I have found a crack on my anthem frame where the top tube meets the seat tube (a very common crack according to Google). Unfortunately I have no warranty as I’m not the original owner. I took it to my lbs to see if they thought it was a crack or a scratch as its only a tiny mark. They said they would contact giant and it turns out that the frame has already been claimed for under warranty. Lesson learned I should of checked the frame over better but the crack is so small I doubt I would see it if I didn’t know it was there.
I have been riding it for a few months and it has held up fine but I cant bring myself to ride it knowing its there. I have looked at getting it welded but the thin wall of the tube and the fact that aluminium can locally loose up to 80% of its strength after welding if not re he treated.
So what do I do with it now? my thoughts so far are:
Get it Welded
Ride it as it is until it breaks/kills me.
Build it up for the wife who will never do anything other than tootle down the canal tow-path.
Sell it whole as spares or repair.
Strip and sell the rear end and shock. (Its the bottom of the range x5 model with Rockshox monarch so probably not a very desirable shock).

Andy

You bought a frame that had already been replaced under warranty? Where from?

I’d be tempted to get it welded. I did the same with my old Scott G-Zero, and 2 years later it’s still going strong, although I wouldn’t dream of jumping it.

The weld doesn’t look pretty though, but it was done FOC as a favour.

I bought it from a local classifieds. I checked the serial No. against the stolen bike register online before I bought it and gave it a good check over but obviously not good enough.
I do wonder how it got back on the market.

My LBS owner is happi;y riding a repaired Anthem with that same crack, no issues. (He kept it for himself after a similar claim).

Edit – sorry, his is carbon, welding’s another matter

Similarly intrigued as to how a frame that has been replaced under warrantee found its way back onto the market.
EDIT

andysredmini – Member
I bought it from a local classifieds. I checked the serial No. against the stolen bike register online before I bought it and gave it a good check over but obviously not good enough.
I do wonder how it got back on the market.

Giant would presumably have an idea – they’ll know who presented the original warrantee claim. You could at least ask them what their procedure is when warrantee replacements happen and whats supposed to happen to the replaced frame

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I guess you have look at the position of the crack and consider how awful the consequences would be if if gave out totally. If the result would result in you having to carry your bike home thats one thing, you having to scrape your face back up off the floor and carry it home thats another.

A weld without heat treating might not be a better solution than just having a crack there – the weld might not be any less likely to give up than the crack is.

There are other strategies you could try – find the end of the crack and drill a little hole there – its should stop the crack travelling any further (and also gives you a datum point so you can see if it is travelling).

The other is I’ve seen people bandage up the seat/toptube junction with fibre glass / carbon fibre – so that if the frame does fail theres at least something holding everything approximately in place.

I’m a bit sceptical of contacting giant as them may want it back which leaves me frame less completely. Not that is that much worse than the current situation.

I just google images cracked anthem frame. I wouldn’t be riding that in a hurry to be honest. Not sure about a repair, sorry

I’ve ridden lots of fancy aluminium frames that creaked annoyingly for quite some time before I traced it to a frame crack.
If you run a lot of seat post then no its not going to last but I’d still ride for XC commuting pootling etc and keep an eye on it.
Definitely contact Giant as they will want to investigate and may offer you discount on a replacement Giant frame to keep you as a satisfied Giant owner.