After weeks of eliminating various potential causes of a maddening creak, this morning I took a close look at what I thought was just a little dirt on my c'dale CAAD7 dropout. Turns out its cracked (see pic). 12 years and many thousands of miles later, I have to say farewell to the CAAD7.
By coincidence, I had been considering getting a new frame to uograde the CAAD7 to mark my 50th birthday anyway (bike god karma perhaps). Also, just the otner day, I was t-boned by a minivan on my commuter. That frame is ok but I am due to receive $1100 from the guy who hit me to replace the destroyed wheelset, shifters and other bits (save a few bruises, I was unhurt). Since I have enough spare parts to get my commuter back on the road without spending a nickel, the 1100 can go to replacing my C'dale (which is my go to bike for fast group rides).
I dont need a whole new bike since the components on the cdale are mostly pretty new Ultegra 11 speed, but a new wheelset and frameset seem in my future. Let the shopping begin.
So all it takes to loose you as a friend is to get a cracked frame? What kind of friend are you?