Its broken, there is no doubt, if you like it and just want to ride it bond the seat post into the hole (I can dig out the name of the stuff they hold Astons together with if you like) and get some welding done where it broke, might be a bit messy, but you will never have to worry about a slipping seatpost, however you wont be able to drop it either!

Frame is years old, so doesn’t owe you anything. A modern frame of higher specification will set you back less than £200. Stop being a moaning tight arse and get your wallet out.

I must say I’m surprised that no-one has expressed amusement at the image of someone somehow snapping a frame and falling in front of other stationary traffic….this place has changed! Good luck with warranty…

I would also agree with the STW verdict of starting at the hole. Was probably drilled quite roughly hence it happening to a number of frames.

Aluminium eh! 😉

“(the hole is there to let gasses move/escape during welding) “

nah that hole was there to terminate the seat clamp slot wasnt it.

Nah, the seatpost slot was at the other end of the snapped off bit, the give away is the seat clamp around the other end. 😉

(but I did have to go back and look)

you’re right Tinsy its a gas hole 🙂

ha – your right. dummy dont know what i was looking at

Another bike breaks in a similar place is a Pace, I forget the model, but similar in design where the frame seatube extends a long way past the top tube, I rekon if it didn’t extend through like that, and the butting on the seatube was further from the top tube, & so min insertion point that much lower for the same insertion, it wouldnt happen.

Now there is 20-20 hindsight for you.

Soma, I wasnt joking about bonding the whole thing back together, if you like riding it, then its probably worth a few quid to try.

I know 2 people who had Gary Fisher bikes. Both snapped their frames and both got sparkly new Trek Fuels. Including new shock. Lovely!

The Pace RC303 was different – it had a gusset presumably to help support the same point. It cracked above the weld, not on the section inside the weld.

The seat tube/top tube junction is a common point of failure due to the loads of a rider sat on the top of a seatpost (and it’s cyclical with pedalling) not to mention the odd no footed heavy landing on the saddle.

Clubber your right of course, but the seatube still extends way past the top tube, it proves that even with a gusset it will break.

Its also no coincidence that bikes that don’t have a seatube extending so far past have fewer problems.

Min insertion is specified for the post, not the frame. As has been pointed out lots, that style frame would need a lot more post in the tube to support it properly and even then might not due to tube butting.

Simply put, aluminium fatigues and goes brittle over time (work hardening) and the leverage of body weight at the end of a seatpost acting on that extended seat tube is probably to blame.

FWIW, I enquired at Mud Dock re rider weight limits when I first got hold of an old carbon Y bike and was told that there was “no limit” as they were designed for Americans… Don’t know if the same holds true for GF alu frames.

I had a 12 year old Marin that snapped at the BB junction and got a shiny new frame on warranty but did have the original receipt.

I had a 12 year old Marin that snapped … but did have the original receipt.

blimey. I usually manage to lose receipts before I get an item I’ve purchased home.

Surely Cynic-al will be able to fix that with a teaspoon and some carbon fibre? 😯

I might looking into bonding it together for riding to the shop duties. Either that or it’s wall art.

take a seatpost cut the clamp off and insert fully, as in to the bottom bracket then stick another seatpost on top to get to the correct seat height, then apply liberal araldite.

Was expecting to see a pic of road bike then…

Best to check all the welds on any frame regularly, every 6 to 12 months for me.

Bet that gave you a fright, could have been much worse and I hope your ankle heals up quickly.