<[email hidden]> wrote in message "]news:[email hidden]...
Quoted message said:Jon Bond said:Found an interesting little paint scratch on my bike. Probably just a scratch, but the
alignment (parallel to) and proximity (within a couple mm) to the nearby weld makes me just a
bit leery of it.
Quoted message said:Left chainstay/dropout weld on my Fisher Kaitai (aluminum):
That the feature is so clean is distracting. A crack, especially in aluminum usually produces grey
aluminum oxide making the crack dark. This thing, even if cracked, is not going to fall apart in
the next 100 km so I would wet the "crack" with soapy water (soap is a wetting agent) ride it over
some rough terrain. If the line does not become distinct and darker, it isn't a crack. On the
other hand, the dimpling and crummy weld don't give me any confidence. It seems they hoped the
crimp would hold the dropout but just in case they ran a weld across the end of the tube. Then
paint made everything OK.
Jobst Brandt [email hidden] Palo Alto CA
What do you expect for a $700 bike? (outfitted with another 1000 or so in new components... heh!)
The rest of the welds aren't too bad, but that one is particularly ugly.
Most of the cleaning was just me wiping it off with my fingers. Unfortunately, there isn't any rough
terrain around here right now that isn't covered in mud, so the likelyhood that I'll be able to ride
it without it getting covered over in mud, and then cleaned to see it, is pretty slim. Glad I've got
the new bike being built up, and the road bike just in case 😉
I did ride it once (yesterday), but I'm not sure if it got any bigger or not. I think it might have
grown very slightly, but I forgot to take pictures, so I really don't know. Either way, if the
frame cracks there, its not going to be a horrific fall - I might have a nice little walkout, but
nothing too bad.
I'll ride it a bit more and take some pictures after for comparison.
BTW, should I ride it right after the soapy water, or does it not matter?
Jon Bond
