What says you?

Sticker

Dunno.

Where is it? Can you squirt some water inside that bit of the frame and see if it creeps through?

To hold it together.

Ti frame?
Off the back of a weld I’d say unfortunately from a few experiences yes it has a great chance of being a crack.

Just going by the pic it certainly looks like a crack propagating from the weld area, Where abouts on the frame is it as you may be able to spray wd40 on the inside of the tube around the welded area and you will see the wd40 seep through to the outside if it is a crack.

From experience of my favourite frame dying, yes it’s a crack!

Yup. Don’t spray anything on it if you plan to have it fixed. Is it in warranty?

Halfway up the downtube on the front shock mount. Banshee Spitfire Alu

Ex CSWIP qualified weld inspector here. Difficult to tell from one picture. I’ve magnified this as much as I can in Photoshop but that doesn’t reveal anything conclusive.

Three things though.

It’s in the heat affected zone, which is a prime spot for crack formation and propagation.

It’s at a stress raiser.

It’s also in a likely place due to the high cyclic loads through the suspension.

Can’t say more than that on the evidence.

D.

I know I looked at that picture and thought “Spitfire”.

I’m no expert but it looks like a crack.

looks like it to me. get some 2 part crack detection spray and then you should know for sure.

Can’t say for sure from the pic, it looks like a crack, certainly as pointed out it’s where you’d expect one, but maybe a bit too straight and the messy bit on the weld kind of looks more like a scratch. Ignore people suggesting seeing if anything seeps through from the other side as a crack doesn’t have to be through thickness. Maybe get a closer shot or an expert (your lbs may or may not be an expert-I’ve had pretty worrying advice from some shops).
You could of course ride it and see if it gets bigger but that might result in a fall or being stranded.

Can you hear a click type noise when your pedaling , putting the frame under pressure ?

http://singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/banshee-spitfire-clicking-when-pedaling

Yup. Don’t spray anything on it if you plan to have it fixed. Is it in warranty?

I mentioned using water as it looks like aluminium so could be dried with a hairdryer and potentially repaired (although I’ve rarely seen a reliable weld repair to a cracked aluminium frame).

WD40 or crack detection dye will penetrate better but difficult to clean.

Yeah my comment was aimed at wd40 as if he does end up with a simple weld repair to see how it goes if out of warranty it may just contaminate the weld.

That said some ipa would evaporate but clean the area around first to stop you washing anything in.

With the chemicals used these days to clean and prepare materials before welding a touch of wd40 would be nullified and utterly insignificant if the material to be welded is chemically treated beforehand by a suitably certified welder/fabrication shop, if you want some crack detecting fluid sent to you then drop me an email. My father is a coded welder with 40+ years experience on gas,oil,nuclear,chemical and food manufacturing plants with all the suitable coding to match so i’m sure he will have stuff lying about in his workshop.

And it would need the appropiate heat treatment after welding otherwise i can guarantee it will develop further cracks – your best bet is to enquire about a possible warranty replacement as welding + heat treatment for such a small repair may not be financially viable.

Have some of you guys never seen a cracked frame before?
That is blatantly cracked, just look at where it comes off the weld and the way it’s spreading.

Are you a qualified weld inspector though?!

Definitely a crack says I.

Looks a bit cracky, is it in warranty?

If not I’d keep riding it and see if it gets worse.

ESRA Qualified crack inspector here.

Could be, it’s hard to tell.

Have you tried looking really closely?

While I appreciate that the professionals have to be a little bit cagey with little more than a photo to work with.

Of course that’s a crack.

Sorry.

(If it looks like a duck, quacks like a duck, was found chasing bread at a duck pond, etc.)

Norwegian Blue

I’d say it’s a fissure.

Is it painted or raw?

Definitely a crack of some description , but if painted it could just be in the coating. You’d need to take off the paint and inspect/nde the bare metal to be sure.

Hence the reticence of the qualified weld inspectors to fully confirm from a picture I suspect.

(I’m a ship surveyor and see a lot of cracked welds and call in the inspectors to do the detailed examination)

Andy

I’m a ship surveyor and see a lot of cracked welds and call in the inspectors to scratch their chin, squint at it and say yep that’s a crack

FTFY.

PhD and 2 research postdocs on aerospace aluminium alloys, one of them specifically on stress corrosion cracking in 7xxx series.

So, you can’t afford my opinion.

previously I’ve masked of the area in question, leaving only suspect area, before I left a job in the north sea I snaffled some die penetrant & developer, a 2011 Zesty 514 with very suspect welds at Shock mounts, the cracks showed up perfectly & Lappy replaced it straight away.

You get a cleaner to wipe away any spray residue but don’t spray it at the crack as you’ll defeat the object & wash the die from the crack, it leaves a very thin but clearly identifiable red line being the crack.

Looks like it could well be and you’ve spotted it fairly early. In 2014 I was on my way home from town when I suddenly heard a bad creaking noise, looked down and found a crack leading from the top tube/ seat tube weld that was nearly 3/4 of the way around! 😯

bearnecessities – Member

Qualified crack inspector here.

Do you have a T shirt with that on?

Of course it’s a crack (unfortunately) – why are you even asking?

its a crack, its just at the start of its life but its a crack.

thats my ‘non expert’ view.

Do you have a T shirt with that on?

You know it. Only wear it with this though.

Well I reckon it’s a bogey

If it is a crack, It’s an unusual one. The crack is tangential to the weld seam and is propagating (mostly) in a completely linear direction. Most cracks don’t travel in completely straight lines as they have to find their path through the microstructure. Though without seeing the context of the crack it’s difficult to say if this is a crack.

Looks like it could be a scratch or crack in the lacquer that muddy crap has seeped through and resided under.

I am not a qualified crack inspector, but I do agree with CP, looks to me like it could be a scratch.

Have you tried sanding it down through the top layer of crud to get a good look at the metal?

It is a crack or it will crack soon anyway as it’s a Banshee. I know of 5 runes (2 of them my bikes) that have cracked in the same place after a couple months use. Warranty replacement has been good but it seems to be a design flaw instead of a quality issue and they have changed the bracket for 2016.