renton

I'm not sure how this happend. I tapped the frame with a coin and it sounds OK.
Is the frame damaged?

https://imgur.com/a/1aYHv

Andrew R Stewart 

My eyes aren't good enough to tell anything from the photos. It looks like you did a few shots before scraping off some paint and taking a few more shots. Does the underlying layer of Carbon show signs of cracking, delaminating, compression? Can you press on the area and get any indenting movement, try in another "good" area to establish a base line of what this pushing test should feel like.

What made this "crack", impact, scrape?

Now I notice you're talking about two different spots. Same questions and possible methods to assess them. Andy.

techsensei

I don't see cracking. I do see two places where paint has chipped off.

renton

Yes, two different areas.
I will try taking better pictures of the first area with the cracks.

renton

I uploaded more pics (click on upper right corner for full rez):
https://imgur.com/a/fYpnX

Andrew R Stewart 

I still don't see what it would need to definitively say there was a crack. This type of long distance assessment is hard to do without obvious damage. So to go forward- You can try the pushing on the spot method to see if there's any loss of area integrity. You can take the bike to some one who has more experience then you do in this stuff. You can continue to ride the mike and monitor the spots for changes.

Did you get this bike from a LBS? (I ask almost knowing the answer...). If so they are the first people I'd show the bike to. If there was a crack and it was not a warranty the brand (through their agent, the LBS) has an investment in seeing you stay a loyal user of their brand. Sometimes there are offers to replace at lower costs then straight retail that can be had (Trek calls this "crash replacement"). If the bikes from an on line source the effort gets more costly due to return shipping and the delays resulting.

The vast majority of paint chips and flakes are just those, not an indication of the underlying structure failing. If this was the fork I might raise the concerns a bit higher as their failure is so much more dangerous. Andy.

renton

Andy,

Thank you very much for your advice!
I tried pushing on that area and I can't feel any movement.

You are correct, I got this frame an online shop, Competitive Cyclist.
I will see if they have a crash replacement program but since I'm in Canada sending the frame back to US might be costly.

Once again thanks for your reply!

Andrew R Stewart 

I would just ride the bike and monitor the spots. Andy.

cyccommute 

There isn't a visible crack but the paint looks like a cracked egg. And the paint looks cracked in multiple places. It looks to me like the stay has been crushed somehow. A crushed carbon tube is compromised...much more so than a dented metal tube. The frame is toast. Sorry for the bad news.

FBinNY 

Short answer, yes the frame is damaged. But I'm not going to try to speculate as the extent or severity of the damage based on a photo.

It really doesn't matter, since there's no remedy that will inexpensively prevent the damage from worsening if it's going to, and likewise there's no cheap way to predict that.

I suggest you ride it and monitor for changes. It might become obviously damaged and rideable in short order, and then you'll know. Of if your luck is bad (or good) you'll be riding it with uncertainty for years.

If/when it is toast, meaning brown and starting to burn, then you can look at repair/replace options, but in the meantime you'll have gotten more service out of it.

BTW- chainstay failures don't tend to cause injury, but they can strand you, so this bike is out for intercity touring.

cyccommute 

Really? You won't speculate on the extent or severity of the damage but you'll suggest renton just keeps riding it until it fails? A more prudent course of action would be to remove some of the cracked paint...it should be easy since the paint is already partially removed...and inspect the stay. Better yet would be to consult with a bike shop without delay...and without riding the bike again.

Andrew R Stewart 

Yes, ride and monitor. Removal of paint can produce it's own set of surface issues that can be confused for structual damage. I did not say before that an internal view might reveal much, or not. Boroscoping any one? Andy.

Kimmo

I'd pull the wheel and give the stays a squeeze, watching for asymmetric flex.

And then I'd ride it. I don't find a chainstay failure a scary prospect.

Schlug

I don't think shipping your frame across the border will be that bad. It's sort of a hit or miss proposition these days.

I think you have damaged carbon. The problem with carbon is that you never really know how close to failure it is until it actually fails.

If you are tight on money I suppose keep riding it. Otherwise go find one of the thousand carbon frames for sale out there and swap your bits over, then send your Ridley to a carbon repair outfit.

I don't think I could ride all that comfortably with the spectre of digging carbon sherds out my leg hanging over my head. Or waiting on the side of the road for my mate to come fetch me should it suddenly become a rear suspension frame.

FBinNY 

Yes, Really.

Unlike you I don't categorically declare a frame to be toast based on a photo. It may be toast, it may not.

Certainly the OP can seek an expert opinion, or investigate further. Or he could improvise a an external splint, though it may not be necessary. As I said, chainstay failures rarely (if ever) lead to crashes. So it might fail but odds are he'll have plenty of warning as flexing begins to work the damaged area, and even if not he's unlikely to crash.

Is there a risk? Yes, but not out of line with the normal risks of riding in traffic.

Let's end this here. We disagree on the point, but there's no use to going on about it.

cyccommute 

The cracked egg shell nature of the paint would make removal of a small bit of paint easy. It is already flaked off. Removing some of that wouldn't cause any problem.

You have categorically declared a frame sound based on a photo and told renton to just ride it until it breaks. He already suspects that it is damage so any further riding of the bike on his part would make him culpable if it fails without taking steps to consult a knowledgeable mechanic.

You may not be able to foresee how a broken chainstay could be dangerous but I can. If it were to fail at high speed and/or on a corner, the rear wheel would lock and cause a loss of control.

FBinNY 

I guess you can't read either. Read my first post, and you'll see I clearly stated that the chainstay is damaged, but said I wouldn't speculate on the extent of the damage.

That's a long way from categorically declaring it sound.

But I stand by my OPINION that the frame is safe to ride, while the OP monitor it for the damage getting worse.

You have an OPINION that the frame is toast, which you expressed as a fact. Any you have an OPINION that the frame isn't safe ride, which is different than my OPINION that it is.

We have different OPINIONS, and the OP is free to consider either or that of others on the thread, and form his on opinion and act accordingly.

There's no need for any more back and forth between us here, since neither is likely to change his opinion.

GamblerGORD53

I agree that it is not safe to ride fast or far. But it is easy enough to fix, if you aren't fussy about how it will look.
The crack looks to be in the middle, which is good.
The OP is in Toronto. All he has to do is go to one of the 2 carbon fiber suppliers and get the smallest amount of epoxy and a couple yards of 1 inch CF tape. Scrape the paint off and put 2 spiral layers of CF on it, well past the cracks.

ben4345

When in doubt get some penetrant and developer solution. https://www.amazon.com/Spotcheck%C2%A.../dp/B004GZBEOQ

Schlug

Does that work on carbon?

I've done loads of NDE testing on pipe welds using dye pen. But you need to clean that dye up really well, if it soaks into the carbon cloth you won't see anything but a bloody mess.