merlinrkd

A friend just picked up a Cannondale M1000. It has a 1" steerer so it's older than my 1993 M1000 with the larger steerer. When I bought mine in '93' the shop honestly mentioned the issue of frame cracking. The friend asked me to check his bike. Is there a typical area I should look at for possible cracks?

RiddleOfSteel

It's just the "Crack-and-Fail" fear mongers peddling their 'concern.' They're referring to the cantilevered chain stays--that extended portion past the seat stays where the rear wheel mounts. You can take the rear wheel off and get a good look at that beefy weld/chain stay section to see if anything shows. Dollars to donuts it'll be fine, just like all the other ones that have been ridden within reasonable limits.

randyjawa 

My dad used to say that all the time. Took me many years to figure out what it meant. Thanks for a Memory Lane moment.

Trakhak

Someone recently mentioned the "Crack-and-Fail" term in another thread and said that his mechanic friend claimed that Cannondales earned that name by cracking at the head tube welds. I sold Cannondale bikes starting from their first year on the market and for another 10-plus years, and I don't recall ever seeing any that cracked. (I ran my '87 Cannondale mountain bike into a tree at speed once, and the only damage to the bike was the bent steel fork.)

The same people who thought "Crack-and-Fail" was clever also joked about "Cramp-and-Go-Slow" components. I wouldn't take pun-based bike assessments too seriously.

RiddleOfSteel

Thank you for corroborating (with actual experience) my statement. It's hard to tell who's trying to be clever on BF at times as we have those who hold to the belief that if it isn't steel it's junk, even if everything beyond the frame is aluminum. The myth that these frames fail at a concerning rate was stated by the OP's mechanic, so I'm simply here to reassure with some truth.