Cannondaleriders

During the last race, I lost my rear brakes. When I finally went to fix it, I found that the master cylinder has broken away from the frame. The lower mounting tab has broken completely off. Its a very small piece. It almost seems too small to weld back. I can try to get pics if you all don't really know what I'm talking about. I'm really just looking for opinions on what to do with it at this point. The only thing I can think of is trying to weld it or getting a whole new frame. I need rear brakes!

Jess,

Just get it welded as it is not a stress part of the frame. I have seen these broken off when someone ships a frame and doesn't protect the mount as well.

Here is the pic

I'll try to find a good welder. Thanks Kdeal.

Be carefull beefing the area up too much as the brake master cylinder still has to fit back in there when you are done. I once saw someone beef up his entire frame while bare then powdercoated everything, only to find out that some of his parts didn't go back on because of the new bracing!

That's a strage one, Jess. Do you think something came up and hit it? Any scrapes? Or did it just break?

If you take it to get it welded, take a bucket of water and some rags to wrap around the frame a few inches away from where it's being welded on all sides. Then, drop one on the part as soon as he's done welding to cool it. This will reduce the heat transfer to other areas of the frame and preserve the heat treating as much as possible. Also, make sure you/he v-grooves the parts to get a thorough weld of th etwo pieces. Like Kdeal said, pay attention to where he can lay a couple extra beads on the edge to beef it up. You can expect to have to do some grinding to flatten it back out and some drilling to re-make the hole.

Hey Jess, It must have been a tough race. I didn't think you ever used brakes to slow down.

Most people hang on with their knees, Just how were you hanging on that tight with your ankles. LOL


The guys have pointed you in the right direction, make sure the guy is good with aluminum, its worth a few extra bucks to get the quality on welds.

The welder should be able to use a good quality heat fence type material to isolate the heat a little bit. Brad was telling me he has seen more than one frame damaged in exactly the same way when a bare frame was shipped as this part of the frame is the most rearward part and would hit the packaging when moved & not packed tightly. Like DMAC said something must of hit this area either in the race or in transport to the race. Since you will be working with aluminum, add too much and start grinding is the best bet.

DMAC,

How about we chip in and get him some Flintstones brakes.....Yaba daba doo!

At the series I race, brakes are a must. Its nothing but up and down hills and valleys. Its at a park that has been open since the early or mid 80s so there are lots and lots of hard packed ruts. One muddy race and you'll have to chip through the concrete to clean you quad off when you get home. The point I'm trying to make is that its rough. I think it probably got hit by a rock or something. Something else that probably didn't help is that I probably tightened it too much the last time I had the MC off. It kept coming loose so I really cranked it down the last time. I'm willing to bet that the pressure and a good tap with a rock are what caused it to fail. I'll look for any scrapes though.