calikid2006

i have a Raleigh from the 70s that i found in my garage and noticed a small crack in the frame. This is one of the old road bikes where the tubing has those sort of sleeves that they fit into at the joints. On the top of where the top tube meets the head tube the "sleeve" has a small crack, but it doesnt go through to the other side. The crack is on the outside of the head tube, but inside the head tube has no crack.

So again it seems that just the sleeve is cracked. Is this rideable? Will it break? Any way to fix? Anyone who knows, thanks.

I attached a picture of the crack.

oilman_15106

I would not use it for safety reasons. Also, how did the frame just find it's way into your garage? I wish frames would just show up in my garage, usable of course.

raleighrider75

The "sleeve" is called a lug.That is a "lugged frame".I wouldn't bother with it though,It's done.Possibly dangerous and not worth taking the chance.Find another,sorry.

Wordbiker

It can be fixed, but if your question was if you can fix it...no.

If it was just an idle question, throw the frame away. If you're serious about restoring it, prepare to pay an expert to do the repair, most likely involving rebrazing a new lug into place and a repaint.

Sixty Fiver

I would not ride on that... lugged joints are very strong and if the crack was not caused my a defect in the forging (this happens) and was the result of an accident, the integrity of the other lugged joints and tubing may also be questionable.

I can envision the bike being run into a wall or other fixed object at fairly high speed to cause this sort of crack.

I am guessing it did not come with a fork, betting that it was probably toasted.