be better off getting something new?

If the wheels is off just up by the brake and not also down by the chainstays, it was most likley off from the factory. Check to make sure the wheel is "up" in the dropout all the way and check the dish (how it's centered over the lock nuts) of the wheel.

If the frame is off just a little, I would ride it and don't think about it.


B.

 

[Christophe Noel]

By the way, this type of thing used to be very common with entry level bikes about the time that bike of yours was new. We used to hope to see that type of alignment error leaning to the left stay as that was easier to correct. With vertical dropouts, you can file the left dropout to make it about a mm deeper and that can often correct the alignment. Doing that to the right dropout can be tricky depending on how the derailleur hanger interfaces with the frame.

If you were so inclined, you could file a mm or less from the right dropout to make it deeper and that should fix the problem. If the alignment is off at the chain stays that's virtually impossible to correct.

 

[thedjjack]

put a stirng around the headset and run it to the eyelets on the back drop out...measure to the seat tube on both sides.....move the string on the head tube top to bottom.

that will measure sied to side alignment....

Personally I would retire al does not fail nice.

 

[Christophe Noel]

That frame is pretty stout as aluminum frames go. I wouldn't worry about it failing, not at all. It also didn't just drift out of alignment. It's been like this since day one as Bluedog and I have suggested.

That string method will allow you to see if the rear triangle is out of alignment side to side, but that wouldn't have much to do with the alignment issue you're having. Your wheel is mal-aligned on the vertical plane. That is fixed at the dropout.

 

[NothingClever]

Yep, I used to pull bikes out of the box and was alarmed at the number of frames that were out of alignment from the factory. I had more problems with Specialized's QC than I did with Trek but that was also the late 80s / early 90s.