Originally Posted by
KenNC
A very interesting frame, hope we hear and see more about it! I have a 1970 Witcomb of London that had a small crack in the seat tube similar to yours, apparently from having too large a seatpost forced in. Hasn't been a problem for me now that I have a proper post in it--27.0 and not 27.2 . I did have a tiny hole drilled at the end of the crack by a local frame guy, but not sure that was even necessary. Given the seat stay placement on yours would you be able to reach the end of the crack with a drill? In any case I hope you get your sorted out, or get comfortable with it, as that looks like a very interesting and high quality frame.
...yes, the small relief hole, drilled at the bottom of each crack. along with a well fitted new seat post, is my backup plan. Good to hear that yours has not been a problem. I am waiting to hear back from the local frame builder here on my e-mail inquiry re solutions. When I look at it, it seems to me that the stresses from the post itself ought to exert mostly on the clamp at the top, which is fine, and the lower portion of the post insertion, which I intend to make relatively long. the other stresses would appear to be from the seat stays pushing up at their attachment, which is also solid, with no evidence of failure.
The tubing has very thin walls, and the frame is light, for something made from steel in the 70's. I haven't tried to fit the new post yet, but perhaps this was another case of fit error. Thank you.