Scratched frame, a problem?
 

:cry:

Hi all.
Decided to brave the weather today and go out for a spin. Slow steep uphill and a nice long (muddy, wet, windy) DH for desert. All went according to plan except for one little? ding.

I paused at the top for a while to take in the view, I perched my bike against a rock, a 12' one as it happens, but to my dismay I turned to see my bike had fallen over. It only fell over on its own axis but when I inspected there was a large 'gash' taken out of the top tube (see attachment) due to the rock protrusion on the ground. It was granite by the look of it!. The marks are each about 1cm long and roughly .25mm deep at the worst point.

It's not a question of vanity, I can live with the asthetic end of it, but I would like some opinions on wheather the frame could be compromised as a result. It's a TREK 6000 Alpha custom aluminium frame. I hope I'm just being over cautious, thanks for reading.

Cheers

Yes, your frame could be weakened... It's tough to say, really.

It depends upon what kind of strain that that part of the frame is subject to. It also depends on if there is any damage that you can't see.

Either way, a gouge like that is indeed a stress riser, which could lead to cracking down the road. But this still depands on what I said above.

Is it safe to ride? I really wish that I could say, but I can't. Your best bet is to take it to a good frame maker and get their firsthand opinon.

In any case, if you start to hear any pinging or ticking coming from your frame, stop riding it! Those sounds would qualify as potentially very bad...

I wish I could offer you more help...

-Erik

Thanks Eric,
That's pretty much my opinion too, I'm so mad at myself (or at least the wind anyway!). I'll take it down to the LBS but I doubt they'll give me anymore insight. I think its one of those 'maybe it will, maybe it won't' scenarios. I just hope failure doesen't greet me at an inconvienent moment...oouucchh!

Thanks again

I'd call trek and ask or go to a store:
Don't let this be you...
http://www.bikeforums.net/showthread.php?t=42253

Hey Slvoid,
Looks pretty similar to my girlfriends bike a couple of years ago. The difference was hers snapped at the stem while traveling 25mph into a freshly opened parked car door. Her bike lodged into the door while she brought the handle bars down the road with her!
I don't think that guy will ever make the same mistake again :) Horrific, while sort of cool, to see from behind. I was just glad I was sucking her wheel instead of the other way round.

Thanks for the input,

Agree the ultimate frame life could be compromised, but I wouldn't be afraid to ride the bike. The wall thickness should be at least 1mm, right? The frame could still last a long time for you.

In addition to listening for noises, I'd suggest you inspect the tube after every ride or hard hit, both in the gouges or progressing away from them. Look closely with a good light. If you ever see the tube starting to crack, then I'd say it's time to think about replacement, as you could only be hours away from having the crack propagate around the tube.

If cracked through, the frame probably could be repaired with patching or welding, but I'm not sure anybody does this due to cost/liability.

Even if it was seriously cracking through, seems to me you'd feel it and have plenty of time to stop before the bike bent in half on you. Of course, if you're going off extreme drops with the bike, that's a different deal!

Above is my personal view. If you feel unsafe when you ride, you'll want to replace the frame. Maybe consider a steel or Ti MTB frame next time....a lot more durability for just a bit more weight.

I"ve been doored before too.

In heavy traffic, I always keep in mind that if I get doored, I react to push myself to fall towards the car or aim to land right into the drivers side seat rather than fall the other way into moving traffic.

ok, that is a deep gouge, I would be very weary of using it until you get a trek dealer to look at it.

Thanks for all the input people. I'll let you know what the dealer recommends.