Frame crack or just paint stress – your opinion please on this photo?

Hi everyone,

On inspecting my Zesty I’ve found a worrying mark behind the headtube. Is this a crack or is it just paint stress? See this pic which shows this from both from left and right sides:

https://dl.dropbox.com/u/564086/crackorpaint.jpg

There no perceptible crack when you touch it. But i’m a little concerned. Please put my mind at rest or give me the bad news.
Any advice how I can find out for sure?

Many thanks
Paul

linky no worky for me

Your picture doesn’t work. That sounds like exactly the same thing as I’ve got on my Spicy. I noticed it about 4 months ago and I’ve carried on riding it hard, with quite a few big drops to flat, and it’s still in one piece, so I’m going with paint.

Picture no worky for me either.

Scrape the paint off and have a propper look though.

Opps sorry about that, try this version of the pic:

https://dl.dropbox.com/u/564086/crackorpaint.jpg

Just scrape the paint off.
You’ll soon see if it is cracked then.

It’s in the wrong place for a crack. I’m not a materials scientist or anything, but most cracks form at the join between weld and tube. This goes across a weld and then instead of following the line of the weld for a bit (as would be expected for a crack), the line continues into the tube. My money would be on paint.

If it was mine, I’d talk to the shop it came from. If there’s a potential for a warranty claim, I’d investigate the cause. If its out of warranty, just keep an eye on the paint (e.g. Mark the ends of the line). I wouldn’t ruin the paint job just yet.

Yep i’ve just scraped a little bit of the paint off and it all looks OK underneath. Phew!
Thanks for your help.

I wouldn’t ruin the paint job just yet.

I’d rather have a very small bit of paint missing and know for sure if it was cracked or not. 😉

Take it to a frame builders to take a look at it, the only other option is as per Stu.

take it to the airport and get them to xray it.

If it’s in warranty back to shop. Let them decide then if they say it’s OK and fails in the same place just outside the warranty you have a case…..as you’ve previously brought it to here attention.

Chipping paint off is cheaper and less painful than chipping teeth off.

Take it back to the shop and let them send pictures back to Hotlines. If its warranty they’ll have to sort it. There has to be a reason for the crack paint or not and there have been a few (not many at all) issues with the Zesty cracking around the bottom bracket. I’d want peace of mind.

I’d take it to the shop before touching the paint myself – but too late.

What is the frame material?

And a crack in that place is conceivable.

Get someone to sit on it and move back and forwards and see if the crack opens up/closes

It’s a witness crack. The paint on carbon frames is extremely thick and brittle, carbon flexes and eventually you get hairline cracks appearing. I’ve had one in my RH chainstay for over 4000 miles of hard riding on rough hilly roads and an even more frightening one right down the outside of a fork leg spreading from the bearing seat, also for about 3000 miles and no sign of it worsening and no creaking or movement when I really pull and push the forks around. Take a photo now and another in 6 months and compare.

Here’s my chainstay witness crack:

My 2011 zesty 314 has just developed this crack in exactly the same place. Alu frame not carbon btw.

it is currently in the process of a warranty claim, I did ask about chipping a bit of paint off and they advised me not to. I will let you know the outcome as soon as I find out myself.

Wife…Do you want a brew ?

Me …Yes please, I’ll be down in a minute

Wife…what you doin ?

Me… Looking at some blokes crack on the internet

Wife… 🙄

I spent an hour in the bike shop with multiple chaps looking and taking pictures of my crack. The pictures have been sent for analysis before a cure can be determined!

I spent an hour in the bike shop with multiple chaps looking and taking pictures of my crack.

😆

That’s not a crack, this is a crack….
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IMAG0148[/url] by kerystwin[/url], on Flickr

That’s beautiful welding 😀

UPDATE

I have been offered a replacement frame under warranty for my cracked 2011 314 zesty. They have offered a 2011 514 as an upgrade for it (with carbon back end).

It’s nice they have offered an upgrade but I specifically purchased the 314 as I did not want carbon, now can they refuse to offer anything else now they have offered me a replacement? If the 314 had a carbon back end when I was looking for bikes to purchase, I would not of bought it. So what are my options?

Thoughts and opinions please.

More to the point, why don’t you want carbon? I’d jump all over that offer!

They probably think they’re doing you a big favour – ask them if they’ve got some alu frames and they may well have one they can give you.

Two cracked carbon framed road bikes and a nasty accident because of one has put me off carbon for life.

the aluminium one broke…they offered you carbon and you refused as you want another alu-crack-ium one? Go for the carbon.

Dude to be blunt… get over it.
they have offered you a up grade, get it done.
if you can’t live with it you’ve got a near new higher spec frame to sell.

what the alternative… nowt? 🙂

+1 for speshpaul. Bite their hand off and worse case scenario sell it.

I suspect they have no 2011 314 frames left.

My opinion: get over yourself, if having a carbon back end is so terrible for you then swap your old alu one over.

Will most probably take the one they offered and sell the bike, but certainly wouldn’t buy another lapierre. There are a lot now starting to crack in all different areas.

popular frame so bound to have a lot of failures mentioned. Also quite light for what they are. At least the company seems to back up their warranty and does so well by the looks of things.

This is a crack mate…………. 😀

Personally I’d be over the moon with the offer of the carbon frame. It seems pretty improbable to me that you would have any problems with the 514.