Sorry to hear about your problems.

Yes its fixable and yes it will be safe to ride on after welding.

Speaking as an engineer with a fair amount of experience of welding and emergency repairs of machinery I advise before doing any more riding have a hole about 3mm-4mm in diameter drilled at each of the extreme ends of the crack (the extreme end is important it must cover the tip of the crack and it is much better to assume it is slightly further out than you can see than to drill it to far back). This hole will stop the crack growing further by redistributing the stress slightly. Whilst drilling extra holes might sound counter intuitive it is I assure you common engineering practice - the holes are known as "crack arrestors".

After you have drilled the holes you can then ride on the rim if necessary it should stop it getting any worse. The worst that will happen is the crack may eventually grow beyond the holes (and then you may be able to repeat the process if desperate), the wheel is very unlikely to fail dramatically - just keep an eye on it.

Obviously if you can find an aluminium welder then get it welded up - but make sure the holes are drilled firdst or the crack is likely to re-appear; this is because most aluminium welds, unless you have exactly the right skills, materials and conditions are weaker than the original metal. As for weld quality, any weld (as long as the guy does not melt your rim) will be better than none so just get the first person you can find to weld it rather than stressing too much. It is best if they weld it from both inside and out - but obviously then make sure that the inside weld is ground smooth or you'll be adding punctures to the problem. Finally don't worry if the finished weld does not look smooth or pretty - aluminium is one of those materials where there is often very little connection between the appearance of the weld and its strength.

(And for those that wonder - I have followed this advice myself repairing a DR650 rim this way with no long term problems).

Anyway good luck finding a welder.

__________________
Martin

finally back on the road again


http://awayonmybike.blogspot.com/