Anyone know a repair for a broken eyelet, short of rebrazing the eyelet or even replacing the DO? Returning from the post office just now on my new Bates, I heard a snap at the back of the bike and discovered one of the two eyelets on the rear drive side DO had broken off from the DO. This eyelet secured the fender stay for the rather hefty Weinmann rear mudguard. This is rather disappointing, as the frame, despite three years in storage, was nearly new in terms of having seen few miles.
Doug Fattic had commented to me in the past that additional eyelets brazed onto a DO are sometimes of rather marginal strength. Is it common for two-eyelet DO's to have the second eyelet just brazed on, rather than forged as part of the DO?
Aside from the cost of having the eyelet rebraised or the DO replaced, it would be a royal pain to have to disassemble a fully configured touring bike like this then build it up again after the frame repair. And the DO is chromed, so the repair or replacement would have to be chromed. Is there any sort of adhesive available that might have a decent chance of reattaching the eyelet to avoid sending the frame off for repair?
Regards,
Jerry Moos
Big Spring, Texas, USA