I noticed this a few months ago now and didn’t think much of it, but now I’m considering selling the bike. I marked the ends of it when I first saw it, and have probably done a couple of hundred km since with no ‘growth’ in the mark. It looks a lot like other scratchs in the powdercoat, but the position makes me suspicious. It’s a 2006 Heckler, btw.

P1020268 by warpcow, on Flickr

P1020260 by warpcow, on Flickr

Probably just a sticker

Looks like a scratch.

Looks like a scratch. The way it is split with two close lines together in a fork, a crack is unlikely to look like that. Also, after all that time if it was a crack that size it would have opened up.

Unfortunately the only way to be 100% sure is to have it tested which wouldn’t be cheap.

Thanks, that matches my thinking about it. I guess my question left the possibility that anything could be a crack.

Almost certainly just a scratch; but it looks as though the first couple of turns of thread have been stripped from the left-hand hole in the bottom picture.

Almost certainly just a scratch; but it looks as though the first couple of turns of thread have been stripped from the left-hand hole in the bottom picture.

Just double-checked and the threads are fine. I guess they must just be out of focus in the photo. Thanks!

but now I’m considering selling the bike

which makes you a low-life, rip-off scumbag, does it not?

but now I’m considering selling the bike

which makes you a low-life, rip-off scumbag, does it not?

Have we missed an advert wherin the bike is being offered in ‘as new condition’ or is this just a bid to qualify for an Olympic Gold in jumping to conclusions?

“brainslikerocks” more like!

Have a look through a good magnifying glass. That’s what l did with my Zesty to confirm a crack.

🙂

which makes you a low-life, rip-off scumbag, does it not?

Only if I sold it to you, without making you aware of the ‘scratch’, which I’d obviously do for anyone else, and then didn’t refund you anything for being a knob, right?

I’ve never needed to own a magnifying-glass before now.

Scratch IMHO
Unlikely to get a curved crack
Unlikely to get a crack through weld
Unlikely forit to split in two in the centre of a crack.

take the paint off and see if it still there to be sure???

Good point! I got mine at work. Does help though. Maybe borrow one?

I don’t want to put a dampener on things, but make sure you check carefully, this is what happened to my Heckler (on the weld as well and not straight at all) and it was a crack….

I’ve seen a few of the newer models crack there, but never one as old as mine. I believe they generally cracked around the pivot on the downtube. I guess I’ll have a go at looking under the paint when I get a chance.

Not a crack, crack would have followed the arc of the weld, as for won’t crack on a weld i have seen plenty of ally tig welds crack right down the middle.