I lament Trek no longer making the 520 disc, especially well equipped from the factory with those front and rear racks, I think about $1500 IIRC. I saw one locally and was impressed. Masi also had a good tour bike same year. Both gone now.

I'm surprised the seat tube broke there, that is more common on folders with hugely long seatposts for much greater bending moment (happened to me), plus the Trek was steel, so better fatigue life. Sloping top tube doesn't help dagnabit, a level top tube would mean a shorter seatpost.

Touring cargo load had zero to do with that failure. However, it may have to do with the welds being left raw, so a stress concentration right at the edge of the (convex) weld; Cannondale would post-dress their welds concave with a strip sander, and with an aluminum frame that was more critical. I have 70k miles on a racer of theirs (with level top tube) before switching to a folder for townie use.

The Trek 920 has been discontinued

There is the possibility that my fall last year contributed to the start of the crack. After the fall the bike was looked at 5 different times at 4 different bike shops before the crack was discovered in a shop in Missoula
Read Day 15 from this link

Yikes. Sounds like your body took by far the brunt of the impact. The seat could have hit. My guess is there wasn't even a scrape on the seat. You probably have a good photo of the crack, that you sent to Trek. You should post the pic. I'm curious the location with respect to the weld.

Here is the crack, just scroll down
https://www.cycleblaze.com/journals/...ders-zero-day/

Thanks for posting. I have never seen a crack at that particular location. It may have stopped permanently? It is hard to say if it was from stresses in the tubing that were caused by welding the top tube to the seat tube, or if it was from something else like your crash.

If the crack has stopped getting worse, that might bring up one more option. If you like the bike enough that you wanted to keep it instead of a new bike of a different model, you might ask if the lifetime warranty would still be valid if you kept the bike for several more years, and if the crack got worse later, then they could replace it at that time? If the bike shop or Trek or both say the lifetime warranty would apply in that case later, and if you decide to keep the bike, keep a written records of this with photos.

I had a Surly that had a frame defect, Surly refused to warranty it. That was 20 years ago, Surly was a new company that was pretty small at that time. Bike handled so bad I eventually put the frame in the recycle bin.

Six years ago I bought a new Raleigh, it had a slight bulge in a frame tube. After my experience with Surly, I was extra sensitive about warranty issues, so I sent photos to Raleigh. They said they did not think it was a problem. I told them, ok, but I was keeping a record of the photos and of my contacting them and their response in case the frame failed later, because the bike was brand new and should not have had a bulge in the frame at that location. So far it has not gotten any worse and it has not impaired handling or riding in any way.

As posted in the same thread over in General...

- Buy whatever Trek will get you close to your $1300 credit.
- Sell that bike without riding it.
- Buy an REI ADV1.1 for $1000. https://www.rei.com/product/220761/c...es-adv-11-bike
- Be happy with your new touring bike that has good stock gear range.





Wait, you keep the 520 frame and components?
Just buy a replacement frame and move the components to the new frame. Surly, New Albion, Black Mountain, AllCity, etc all have steel frame and fork options for $1000 or less. Buy the frameset that has the geometry you like most and swap the components.

Then buy a new reek that costs $1200, sell it for whatever you can, and call it good.
Again- an REI touring bike is just over $1000 right now and is a legit solid ready to ride touring bike with tested geometry.
There is nothing inherently special about Trek. Spend the money and sell a bike to offset the cost for what you actually want.

I missed that you could keep the 520 when I wrote my previous post, thanks to Mstateglfr for catching that.

I would keep the 520 and put some paint on the bare metal, or perhaps you can find some nail polish that matches. And I would ride it, hoping that the crack does not grow more.

Plus, as suggested by Mstateglfr, take a Trek, but instead I would keep it so get one that you like.

I would not purchase a used 520 unless it were made prior to the latest remodeling... I think the year was either 2017 or 2018. Someone correct me if I'm wrong. The Trek 520's made on or after 2017 have a history of cracks exactly where you have one on yours. This website is filled with stories of these cracks. Someone mentioned that the 520 has a carbon fiber front fork, but that's not true. As part of the redesign in 2017, they replaced the steel front fork with an aluminum front fork.

I have a 2015 Trek 520, and I love my bike. It has the "old" steel front fork, which I crashed and bent, but was able to still ride until I had it replaced with a new steel front fork... thankfully. I'm also a clyde, weighing as much as 220 pounds, standing at 5 foot 6 inches. All that weight with 50 pounds of gear, my 520 held up just fine on a short tour I did a couple of years ago. Thankfully, I'm no longer 220 pounds, and I continue to come down from that.

My 2 cents; good luck with what you do.

That's really weird, cracking on the compression side in bending. Well away from the weld edge, so not due to stress concentration there. Very much a fatigue crack, so many repeated cycles. Plus the vertical crack starting at the very bottom of the slot/radius. Almost like, under rider weight, that part of the seat tube was buckling outward a very small amount, for many thousands of cycles. I'll look at the pics again in a sec to see if there was enough vertical length there for outward buckling at the slot.

The drilled hole may arrest crack propagation, but monitor and if new crack on the far side, you can drill larger. The problem is, with the cracks, the section modulus in bending has been drastically reduced.

That REI looks like a good deal with a chrome-moly frame and good components package, and I think they have a good warranty.

I would be just the opposite since I couldn't ride gravel with an expensive carbon frame without always worrying about some stray gravel chipping my carbon frame and potentially destroying it. I suppose that fear may not be completely founded but I'm older and hard to convince. Might be different if the cost meant less to me.

It's hard to imagine a better frame for touring than a 1990 Trek 520. Tru-Temper TX DB tubing, investment cast lugs, all the braze-ons needed and a geometry that's optimized for touring. I doubt that anything made today is going to be better. Maybe something built by Rivendell, but I'd still take the '90 Trek 520.

Pretty sure Ryan Van Duzer and a girlfriend took Checkpoints on a tour across the US. I think they did well.

That bike fit me perfectly, too. My first tour on it was down the Pacific coast. The only thing requiring any attention was a minor head-set tighten (which I seem to need to do once on every new bike). I also used it for commuting. I finally gave it away to one of my grad students about 2005. I don't think she realized how nice it was. She eventually gave it to a bike co-op.

The one thing that makes me think the Soma was better was disc brakes. The 1990 trek had cantilevers. They worked, but I've always been a bit cautious with that design of brakes. I knew a guy who lost a bunch of teeth when the bridging cable on the front brake broke.

I ride gravel with an expensive custom steel frame. I worry more about that than my carbon XC bike.

FIFY.

Sorry, I just don't think a 1 year warranty is very good. It was a lifetime warranty when I bought mine (and got a frame replaced three years later), then it was downgraded to 3 years, and now apparently it's just one.

My biggest worry with the Checkpoint is gearing. They got rid of a 2x chainring, all the new Checkpoints are 1x with 40 teeth. With a 10-44 cassette the lowest gear for climbing is 25 gear inches. My Trek 520 has a low gear of 19.5 gear inches. Yes the Checkpoint is 10 pounds lighter but gearing is way more important than weight when climbing
My local dealer said they could turn the bike into a 2x but of course that costs money. I paid for a drivetrain and then I have to pay additional money to change the drive train
Checkpoints used to come with 2x, not sure why that changed. Even when not touring climbing steep hills will be tougher than my 520

My biggest worry with the Checkpoint is gearing. They got rid of a 2x chainring, all the new Checkpoints are 1x with 40 teeth. With a 10-44 cassette the lowest gear for climbing is 25 gear inches. My Trek 520 has a low gear of 19.5 gear inches. Yes the Checkpoint is 10 pounds lighter but gearing is way more important than weight when climbing
My local dealer said they could turn the bike into a 2x but of course that costs money. I paid for a drivetrain and then I have to pay additional money to change the drive train
Checkpoints used to come with 2x, not sure why that changed. Even when not touring climbing hills will be tougher than with the 520

Merged duplicate threads.

You can return anything bought from REI within a year from a refund for pretty much any reason.

This is the return policy: "We stand behind everything we sell. If you are not satisfied with your purchase, you can return it for a replacement or refund—with a few exceptions—within one (1) year of the purchase date if you are anREI Co-op Memberor within 90 days of your purchase if you are not a member." Btw, this includes e bikes.

In addition there is a warranty; this is from their website:

"What is REI's warranty?
We stand behind everything we sell. If your item has a manufacturing defect in materials or workmanship, you can return it at any time with proof of purchase.

Exceptions: The REI Satisfaction Guarantee policy doesn't cover ordinary wear and tear, damage caused by improper use or accidents, or in-store Re/Supply gear"

Sure looks like a lifetime warranty.

One thing is for sure, zero chance of fixing that. I would say the seat must have also twisted to cause the crack. No wonder with 6 " seat post dangling.
I would deny that claim as user caused. Get a proper size frame next time.
Now you see why there's zero at any LBS I want to buy. Changing the crank 1x to 2x is correct but still laughable. Find a bare frame.
Yesterday I saw a YT video suggestion, "Was 1x a mistake? LOL.
Looking at the ADV.1 ad they also show a 6" post on a medium, with a shortie head tube. LOL Nuts.
This does show a triple, is that on the new one?

Tourist in MSN should trade his yellow Thorn bike sitting idle, because it's 'Too heavy" LOL.

I put tens of thousands of miles on my loaded '83 Trek 720. I have no problem with cantilever brakes and I would prefer them if I were touring again. They always stopped me even under load, and they never failed or got out of adjustment. And, that bike was only 18 speed and I was able to ride it wherever I needed to go.

That is a valid and compelling concern.

Ironically, my touring bike has gravel bike gearing (46/30T front, 11-40T rear, GRX 11 speed). I worry that even that isn't quite enough.

I just put mine on the trainer and remembered just how fooking heavy it is, even unloaded. I think with the racks, pedals, water bottles, etc, but no panniers or bags, it is somewhere close to 30 lbs.

Maybe a real lightweight high-geared gravel bike where you carry just a toothbrush, a change of socks, and a microfiber shop towel and a drilled-out iPhone is a better way to do a long-haul tour.

Not his fault. Modern sloping-top-tube frames necessitate a long seatpost unless you want a high stack height at the handlebars, but then the frame overall is too large with too long a top tube. This is one of the reasons I prefer a LEVEL top tube within traditional sizing, or perhaps an upsloping top tube with tall head tube, for what used to be called a "hybrid" bike with more upright posture than typical racer or tourer.

You continue to not like the Checkpoint as a replacement option, yet here we are with you still talking about it as a replacement option.

Buy a Checkpoint and replace the drivetrain with one that works for you.
Buy a Trek bike worth the credit, sell it, and buy a touring bike or touring frame that works for you.

^ those are your options at this point- just pick one.