Should I be worried about my crack?

Apologies for the crap, upside down, out of focus phone pic, but I just noticed a slight crack developing in my carbon road frame.

It is on the downtube and looks to have started where the cable guide meets the frame, and has then spread downwards on the cable guide.

The cable guide looks like it’s riveted on, but there is a smooth transition between the guide and the frame- so I don’t know if it will spread onto the frame, or if it’s started on the frame?
The one on the other side looks similar too.

Shall I just keep riding it and not worry?
Hopefully the crack is confined to the cable guide, but can cable guides be replaced on carbon or will it make a big nasty hole?

And most importantly, will I die? 🙂

Well, you should worry about your crack! On a serious note, if it is a crack and you keep riding it will dramatically fail as all carbon parts do if they develop a crack or the carbon was miss layed.

if it is a crack and you keep riding it will dramatically fail as all carbon parts do if they develop a crack or the carbon was miss layed

Not sure if that’s serious or not…

What is it we’re looking at? That mark on the cable guide? I’d not worry about that. I can’t see anything on the frame itself.

it looks more like a crack in the paint on the cable guide. i wouldn’t worry about that.

scrape the paint off the guide and see if its actually a crack or not.

Or go to the Doctors.. 😆

😆 @daver27

maybe already answered?

If your frame still has warranty then get your LBS to start a warranty claim if it gets declined then it gets declined. If its not covered by warranty still then just keep an eye on it, doesn’t look like its in a stress area so isn’t going to catastrophically fail.

akaskittles – Member

Well, you should worry about your crack! On a serious note, if it is a crack and you keep riding it will dramatically fail as all carbon parts do if they develop a crack or the carbon was miss layed.

It’s been a while since we’ve had a serious carbonmageddoner. I’m actually quite hoping it wasn’t tounge in cheek 🙂

Carbon fibre barbs to the heart, anyone?

The the OP, I can’t really see from your pic but it sounds like the crack is on the riveted on cable stop. If so, it’s unlikely that it would damage the frame unless it breaks and then presses a sharp edge against the frame (and even then I suspect it wouldn’t).

I would not worry about that, it looks to be on the cable guide, which are there to guide cables only and unless it reaches the actual frame shouldn’t have a problem.

I can’t see a crack but it is a hopeless picture.

You certainly need a better picture to get a better answer. Do i see some cracks on the frame to the right of the guide or not?

If the cracks you describe are on the guide relax it will be ok.

If there is a crack on the frame that looks like it has originated from the cable guide then I would start the warranty procedure.

Riveting is an extremely poor method of attaching things to carbon, its a cheap way out. You drill through the continuous fibres and basically put a defect in the frame. Here the cable guide has some tension on it so its likely make any effects from crappy hole drilling worse.

As for sudden failure, extremely doubtful.

let me worry about your crack, baby

Is it not a sticker?