That time I saw a shop in Portland fix a cracked frame with brass

I was visiting a friend up in Portland last month and stopped by this little co-op shop near the Mississippi district. One of the mechanics there was brazing a crack on an old steel touring frame, and I noticed he was using brass instead of silver filler. He said it holds up way better on frames that see a lot of wet roads and heavy loads. Has anyone else tried brass for frame repairs instead of the usual silver stuff?

3 comments

3 Comments

the_laura5d ago

That thing you said about brass "basically becoming part of the frame" really hits home for me. It reminds me of how I've noticed that the stuff that takes more effort upfront usually ends up being the most solid long term. Like with my old cast iron skillet - I could've gotten a nonstick pan that's easy at first, but after a year it's scratched up and flaking. The cast iron took some learning and patience, but now it's basically part of my kitchen. Same logic applies to a lot of things, I think. Sometimes the quick and easy fix just doesn't have the staying power, whether it's on a bike or in your house or whatever.

milalewis4d ago

Down in the Mississippi delta region where I grew up, the old farmers used brass to repair their truck frames and tractor hitches because it actually flexes better than steel in some ways. One old guy told me brass has a lower melting point than steel but a higher tensile strength than pure copper, so it acts like a shock absorber in the joint. That touring frame is gonna see maybe 8,000 miles a year with panniers bouncing around, and silver joints can crystallize after that kind of vibration. Plus with brass you can actually see the flow line as it heats up, which matters when you're working blind on the inside of a chainstay.

paulnguyen5d ago

Wouldn't brass be a whole lot tougher for that kind of use though? I've heard guys say silver is fine for dry weather bikes but it can get brittle over time with flex and moisture. Brass takes more heat to flow right and you gotta be careful not to burn the tube, but once it's on there it basically becomes part of the frame. Makes sense for a touring rig that's gonna be loaded down and ridden through everything.