Cracked Road Frame - Can I Still Ride It?
 

Hey everyone. Cracked my road frame on my chainstay. It's a relatively small crack. I brought it to the bikeshop and some people say I should not ride it and others say I can still cruise around a park with it. I wanted to share an image and video with a closer look and get some opinions from the community here. I plan on buying another frame but I am curious if I should duct tape it and do short rides and or try and get it fixed before I replace it.

https://cimg2.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...8b85f0a092.png

Duct tape? Seriously?

If you are even considering that, then I don't think that I can talk any sense into you.

That's about the easiest place on a bike to do a carbon repair. Find a local that does it and $200 later you're on the road.

I've done it myself and it isn't that bad. Time consuming to get the sanding and layup looking nice nice though. You can do a faster job that's effective but uglier.

Then again, how much is that frame anyway? If it's a Chinabay kind of thing, is it even worth the time/effort? I did it because it was a pretty nice bike.

But no, do not ride it. Do not tape it to make yourself feel better about riding it. Either have it repaired or bin job it.

Personally, I wouldn't ride it and duct tape will not help hold it together.

Is this the same frame from a year ago???

https://www.bikeforums.net/road-cycl...ame-fm296.html

Really... Put a couple popcycle sticks on before the tape job.....

Yes it is. Just wanted to get some more insight on it as I thought of using it indoor as a training bike. Plan on ordering a Trek Emonda ALR.

I'm usually "they built a safety factor into that" kind of guy. BUT, I wouldn't ride that.

Toss it where it belongs, the trash.

Adding one more voice to the "trash it" opinion. If you want to use it on a trainer only, then do the ugly fix using a couple full wraps of carbon and epoxy, covering at least a couple inches on either side of the break.

Bummer- it's been a year and the thing is still cracked.

slow day of traffic coming to the blog so perhaps promote a youtube vid again?

Yeah, the OP posted that video on youtube close to a year ago. One would think it would be sorted out by now.


https://cimg2.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...d981480fd6.jpg


-Tim-

That crack looks pretty bad. You're going to need duct tape AND baling wire. Maybe squirt some WD-40 on it while you're at it.

I think you should crack the other chainstay to balance the load.