Is my steel fork cracking?
 

Hello everyone,

last winter I purchased a hardly used Trek multitrack 7200 off ebay. It's got an aluminum frame and a cromoly steel fork.
There is a mysterious "thing" on said steel fork, right at the mounting screw for a potential front rack.

Is this a fatigue crack or something? It is textured, when you run your finger or fingernail across it, you can feel it.

I apologize for the bag image quality. If this isn't sufficient to determine what's going on here, I'll try to submit better ones.

Thank you so much for your help!


https://cimg2.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...dd095aa1dc.jpg
https://cimg4.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...8fc4dff349.jpg
https://cimg8.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...899cf2f918.jpg

If I were to guess..and I am..I'd say someone was fiddling around trying to get a rack mounted at the fitting and scratched the paint.

Thank you for having a look. Now that you say it, it sounds and looks quite plausible! Thank you!

If it was a crack, it would be a single line radiating out from a weak spot.

Scratched paint sounds plausible.

Yep, looks like scratches due to rack mounting to me.

Big thanks to all of you. I feel quite relieved now!

Agree that the scratches look like exactly that. However, I have to scratch my head (swidt?) about the "hardly used" description of that 7200. There was a suspension fork there OEM. What happened to it? Is the replacement fork 'suspension corrected', or is it just a generic steel (i.e. cheap) fork the seller had lying around? Hmmm. Do you have a photo of the entire bike? In any case, 'relief' ought to have some qualifications for YOU. WE are quite physically removed from the consequences of anything we say.

All I can say for sure is that I don't know. But I was thinking scratched paint before I read all the other posts suggesting the same thing.

Thank you so much for taking the time to look at it.
The bike's fork appears to be original. It stickers match the frame's stickers too. The bike did get scratched up standing in a family's garage for 15-20 years, but the drive train is still in pristine condition. The previous owner was a colossus well over 6 feet while the frame is a 20" (190cm and 50cm in metrics) - it was just way too small for him so he rarely rode it and eventually settled for a more modern, appropriately sized one.

Here's a photo of the bike both when I bought it and with the changes I've made to it since.
Thanks again for your time. I really appreciate it!

https://cimg0.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...b72d771f30.jpg

What you called a Multitrack 7200 in the o.p. is actually a Multitrack 7300. When you are talking bike models, a single digit can mean an entirely different bicycle. So, anyway, mystery solved. Nice dropbar conversion. Enjoy.

Oh my! You're so right!
I'm so sorry for my mistake :D Thanks for pointing it out! Excellent detective work there!
The compliment is much appreciated also, he's an awesome ride.

The bike certainly looks a lot better now. With those handlebars in the "before" picture, the bike looks like a dog alerting on a squirrel.

Nice transformation! I recommend you ride the hell out of it and have a good time.

and lose the kickstand.

Nothing wrong with the kickstand.

Nothing wrong with vertical butterfly bars, either.

I didn't say there was, only that it looks like a dog alerting on a squirrel. It's not something I'd do to one of my bikes, but if someone else enjoys riding that way, then good for them.