Serotta T-Max Experts: What's Wrong with this Picture?

[spacemen3]

Last night I was finally building up an old T-Max that I had bought used years ago, and I came to the horrible realization that the rear didn't have clearance for a 1.9 tire. I then noticed that the non-driveside chainstay was huge. :confused:

In the photo below: on the left is another old T-Max and on the right is the T-Max I was trying to put together. Did the chainstay design change between T-Max model years? The distance between dropouts was the standard 135mm on the left versus 140mm on the right.

My guess is that the frame was repaired at some point. If so, what should I do? Put the chainstay in a vice and say my prayers? Or send it off for repair and repaint? Any help is appreciated. Thanks in advance.

[avalonracing]

I'm quite curious as to what happened here. My guess is also that it was a wacky repair.

[christian]

Pinarello elves?

Yeah, zany repair.

BTW, convenient that you had another T-MAX in the SAME color to compare to... (Whoa!)

[spacemen3]

BTW, convenient that you had another T-MAX in the SAME color to compare to... (Whoa!)

Alas, asymmetric design at its worst. The other T-Max was recently purchased by a friend who has plans to restore it to its former glory. Permit me to say, it's a total bummer when after years of collecting the parts, you have everything ready for the build, only to have a frame geometry fail. :|

[RedRider]

You should contact Serotta. They will have the definitive answers and your best choice for any necessary repairs. A few current employees probably worked on building that frame. Good luck. Love to see those older frames on the trail!

[Jawn P]

I default my opinion to Serotta or any framebuilder, but I've done this to many frames before with good success.

Check out http://www.velocipedesalon.com/forum/f2/framebuilders-q-diy-chainstay-crimp-8185.html and Mickey's solution is very inexpensive and practical.

[David Kirk]

That is indeed wacky -

It does look like someone 'repaired' the frame and didn't do it any favors in the process.

At the risk of pointing out the obvious - the stays were the same as each other when it left the factory (just like bike on left) and the spacing was originally 135 (just like bike on left). So someone swapped out the stay with the wrong tube and messed with the alignment in the process.

No doubt the fat stay is the reason you can't get a real tire size in there. Back when we built these bikes the tires were all in the 1.9 - 2.0" range and they fit fine.

Do you know anything about the bike's history before your ownership?

Dave

[spacemen3]

now anything about the bike's history before your ownership?
Sadly, no. I bought the frameset off eBay four or five years ago, and it has sat hanging in my basement until this month. I'm surprised someone went through the trouble of professionally painting it with decals if the frame wasn't properly sorted out.

[CNY rider]

Neither a fast or slow repair job.
Call it half-fast.
Hopefully it can be made right.:banana:

[avalonracing]

I'm surprised someone went through the trouble of professionally painting it with decals if the frame wasn't properly sorted out.

Well they had to have it painted if someone hacked out a tube and put a new one in there.

[Mike748]

Seems like welding in a new stay was not trivial. Why do all the work with the wrong tube? Amazing.

Edit: looking at that picture reminds me of Bjorn Borg's arms back in the day!

[spacemen3]

Check out http://www.velocipedesalon.com/forum/f2/framebuilders-q-diy-chainstay-crimp-8185.html and Mickey's solution is very inexpensive and practical.
Thanks, I'll give this a try. If it all goes south, well, then I'll contact the A-Team. :)