Crack in Bronson Frame

Hi

I noticed this circular crack on my Bronson where the larger upper pivot axle attaches to the rear triangle (see pic).

[/url]IMG_2813 by Mark Gettins[/url], on Flickr[/img]

It could be just a paint issue, but I’m not sure, and does look very similar to the disbonding issue that plagued earlier Santa Cruz carbon frames, but was fixed in the Bronson. Anyone on hear had similar cracks appear in their Bronson/Solo/Nomads?

I’d be concerned enough about that to be contacting Dealer/Jungle/SC in the US.

Hard to tell from photo but looks like paint cracking. Got one or two chips on paint on mine. Would Def get it checked by shop you got it from though

Looks like the aluminium insert has started to de-bond. I wouldn’t say its common but certainly happened to earlier carbon santa cruz frames and carbon frames by other manufactures…

…or could just be damage to the paint. Under warranty?

They advertised the bronson and solo as having ‘no-bonding’ so I’m definitely curious about this.

I remember reading something about how they’d changed the design for the Bronson and Solo to stop this happening. So I am also curious.

Co-molded aluminum hardware on frame pivots: no bonding.

– from the SC website.
Looks like more than just paint to me and covers a fairly large and highly stressed area. Get it checked out!

Probably just paint but get it checked for peace of mind.

So the aluminium hardware has de-moulded 😉

I shouldn’t jest, I’ll be inspecting my Bronson tonight. My Blur LTc had rings start to appear on the main frame end of the lower link. Still rode it for a year and lunched it off some fairly big stuff without them really getting any worse.

I hope it’s just paint, as I really like this bike. If it’s not it will be covered by warranty (original owner/receipts etc.), but just don’t want the hassle of replacing a frame I really like.

Jungle warranty bod is coming back to me next week (He’s out today). I will let you know the outcome.

Please do 🙂

Looks like a sticker to me.

Seriously – it’s the edge of the frame protection wrap isn’t it?! (see seat tube behind)
That’s exactly what I thought when I saw it!

Plastic bikes are gonna fail!

I deleted my comment as I realised he was talking about the bits flaking around the black pivot…

but just don’t want the hassle of replacing a frame I really like

They might offer you a bright pink mk2 😀

Yes! could be in line for a V2 upgrade!
Does only look like cracked paint though.

It could be just cracked paint – but what would cause the paint to crack in such a fashion???

(this comment is mostly to flag this thread for updates but felt I should say something slightly more profound than ‘tick’…)

If you want to follow a thread, just add it to your favourites up there^^^ (underneath the thread subject)

Mind. Blown. 😀

Its probably not clear on the pic, but there is a hairline crack 2/3 the way around where the axle screws into. It’s not just the chip/crack to the right of the axle .

I took the pivot off to have a better look and noticed that the drive-side small upper link bearing has seized. This was a brand new complete upper pivot that has had 5 rides on it (and hadn’t been washed once), and my 3rd complete new upper link – the previous one lasted 3months! I wish I could say I was a hard rider that did 10ft gap jumps, but I’m not!

My db-inline (10months old) was serviced a about a month ago, and had to have the shaft replaced as it was showing signs of “premature” wear! I was mentioned at the time that this could be down to a link problem or I was unlucky. I assumed I was just unlucky and got it replaced.

So it does appear something isn’t right. No idea what though, and await what SC have to say.

^ above comments there confirm my armchair musings on this – in that the ‘cracks’ shown haven’t been caused by a frame problem per se, more that this problem has arisen due to a bearing / bushing failure issue – which has caused repeated ‘impacts’ to be delivered to this critical part of the frame.

I managed to completely detach the bonded pivot inserts from my carbon Trance after riding around with some slightly seized bearings for a bit. Luckily I was able to re-bond the inserts using some crazy strength Loctite permanent bonding compound.

I was just coming back to this to say check the bearings are free but have no slop.

similar thing happened to my mates bronson at the rear axle. His was replaced under warranty although he changed to a nomad.

PS. If you get offered a new bronson be sure to get a demo first the new one isn’t very fun when it comes to climbing.

Evening. If I discovered that on my frame OP I wouldnt keep going large or whatever another poster said. Any suspected crack I’d park it. Injury aside imagine a 5mile+ walk back to your car because the part failed and caused bad/sudden over chain growth/collapse etc.

PPS. If you get offered a new Bronson, demo it and decide that you don’t like the way it climbs …I’ll swap with you 🙂 …just make sure it isn’t PINK!

Seems odd you are getting linkage bearing failure and also premature wear on the air shaft. Maybe something isn’t entirely straight on the frame. I’d make sure that’s noted to them when they look at it.

Gfrew… How so is the climbing rubbish? They’ve only slackened the head agle a degree, increased the ett, reach and seat angle and reduced the chainstays- which will only help things when pointing up.

Is it the moving of the bottom link? Or was the shock not set up for you?

The suspension kinematics (anti squat/lever ratio/chain growth) of the new version have barely changed with moving the lower link (unlike the Nomad which changed a lot).Have a look at the graphs on Linkage.
It’ll either be a set up/shock tune or you desperately trying to not justify replacing the old version 😉

I’ve ridden both the old and new Bronson. Climbing is ace on both, I would say the V2 is marginally better.

Contact the shop you bought it from, rather than Jungle.

Gfrew… How so is the climbing rubbish? They’ve only slackened the head agle a degree, increased the ett, reach and seat angle and reduced the chainstays- which will only help things when pointing up.

Is it the moving of the bottom link? Or was the shock not set up for you?

Just my opinion, the front was lifting all the time and made climbing a bit of a nightmare especially if it got technical, also suffered from a lot of pedal strikes.

The suspension kinematics (anti squat/lever ratio/chain growth) of the new version have barely changed with moving the lower link (unlike the Nomad which changed a lot).Have a look at the graphs on Linkage.
It’ll either be a set up/shock tune or you desperately trying to not justify replacing the old version

I don’t own one i did however have a solo and now ride a LTC

So what you actually meant was “If you get offered a new bronson be sure to get a demo first the new one isn’t very fun when it comes to climbing.Just like the original one….which you currently own”

I’ll be inspecting mine in the morning and watching the thread with interest(and a sick feeling). Hope you get looked after although from what I understand of SC it won’t be a problem.

watching with interest as I have a stealth nomad and I would really struggle to see a small crack develop

“Just my opinion, the front was lifting all the time and made climbing a bit of a nightmare especially if it got technical, also suffered from a lot of pedal strikes.:

that says to me your shock was running too much sag/too soft.

How do exactly would you struggle to see that on a stealth nomad?

Seriously – it’s the edge of the frame protection wrap isn’t it?! (see seat tube behind)

you’re shitting me? 😆

you’re shitting me?

there was an epic thread ages ago with a “cracked” bike (Cube IIRC) for which the consensus was it was just the edge of some frame protection tape, the OP ultimately never responded (suggesting we were right) and so “is it just a sticker?” is a bit of an STW meme.