Crunched Commuter
10-12-12, 06:05 PM
#1
"Per Ardua ad Surly"
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Crunched Commuter
Over the past days I've noticed that my 7002 aluminum Norco City Glide commuter has been handling a little strangely. The rear end felt a little squirrelly especially on last night's commute which saw some slippery conditions. Anyways, I took the bike into my LBS to get it checked out. The mechanic went over the bike with a fine tooth comb and couldn't see anything wrong with it. He also got the tools out to check the straightness of the frame and everything checked out there too. After testing the flexing of the frame (which seemed awfully flexible for an AL frame) he discovered that the downtube was cracked (nearly halfway around) close to about 2/3 the way from the bottom bracket to the headtube. Hopefully, Norco will do something as I have had the bike less than two years and has just over 5,000 km on the clock.
Has anyone else had a similar experience with an AL frame?
Has anyone else had a similar experience with an AL frame?
10-12-12, 07:42 PM
#2
Tractorlegs
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Not me. The two aluminum bikes I've had were bulletproof, or at least one of them. One is brand new (the Black Knight bike) and has only about 400 miles on it, but The Rig I've had since 2005 and I've bashed the heck out of it (its a Mountain bike converted to a city bomber) . It's as tough as nails!
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Trikeman
Trikeman
10-13-12, 04:01 PM
#3
curmudgineer
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Could be result of a manufacturing flaw that escaped quality control, or handling damage, causing a stress riser that initiated the crack. How about a photo?
10-13-12, 04:49 PM
#4
Senior Member
Funny you mention that. Mine is aluminum and on a cold morning when I get the shivers, the whole bike wobbles around just from the slight bit of movement I cause on the bars due to shivering. It doesn't feel right. I've had the bike about 4 years now and was trying to buy steel but aluminum was all they had in my price range.
10-15-12, 06:37 PM
#7
"Per Ardua ad Surly"
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It's a real shame cuz I like the bike. I was taken with the idea of the forlorn-looking Surly Ogre sitting in the shop looking for a new home as a replacement. Little out of my price range at present though.
10-15-12, 08:37 PM
#8
Dirt junkie.
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I had something similar happen to an alu. framed Fuji road bike a couple years ago. The crack was on my seat tube, just above the bottom bracket. Never knew what caused it, but Fuji replaced the frame no prob. As someone mentioned above, perhaps these were just defective frames that made it through QC.
I've had other alu framed bikes with no problems--including a well used mtb that rode singletrack and my daily commute to school and back for many years.
I've had other alu framed bikes with no problems--including a well used mtb that rode singletrack and my daily commute to school and back for many years.
10-16-12, 07:34 AM
#10
Senior Member
10-16-12, 08:27 AM
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yeah, i think so, Could be result of a manufacturing flaw that escaped quality control, or handling damage, causing a stress riser that initiated the crack.
10-16-12, 02:36 PM
#13
"Per Ardua ad Surly"
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Good news. Norco has shipped a new frame to my local shop and it should be operational by next week. Despite this issue I am glad to see Norco is backing their product and I am really happy with my LBS for dealing with it expeditiously.
10-16-12, 03:04 PM
#14
Commander, UFO Bike
Had a crack appear on my 2008 GT Transeo 1.0's downtube (at the weld with the BB). GT replaced the frame under warranty, I'd expect that any respectable manufacturer would do the same (barring abuse).
10-16-12, 03:27 PM
#16
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Had a Bianchi Steel bike do something similar. Warrantee replacement from Bianchi took care of it!
