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We don't know anything about frame building, but looked askance at the odd reinforcements(?) at the head tube. A triangle underneath and a plate above the top tube. Then we saw in the Q & A that the head tube angle is listed at 56.1. Which from what I can tell would be unusually straight.

Made us wonder if this wasn't a manufacturing defect requiring the crude reinforcements. Which rendered them unsuitable for regular commercial channels.

But we're relative neophytes and wondered what the pros thought.

Rarely is it worthwhile to add cost to a defective product to then sell it at a discount.

These look to be typical reinforcing gussets or triangulations. Attempts to more the bending moment further out from the joint.

Some will say these indicate a "burly" frame, others say that a well designed and built frame shouldn't need extra gusetting. Andy.

This is a 2010 Taiwan made Schwinn Sprint fixed gear bike with track geometry. Tubing is Reynolds 853, and it's designed with a similar reinforcement on the bottom of the DT/HT joint. I've seen these on other brands/models and have assumed that they're there to mitigate DT wrinkling of thin-wall tubing in case there's a front end collision.

http://i32.photobucket.com/albums/d7...IMG6429med.jpg

http://i32.photobucket.com/albums/d7...ps5430fed7.jpg

Also quite common on BMX frames, which take a lot of abuse.

Since the frame in question is a MTB frame, and will presumably be fitted with a suspension fork... it looks like the designer was trying to gain some tire clearance by joining the downtube closer to the toptube, and provide additional headtube support by adding the gusset. Might work- might not. Too many variables to tell. At that price it might be worth a trial.

I realize these are standard details on some bikes, often cheaper bikes. That said, when the EU came in with standards for bike frames it was noted that the custom frames despite their long time in reality, did not always meet the new tests. That was about all I heard, then stuff returned to normal, not a word since. But just wondering whether having EU standards has changed any details.