Originally Posted by
gugie
It would appear that the junction of the lug and top tube rigth above the serial number was not brazed, paint is partially hiding this. The fact that the crack goes right through the serial number stamping "1" makes one think that this was a stress riser, and a thinning of the material right near the end of the non-existant braze. I'm wondering, however, how structural this is. It's odd since Panasonic was considered a fairly high quality frame shop, if indeed it were built there.
Removal of paint in the area is the only way to see if indeed it is cracked.
That's a good observation, I see what you mean now. Paint removal would definitely give a better answer, and it would be in a small enough area that I could clean it up nicely so it doesn't look too shabby. I wonder if it was just not completely brazen? You often see gaps around lugs where the area was just partially filled if I recall correctly.