Hi all

A mate has a bike with a cracked head tube that I’m considering using as a ride to work bike.
It’s a spec sirrus hybrid.

Would it be OK to ride a short commute to work on the road/pavement?

Pic here:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/8he26woh6kiyvn8/headset.gif?dl=0

Could I sure it up with a metal hose clamp / cable ties or similar?

Or worst way get it welded.

Thanks V much.

RT

if you’re already a toothless munter, then you’ve got nothing to lose.

except maybe an eye?

(i’ve just checked, you can buy a brand new Pinnacle hybrid frame for £90, less if you want to use rim brakes.)

Only you can answer that question.

Risk / consequence analysis of chin to pavement interface on the way to work infront of a bus vs saving a few quid on a broken bike.

Your call. I wouldn’t.

it’s only going to go one way isn’t it? Trouble is, it’ll probably be ok for a while, and then out of the blue one day it’ll fail.

If its a fairly short flatish commute, I probably would…guess the question to me is ‘how is it likely to fail?’: based on where it is, is likely to be a catastrophic failure as you’re bombing down a hill or, at the other end of the scale, is it that the top headset cup gets a bit loose in the frame?

Found a crack in the rear of my handlepost on my Dahon folding bike: probably like it for months and only found it randomly as I was giving the bike a clean…makes you wonder how many bikes are being cycled around with unknown cracks 😕

It’ll probably be fine but it might fail horribly. As above, probably loads of bikes riding around happily with far worse. A short, flat commute I’d probably ride it and keep an eye on the crack. I’d also keep an eye out for a cheap replacement frame.

I can see where you are coming from, its a crack in the headset seat opposed to where the head tube joins the top tube.
You could clean it up and put some paint over it, then try it. if the paint cracks it moving….bin it.
if you can spot the end of the crack you could drill a small (2mm) hole right at the end, that may stop it spreading.

Would it be OK to ride a short commute to work on the road/pavement?

http://www.darwinawards.com/

Bearing in mind that many people report frames break when “just riding along”, I’d suggest that “just riding along” is a dangerous thing to do on it.

At a guess I’d suggest the crack has been caused by the steel headset cup corroding in the aluminium headtube. So get that out clean and regrease the cup.
The top race is nowhere as stressed as the bottom cup and I doubt its going to result in a catastropic frame failure.
I rode around with a frame that had a crack at the top of the headtube for a while. If its only being used as a commuter then I dont think it’ll be a problem.
You could probably get it welded, but I’d just ride it tbh.
Im not an engineer.

What bigyinn said. It looks like it’s been caused by over -expansion of the race, possibly by corrosion or possibly by improper installation. It’s not a high stress area and you can keep an eye on the crack. If it starts moving down the weld then stop riding. That’s the pragmatic approach.

On the other hand, I have an irrational fear of losing teeth and the thought of head tube failure sends shivers down my spine. So I’d be tempted to replace the frame. Can you get some sort of crash replacement or even warranty via spesh?

Thanks all.

Seems like a split in opinions , but leaning towards not worth the risk?

I appreciate your input!