Merlin Metalworks

So you were doing 80 when your roof rack let go? And you were being drafted by a Peterbilt at the time?

Relax.

Matt O'Keefe has seen worse.

What are the most common repairs you see?
Most of the repair work involves a serious solo crash, or with an automobile. And dented down tubes from suspension forks, although I haven't seen any in a while.

How bad do they get?
The worst was where a rider actually got pinned between two trucks, I think, and the rear end got folded around to the front end. That was awful, but the guy recovered.

How did you fix it?
We cut off the mess and put a new rear end on it. The front triangle was fine. You tack on new stays, and from there it's just like building a new frame. Same operations.

How many days does it take to turn around a repair?
If it's a warranty, we say five working days, and we rarely exceed that. In other cases, we still try to turn it around as soon as possible. In the middle of the season, it can be 10-15 working days.

But if it's an emergency, we'll drop everything to get it done. We can have them ship it next day to us and we'll fix it and next day it back out. Sometimes, we can lend out an old frame so they can keep riding until we get their own bike back to them.

What does the repair look like?
It looks brand new. Customers constantly call back and say they can't believe it's the same bike. It gets completely refinished, with new decals, and it goes out of here looking great.

How strong is the repair?
It's just as strong as the original, as long as the joint is prepared properly and welded under the right conditions.

What about stuff like chainstay gouges. and cosmetic blemishes?
They aren't as great a concern as they would be for an aluminum frame or a carbon fiber frame. A small gouge or nick isn't going to affect the frame at all. At the other extreme, there are people who have serious shifting problems for a long time and they let the chain actually eat through the tube. Their bikes come back with holes in them--not failed, but just holes worn straight through. In those cases, we would replace the stay. And tell them to clean up their drivetrain.

What else do you see?
There's not much you can do to the frame. That's about the worst.

When people crash, they worry about alignment.
I do get calls about that. In most cases, I ask the shop to do a rough check, and if it looks okay it is probably fine. As long as there are no serious dents or signs of a heavy impact, the frame is usually straight. But if there is a problem, we ask them to ship it back, not try to fix it there. We can turn it around in a day.

How much can you straighten?
The front triangle, I don't know if I have ever seen one misaligned from a crash. The rear triangle we can pull back maybe two or three millimeters without too much trouble.

Let's talk about the custom frames. Is any type most common?
Maybe the traditional racing bike, with a shorter or longer top tube, or slightly different angles. We seem to do a fair number of touring bikes, or touring/cyclocross style bikes. About an equal number of triathlon frames. And we have done a lot of frames with extended head tubes for people who have back problems or neck injuries. The head tube extension makes for a better frame than stacking the headset with spacers. It is part of the frame, and that makes it stiffer, and cleaner.

How long does it take to turn around a custom?
The shop sends in the forms and we generate a spec sheet. That takes three or four days. Then we fax them the spec sheet. Once they confirm that, it's two weeks from confirmation to shipping.

Did you get a chance to build one for yourself?
Yup, a cyclocross frame, a 52, slightly sloping 53 top tube. It has S-Bend stays that look similar to our Mountain stays, but the bends are less dramatic. It has room for 38C tires, cantilevers, top mount cables. It's a great bike. Everybody should have one.