As I was doing a routine cleaning and chain lube, I had the unfortunate discovery of noticing these hairline marks on the underside of both chainstays. The frameset is nearing its 3rd year old ownership, and I'd like to get a second opinion on its fate before the warranty expires. It's only got about 8-10k miles since new, and it seems a paltry amount for a steel frame. Thanks!
by plainyoghurt1977
6 Comments
Yeah a steel frame should last essentially forever in normal usage. Some of that just looks like scratches. The one that would concern me is the one on the weld. If it is a crack and not just in the paint it’s in the heat affected zone of the weld which is where one would show up. The location of the defect on the side of the chainstay weld would imply that frame has seen high lateral loading.
Looks like a blemish on the paint to me.
https://preview.redd.it/zblud21gq2eg1.png?width=1567&format=png&auto=webp&s=3747548b9def226674c222076f65c4f25039431c
Not the same frameset but a steel Salsa. I wouldn’t have been worried if it was just one side, but matching cracks on both sides was concerning. Turns out to be a flaw with this particular model/size.
It could be cracked paintwork, but I’d bet it’s a deeper issue.
It’s not uncommon for steel fixed frames to crack here. I’ve replaced chainstays on Surlys, all city, Cinelli. It seems like they crack on the underside of the left stay tyre dimple first – usually after hard brakeless use, skids etc. It only happens on frames with deep dimples. If you’ve got a warranty on the frame, use it.
It can be repaired but it’s borderline economically, pair of chainstays + paint. If you don’t need the clearance then ask the builder to not dimple your chainstays. For repairs where the rider needed bigger tyres I’ve added a bridge between the NDS chainstay just behind the dimple and seat tube. I call this a tracklocross truss, none of those have come back broken yet
If it’s under warranty I would immediately contact the supplier – if they say it’s fine and in a while it gets worse then they should still fix it.
What do you think u/luke_with_somafab