Bicycle Mechanics - crack in my head tube - is it toast?

Here's the pic: http://www.flickr.com/photos/15037128@N05/2693267558/
Here's the frame type: http://www.flickr.com/photos/15037128@N05/2693267668/

It's around a 2002 KHS Flite 700. I bought it new at an expo type of thing and have only ridden it a few hundred miles! Whether the frame is trash or not, I'm gonna sell this bike and was wondering what it might be work. It has Shimano 105 components all around. (more pics on my flickr acct.) Thanks in advance! -dean

If that is a crack and not a scratch in the paint, I suggest you not ever ride that frame again. You shouldn't sell it either except as scrap for recycling. Take the parts off and sell those or transfer them to another frame.

Sorry, but better be safe. You could get killed if your headtube breaks up when riding.

Sadly, it looks like your frame is toast. As stated, strip the components and either sell, or attach them to a new frame.

... Brad

If that is a crack and not a scratch in the paint, I suggest you not ever ride that frame again. You shouldn't sell it either except as scrap for recycling. Take the parts off and sell those or transfer them to another frame.

Sorry, but better be safe. You could get killed if your headtube breaks up when riding.

+1 you can get a new Al frame for not too much

If you are the original owner and have proof of purchase, KHS might replace the frame. Any warranty info come with the bike?
Looks like toast.

Oh, and BTW, there is this great material called steel that some frames are made from. You should check it out.

Thanks for the quick responses! What do you reckon all the components, wheels, etc. are worth? Just a ballpark figure if you could. $150? $250? Cheers,

105 is nice stuff, even the 9-speed versions, and there is a used parts market for them. Your most valuable components should be the wheels, but there is a robust market for 9-speed shifters if they are in good shape, and because 10-speed has replaced them, there is a good second hand market for older shifters that can be used on 9-speed tourers and cross bikes.

Why not just buy a nice steel frame from Soma or Salsa and make a new bike for yourself?

Yeah. This seems to me like an opportunity. Get yourself a frame in your size and build it up! It's not often that you get to do that for the price of a frame and cables.

Er, especially if KHS will send you a new frame, which I imagine they would.

Thanks again, gang! Well, I'd love to do some biking but I'm moving to Mexico City in just over a week. My buddy is interested in the bike, so maybe I'll try to dig up the receipt and contact KHS.

My 2005 Specailized Allez Sport cracked in the exact same spot. Couldn't find the reciept but Specailized warranted it anyway. After a mixup with Specailized not having the 2009 Allez's in stock but telling the LBS they did they ended up sending a brand new 2003 S-Works E5 frame and carbon fork with the updated carbon fiber Pave seatpost. Worked out pretty good even though I got an older frame.

why not just weld the crack and, if need be, get the ID machined? I dont see why the frame would be "toast."

why not just weld the crack and, if need be, get the ID machined? I dont see why the frame would be "toast."
Welding thin wall aluminum is not easy and maintaining the needed roundness is even harder. By the time an accomplished welder/machinest did the job and the frame was repainted, the cost of a new one would have been exceeded by a lot. That frame is a throw-away.

how thin a wall is it?

how thin a wall is it?

The head tube isn't that thin but the cost of the welding and re-machining of the area where the upper headset cup has to go would be more than the cost of a replacement just as the others have mentioned already. And that would be even before the paint was touched up.

There's some very nice frames that can be had for between $100 and $350 that makes repairing this frame a non starter. That is unless KHS will warranty it. And they certainly should. It looks like a extrusion drawing fault by the way and where it cracked. Unless you hit a rather big wall or bike swallowing ditch head on steering heads just don't crack there for no reason.