Knew I shouldn't have washed it..

SantaCruz Blur. Half way along the downtube on the drive side. Nasty gouge and a dent too for good measure. I really can't afford to replace her at the moment. I'm hoping its going to be fine, but the fact that there is now less metal there than there should be worries me. Would be interested to know what the general STW consensus is on if its all going to end in tears or if it will be fine?!

Thought about seeing if I could claim through Accidental Damage on my Contents insurance (Marks And Spencers) but I'm not sure they would cover falling off my bike.. Anyone got any experience of claiming?

Thanks,

Paul (sob!)

Will be fine, it's in the middle of the tube where there's little stress.

Low stress area but still an area of stress. I would just keep riding it until it cracked. Im guessing its just the blur and not the LT or 4X so I would imagine that you wont be getting 'BIG AIR' so you *should* be fine.

I'd just keep an eye on it but in my experience, they're usually fine like that unless it's an ultralight super-thin tube which the Blur isn't.

Yea, standard 'classic' blur so no 'big air'! I'm hoping it will be fine, but I've no experience of an aluminium frame failing so I'm a bit concerned its just going to suddenly collapse on me half way through a big ride.

If the tube is butted, it will be thinnest in the middle.

Worth checking with Jungle I'd have thought.

Just a flesh wound. Its not worth spending another second worrying about. I have worse on my LT in more vunerable areas (by the bottom bracket) and is no concern to me. There is plenty more metal left in the scratch, and as pointed out already the little stress that is in that area will just be taken up by the remainding metal in the tube (can give you some engineering maths equations if you like). The dent wont effect it unless it goes really stressed (i.e. beyond its plastic limit- Now Im getting technical). If it eases your mind- i'm a chartered structural engineer and 'in my proffesional opinion you should have a cup of tea and forget all about it'.

Chicks dig scars

if it isn't creased then it'll be fine. I've seen bikes in far worse condition than that ridden for years and years

I've emailed Jungle (well info@santacruzbikes.co.uk as that was the only address I could find!) with the pictures to see what they think..

I had thought about the butting.. the gouge is quite deep. There was even a sliver of 'swarf' hanging off the end of it when I spotted it!

Cheers for the words of wisdom ads-b… having a brew right now!!

(and thanks to everyone else too… you are doing a good job of putting my mind mostly at rest!)

Assuming you dont take the bike to the limits of its abilities regularly it'll be fine, I'm sure. I've got far worse at high-stress points on my NRS with a 16st lump behind it, no problems yet.

You made it lighter anyhow…

Agree with the above thougths. I've had much bigger scrapes than that in far worse place. Bit of paint so you dont see it as much will help take your mind off it, also will help you notice if it does change (which it wont). FOr a black ano fram I nornally get some mat black car paint, spray into a cup and use a small paint brush. Its thinner than touch up but a couple of thineer coats are easier to get right than one big tick on. Or just leave it.

Doesn't look like there are stress crcks in teh frame at either end so its a ding pluss deep scratches – I wouldn't think there is too much to worry about myself. I'd just be gutted I dinged it tiz all 🙂

This back from Mark at Jungle :

"That is most unfortunate. The gouging is pretty borderline-terminal when taken with the accompanying dents. I would have to hesitate before recommending you continue riding that. It should be fine but when the rigours of proper off-road riding that could start to crimple on you.
I think replacing it would be the best option."

Not quite what I wanted to hear..

Well given you can't afford to replace it I'd just keep riding it and keep your fingers crossed :p

I'd just keep riding it,

after all its not carbon which would be ruined by a similar gouge 🙄

Do Santa Cruz do any sort of discount on crash replacement frames? If not there have been a couple of older Blur's (03/04) going on here recently and you could always replace just the front triangle. You could even get the replacement powder-coated and restickered.

Personally I would just ride it though.

Contact M&S insurance as falling off is accidental damage (unless you were riding in an organised event as the insurance doesn't cover that)

I'd still be riding it no question. YMMV.

Jungle have to say what they did really – if they said it's fine and it then broke…

TeaBoyPaul – I hear you on the washing thing, if you didn't know you'd be happy still riding it.

IME M&S will pay out if it's written off, depending on your cover of course. Talk to them about it.

P.S. Is it time for more pictures of my cracked Soda* frame?

* or "the windchime" as I'm calling it now.

I have claimed in the past for fork stanchion replacement after falling off on my home insurance accidental damage cover. Might be worth a try if you can live with losing your no claims.

I think that is a very good answer from Jungle. One to read between the lines on. They cannot advise you its safe to ride just incase it breaks.

However the use of "borderline" and "starts to crimple" give some clues.

I would have thought if it is going to fail you will get a crack growing from the ends of the scrape – so just keep an eye on that. check it EVERY ride

Well of COURSE they're going to say buy a new one… Aren't they?
Looks fine to me.. If anyone asks, say "What dent?"

Personally I would ride but expect it to break there at some ill defined time in the future probably months/years rather than days. I assume you stay mainly on the gorund with it.
I would expect/hope to see more damage / cracking crimpling before it snapped or broke.
If I had insurance i would try a claim and if I worked in an LBS I would say what Jungle said above about replacing it.

Not terminal ….yet imho (humble and unqualified that is)

Of course, if I was at work I would say:
"On your head be it!"
but I'm not..

Did you expect them to give you a disclaimer to ride it?

I'd ride it with no worries at all.
In fact I'd be amazed if it ever breaks.

you could get it tig welded?? that would make it stronger and as tig has a low heat input it shouldnt fatigue the tubing

once filed and sanded down you wont notice it but there wont be any paint there??

just check with you welder 1st though

@BlingBling..
No, I didn't expect Jungle to give me a disclaimer to ride it.. I got what I expected, just not what I'd hoped for!

Pending further communication with Jungle, I'm almost certainly going to ride it to destruction (whenever that may be!) unless I can convince M&S to shell out £2300 on a replacement Blur XC carbon frame for me!! 😯

You can try cliaming off M&S, don't expect a pay out and you won't be upset if they turn down. What have you got to lose. The only warning i'd issue is that they may well be using Wheelies to settle bike climbs, and they seem to be a bunch of tossers from my own non M&S related experiance.

I'd ride it, if i wanted a s/h blur i'd buy it off you, but for not much more than the shocks worth. So give it go and see what they say.

It'll buff out

I have worse on my LT in more vunerable areas (by the bottom bracket)

Tubing on bikes is generally thick at the ends, and thin in the middle.

To give you some ideas:-

Blue Pig downtube – chromoly steel – 0.9mm at the ends, 0.6mm in the middle.
mmmbop downtube – 7046 alloy – 1.6mm headtube, 1.0mm in the middle, 1.4mm at the BB.

You know that Santa Cruz have a pretty good crash replacement scheme don't you?

From the S/C website:

Santa Cruz Bicycles will make replacement parts available to the original owner at a minimal charge in the event of a crash or other non-warranty situation.

New front end time maybe?

Don't claim it on insurance. Premiums have gone up enough! 🙁

The crash replacement is pretty good my mate just had his cracked V10 (2206) replaced with a 2009 V10 with carbon link for £950. Bearing in mind that a new V10 is £2800 ish…

Looks fine to me. Keep on riding it.

funny that the person who makes frames has said he thinks get it checked properly and everyone else has said 'itll be fine'…..

A bit naughty but why don't you just put in a claim saying ti was nicked from yer shed?

A bit naughty but why don't you just put in a claim saying ti was nicked from yer shed?

Swap "Fraud and a criminal offence" for "A bit naughty" in that suggestion and it's a bit less disingenuous.

And then we complain about the increase in insurance premiums. FFS.

Fill it with chemical metal and it'll be stronger than it was before. Seriously.

http://www.screwfix.com/prods/23269/Sealants-Adhesives/Adhesives/Resin-Adhesives/Plastic-Padding-Chemical-Metal-Tube