Is my Ibis mojo safe to ride? Repaired seat tube.

loudawwg56 · Feb 4, 2011

Hi,I found a 1997 Steel Ibis Mojo frame that i really liked and picked it up. The original owner said that years back the seat tube was developing a crack and was sent in for warranty repair. In addition it looks like the rear deraileur hanger was also repaired. He said Ibis welded a bead on the seat tube and repaired the hanger instead of a replacement frame.

My question is do you think these repairs are good enough to ride on?

Here are the pics:

Thanks in advance.

POG · Feb 4, 2011

Looks good to go to me but don't be surprised if it cracks again. Make sure seatpost extends well beyond the repair and even if it cracks shouldn't be catastrophic. If you don't feel safe I will sacrifice and take it off your hands.

ak greeff · Feb 4, 2011

uh...... im pretty sure that "repair job" was not done by a professional welder in the bicycle industry and most certainly not done by ibis. good luck

saxen · Feb 4, 2011

^agree, ibis dint do that- if they did i dont think i want to buy from them any time soon-

but really- there is just no way a bike shop did that repair- that frame is scrap

CactusJackSlade · Feb 4, 2011

ak greeff said:
uh...... im pretty sure that "repair job" was not done by a professional welder in the bicycle industry and most certainly not done by ibis. good luck

Ummm what he said... I used to weld a fair amount for my job and even I can do better than that. That looks like it was MIG welded, not TIG welded. I would not believe that weld job was not done by Ibis... if so the real welder was out to lunch and the warehouse guy was sent to practice... just compare the original welds to the repair.

Now the question is... is it safe? I do not think you can fully answer that, but also if you had a longer seatpost it would go down below the repair and take some of the stress off that area. One thing for sure, you would not want your seatpost ending right at the repair.

Consider what would happen if it failed? Maybe just a bad spongy ride home, at worst it could fail entirely and you could get hurt and walk home.

Personally I would not bother building it up and I would worry... unless you are going to just use it for your mailbox bike... whatever, keep an eye on it!

loudawwg56 · Feb 4, 2011

Yeah . I pretty much figured that the bike wasnt repaired by Ibis. My question in my OP was, based on the photos, is the bike safe to ride?

I have a looooong seatpost in there already, I weigh 160 lbs and will probably take the bike only on my smooth/flat trail days.

btw ....what is the correct way to repair/weld a crack on a frame?

hanssc · Feb 4, 2011

Good comments...

It's not an ibis repair.

The right way to do it is to replace the tube, but that plus a paint job is often more expensive than the frame is worth.

H

kiwisimon · Feb 4, 2011

long seat post you'll be good. put a sticker over that hideous weld and always wear a helmet. hope you didn't pay cash for that.

loudawwg56 · Feb 10, 2011

hanssc said:
Good comments...

It's not an ibis repair.

The right way to do it is to replace the tube, but that plus a paint job is often more expensive than the frame is worth.

H

That what I suspected as well. But.....

I was browsing some reviews on the steel Ibis Mojos and actually came across my bike's original owner's review of the bike here on mtbr.com and it looks like what he told me could actually be true?

Anyways I built her back up and am enjoying all 22lbs of her.

budgie · Feb 10, 2011

Sweet! Did you use electrical tape or duct tape? The duct tape should be stiffer torsionally, but the electrical tape stronger in shear. Maybe a layer of each to be on the safe side?

Ride it like you stole it (which might account for the cut seat tube, come to think of it).

92gli · Feb 10, 2011

loudawwg56 said:

Let me translate...

"Frame was great until I ran a seatpost that was too short. I told ibis it was a defect and tried to get it covered under warranty. When they said no I had a local welder try to fix it, it didn't work. I'm making up this story because I think they should have given me a new frame even though it was my fault."

loudawwg56 · Feb 10, 2011

92gli said:
Let me translate...

"Frame was great until I ran a seatpost that was too short. I told ibis it was a defect and tried to get it covered under warranty. When they said no I had a local welder try to fix it, it didn't work. I'm making up this story because I think they should have given me a new frame even though it was my fault."

lol could be.

budgie said:
Sweet! Did you use electrical tape or duct tape? The duct tape should be stiffer torsionally, but the electrical tape stronger in shear. Maybe a layer of each to be on the safe side?

Ride it like you stole it (which might account for the cut seat tube, come to think of it).

There is no tape or ever was tape on my bike. That is black primer paint and is a temporary fix to prevent corrsion on the exposed steel while i look for the correct color paint.

Is my Ibis mojo safe to ride? Repaired seat tube.

loudawwg56

POG

ak greeff

saxen

CactusJackSlade

loudawwg56

hanssc

kiwisimon

loudawwg56

budgie

92gli

loudawwg56

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