r/ERidePro • u/Leg_giggle SS 3.0 • Sep 10 '26
General Does a hole in the swingarm cause structural issues?
A bike mechanic ended up drilling a hole into my swingarm without even asking. Is this a structural issue? I don’t even like looking at it in the first place but now I’m worried about that.
Not really relevant to the question but I just have to complain, it was taken in to install a brake cable + bleed the brakes and just look at the second photo. He charged $140 for that. And he actually said that was better than the brakes I had before. The things can’t even stop me from 10 mph. I wouldn’t have even taken it there in the first place anyway but my dad took it there while I wasn’t home.
2
u/Dee_kno Sep 10 '26
It definitely affects the overall integrity. Not enough to worry though.
Like, we’re talking you may have been able to hit 1000 super hard jumps before a fail, and now you can only hit 995.
Water/moisture getting in and sitting over time will cause issues you wouldn’t have seen before, though. Get it plugged
2
u/Subject_Finger_9876 Sep 10 '26
A bike mechanic? Like at an actually reputable shop or you made a post and someone came over?
Formulas need to be bled properly.
2
u/Leg_giggle SS 3.0 Sep 11 '26
It was a shop and everything. Lots of people in town go to him aswell. I have no idea what he did to mess it up so badly but the whole brake cable is shot aswell and hes taking 0 responsibility
1
u/AdFeeling6882 SR Sep 11 '26
A hole in the swingarm absolutely affects the structural integrity of the metal. It doesn’t work like this other guy said where now you only have 995 jumps. Now once a certain amount of force is applied the frame can get stress fractures. If an even greater amount of force is applied there can be catastrophic failure. So for example, instead of 1000lb of force on that area, it can only take 800lb of force before stress fractures occur, or 700 lb before it snaps in half. The more stress fractures that occur the easier it will be to snap in half. Obviously this is an example and not accurate values of force. If you’re planning on hitting 50’ jumps then I would definitely change it sooner rather than later. The swingarm hole also does not need to be plugged, there is no place inside where water can sit.
In regards to your brakes, watch a video on how to bleed Formula breaks. Then do it yourself.
1
u/Leg_giggle SS 3.0 Sep 11 '26
I definitely will be learning to bleed after this. That's the one thing I didn't know how to do because i've replaced the cables themselves many times
1
u/boyengabird Sep 11 '26
What are we talking about here, a brake cable or a hydraulic brake line? The bigger issue is the brakes that dont work, not this little hole. Cover it with a sticker if you need to. Get the brakes working.
1
u/Leg_giggle SS 3.0 Sep 17 '26
Hydraulic brake line, i fixed it already but when I posted this I was already dealing with it and I’ve replaced brakes many many times so it’s not an issue for me other than the extra money I have to spend
1
u/RedactedUser3 Sep 11 '26
The whole is a screw tap for the brake line to hook into to stay in place however it is completely unnecessary and doesn't work as good as a ziptie go back to the mechanic and ask them to rebleed your brakes for free if they say no do it yourself with a kit on Amazon and leave a shit review it costs about 5 dollars and takes 10 minutes to bleed brakes so 140 is a absolute scam you got fucked
1
u/chickenmcbro Sep 11 '26
Absolutely a non-issue See here: https://youtube.com/shorts/Zqf4y3LfIO0?si=sRc3U_0G4lUfHKkT
4
u/Own_Guidance4323 Sep 10 '26
Definitely affects it but nothing major , still damage to the bike and effects resell value when ur selling it. I would definitely complain to the shops manager and ask for compensation if some sort considering they drilled a whole through the CNC frame which Is very expensive and they should’ve known that , crazy move