Crack in fork?
 

I just noticed this while cleaning my Ridley Damocles. It looks more like a design flaw. Anyone out there dealt with this type of crack?

Two other questions. It was bought in late May from Competitive Cyclist. I assume they are great with warranty claims since they seem to do everything else the right way. Ridley warranty claims? How are they.

Any help is appreciated.Attachment 134277Attachment 134278

Ridley warranty claims?

Guessing you will soon find out.
Good luck.

Looks more like a gouge from a rock than a crack, but it's hard to tell from a picture.

Have your LBS take a look at it. I think it's probably fine though. That area often gets scratched up.

+1 for gouge in the paint!

It does, sort of. The problem for me is trying to figure out how a road tire could have picked up a rock, or whatever, and done that. The bike has seen only road miles (4,000 or so), never been crashed and if something ever got picked up and whirled around in there I've managed to forget that it happened.

Also, I want to ask how you guys post photos on this sight. I thought that I had done so but it seems not. If it can be easily explained, thanks.

actually, that looks like the joint between the crown and fork legs.

what's it made out of? carbon, steel, aluminum?

it's common on steel brazed forks.

You did post photos. Two of them. I looked at both.

Road tires constantly pick up rocks and throw them against the fork crown. You should see my fork crown. 2000 miles and it's got scratches all over the inside like that.

I agree, that may not be a crack. It looks like the joint where the fork crown meets the fork blade--are the crown and blades made of different materials? It's not uncommon to have some uneven-ness there, maybe it's just more noticeable now because it's got crud in it.

edit: AEO beat me to it. I was thinking alloy crown and carbon blades.

Yeah, I see that they are showing now. A minute ago it was just sort of a link to the photos. Maybe I'm losing my mind

I'm thinking that it is a scratch then.

AEO--it's CF

I guess that I should add that in a big blow up of those shots--that I'm too incompetent to post--it shows some scraping on the paint which then increases at this point and, obviously, gets deeper at this spot.

Uh, does that make sense?

Looks like a scratch from road debris

Could well be a scratch but I recommend you make sure, considering the implications of a fork failure.

I have some experience with Ridley's warranty:

My Ridley Noah had a crack in the down tube about nine months ago - an obvious defect where the downtube and bottom bracket pieces are joined. They requested close-up pictures and replaced the frame without any problems. That being said, my LBS had to work through the importer rather than directly with Ridley since Ridley would not even reply to my emails requesting information. It all worked out fine, but it did take a few weeks.

+1

take the brake off and shine light on it at various angles to get a better view.
rub some rubbing alcohol on it to clean it so you can get an even better view.

you can try to bend the fork blade and see if it's surface or structural damage.

I wouldn't trust it on a high speed descent.

what width tires do you have? I have the same looking thing, on both sides of my fork and its BLUE.... turns out its the 25mm tires I have that flex and rub on the inside of the fork there.

try scratching at it a little with a fingernail.