Hase Pino handlebars

[Tim Hall]

(In here as the bike in question is half recumbent)  Out for a ride/walk on the Pino on Sunday, hoiked the bars to lift it up onto a path and they went wobbly. Cut short the ride, limped home gingerly.

Further inspection revealed this:

They've rusted through from the inside. The upper section is inserted into the lower part, leaving a nice rain pathway and as there is no drainage hole, hilarity ensues. This is the second pait I've had in twenty odd years of owning the Pino.

The other side suffered similarly a couple of months ago and I had a mate, who has a Landrover habit, do an untidy but strong repair. This time I reckon they're FUBARed.
When the first side broke I located a pair of NoS at Hase, who wanted Quite A Lot for them, north of two hundred notes. I guess I'll have to go down that route and hope it's not banjaxed due to Brexit.  Before I do, has anyone got any bright ideas?

 

[JefO]

Can't offer any advice, but would like to thank you for the heads up (just got a 10 yr old Pino)!

Can you take another photo from a bit further away to give the detailed shot a bit more context please?

Jef

[Tim Hall]

No problem. Mine is the older style Pino (3x7 hub on the rear wheel, rather than a triple chainset and nine speed rear wheel) and therefore has the older style handlebars with the tie rod to the front fork on the left hand side. 


 
The upper section of the bars with the brake levers and gear shifters plug into the open ends are are secured by the pinch bolts. The crack is right by the vertical tube that takes the headset - you can see where I've taken the coating off. The bulge on the left hand side next to the tie rod bushing is the earlier repair.  I don't know if the new shaped bars suffer from this fault too.

[JefO]

Ahhh yes I see.

Was the £200+ set of bars a complete new set (including the top quarters)?

If you can get just the new style bottom half, I have a pair of new style top quarters, surplus to requirements.

Failing that, it doesn't look like an overly complicated process for your Land Rover owning friend to make a new set of bars if you can get the stock diameter tubes, and you do have a pattern to work from.

The new bars have a different style. The tubes that the top quarters slide into are welded to the ends of the centre section - preventing the ingress of water that you have suffered badly with.

Jef

[Tim Hall]

Thanks for the offer Jef. Sadly the new style lower doesn't fit the older style Pino, as the tie rod attaches on the other side.

My Landrover fettling friend doesn't feel up to bending tube to make a new set and I haven't even looked at sourcing the tube yet.

I've gone back to London Recumbents to see if they can help.

[Blodwyn Pig]

I would have thought a frame builder / car repair man who uses brazing,  would be able to braze the broken bits together again, then sleeve both sides, with a wrap around the centre, and the add a couple of gussets to strengthen as well.  Looking at the design, it looks as it an additional cross brace, across, near the top of the lower section, would strengthen it up considerably.  When you get it fixed, I assume the upper bars slide in to the lower bars. If so cut a length of narrow inner tube, then roll it onto the lower part of the upper bars, insert in to lower bars, then roll down some of the inner tube , to make a waterproof sleeve.

If not , what about Kevin at D-Tek, he may even be able to repair it for you, but try a local frame builder, / hobbyist first.

[Jurek]

I recon a replacement from Hase is the optimum way to go, assuming you can still get your hands on some.
Your current one is due for its second repair. That doesn't say a lot which is favourable about the condition of the material you'll be working with.
Were you to commission  a new one from a frame builder, I'd suggest that the only tube diameter which is critical, is the one which the head set fits into.
For the tubes which you grasp, I'd suggest that there is a bit more tolerance/leeway as there is a fair bit of give and take on attachment of the controls which will be fitted to them.
You can always get a bit creative and beef up the diameter of an undersized tube with a (partial) sleeve, in the area where the control is to be fitted.
Cost-wise, If you were to get someone to make you up a new one, by the time you'd sourced ~120mm of specific diameter/gauge head tube, and paid them to put it together for you, I think Hase's price of north of £200.00 could start to look attractive.

[DuncanM]

Tubing is cheap. But it's going to cost a reasonable amount to get someone qualified to create the 2 bends, fishmouth the junction to the headtube and weld it in, drill and reinforce the tie-rod end connection, make and weld on the reinforcing bars, add the braze-ons, and then paint it. For a safety critical specialist component like that, a new replacement from the manufacturer is probably the best route, if it can't be mended properly.