I had a badly bent K2 frame straightened out and I picked it up yesterday from the frame straightener. Was impressed that he managed to get the front and rear wheels in perfect alignment considering how far out they were beforehand.
However I was disappointed that he broke the top triple when removing the front end. He explained that he had repaired the breakage and that the right hand side of the clamp had also been broken and repaired at some stage during the bikes life as well. He pointed out where that repair had been made.....double disappointment.
I am not really keen to re-use a triple clamp that has been broken in one place, let alone two. Mr frame straightener was of the opinion that it should be ok but he is not the one who will be riding the bike.
Just looking for a few opinions here. Would I be crazy to even think of using this clamp again? To me the first repair job which was done prior to my ownership of the bike looks to have a hairline crack in it if you look closely. The more recent repair (shinier one) looks ok but it is hard to know what is going on inside the metal.
These unicorn triple clamps only suit the K0,K1,K2 and are pretty hard to find second hand and are generally quite pricey. I see that Yamiya sells a replica item but they are super pricey.
I get the feeling this type of clamp was badly designed from the start as they have the "D" shaped washer that the pinch bolts pass through so you do not break the clamp if you over tighten it.
Here are 3 pics. One shows the whole clamp, other 2 are close ups of each side. Left side one is a bit blury but there does seem to be a hairline crack.
Thank you
