Framebuilders - Am I cracked ??

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Rocksteady

06-14-09, 09:02 PM

Hi folks,

I have a Guerciotti sl frame that has small cracks in the paint and would like to figure out if the frame is cracked as well. I have taken the frame to 2 shops, one told me the frame was cracked and the other told me it wasn't.

Short of stripping the paint and examining the frame, is there a way to know whether a frame is cracked??

Here are some pictures.
I know its probably pretty tough to tell just by pics alone but I'd appreciate any input.
thanks

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3382/3418123755_459b5f33d9.jpg?v=0
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3664/3418123727_a386e57564.jpg?v=0
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3382/3418123761_d23dd56b88.jpg?v=0

unterhausen

06-14-09, 10:29 PM

Looks like you have a crack in the bottom bracket.
I'm guessing there is actually more of the crack on the drive side than on the non-drive side of the bottom bracket.

I don't see any cracking in the third picture. The first picture looks like the frame was whipped by a batch of little wires. I don't see anything that really looks like a crack there. Could be though.

Rocksteady

06-14-09, 10:41 PM

Thanks, Unterhausenther
There is a hairline crack that runs along the ridge of the lug where it connects to the headtube.

If the bottom bracket is cracked, Is it possible to repair it ?

unterhausen

06-15-09, 12:50 AM

If that is a crack in the third picture, it started on the back of the head tube and is propagating around to the front on the edge of the lug. Really hard to see it from here.

Can you take a picture of the drive side of the BB? You could replace the shell, that's probably getting into some $. I don't know if the crack can be tig welded shut, not my technology.

I'm wondering if this frame didn't take a serious front end hit in accident. Particularly since it seems to have a Colnago fork.
Although the damage looks to be more consistent with jumping the bike off of the garage roof.

noglider

06-16-09, 04:53 PM

Yes, that bike was in a front end collision at the least. I can't explain the crack in the bottom bracket shell, but the frame may be toast. You might be able to bend it back into shape, rebraze it, repaint it, but I'm not sure it's worth it.