jowilson

I know you can't really tell without the actual bike itself but I'm wondering if it's a common place for cracks to appear. I attached a picture of where the cracks are located on my bike.


NOTE: This picture is not from my bike! I have outlined in red where the cracks are located, but it is hard to describe a crack so I won't try to. Once I can get my camera working, I will post a picture.

TIA,

Josh

AnkleWork

Yes, definitely.

Andrew R Stewart 

Drop outs see a lot of heat during brazing sometimes and their changing cross sections along with loads they see make them a common breaking point. The one in the photo does look nicely filed at least. And that's the problem. With filing/finishing and a nice paint job it's impossible to tell the brazing craft. Andy.

Wilfred Laurier

i agree ten thousand percent

jowilson

Yes it's a paint crack, or yes it's a frame crack, or yes it's common?

AnkleWork

Exactly.

jowilson

All of them?

d.vader123

Wish that red line wasn't there so I could actually see what the "crack" looks like.

Wilfred Laurier

if you read the op closely
although it is not totally clear
i believe he says that the picture is not of the bike in question
he just put the red lines on a picture he found of the same part of another bike that does not have cracks
to indicate where the cracks are on his bike

which is why anklework was able to give such a concise and clear answer

Homebrew01

My telepathic powers give my full confidence to say "maybe".

jowilson

So here are the pictures from my bike, I did my best to make them easy to find in the pictures:

Wilfred Laurier

picture 1 is hard to tell
although since the area around the crack is unaffected
and the tip of the tube is probably where the least stress is
i would guess it is just the paint
but the paint cracking there would seem to me to indicate a sub standard joint

picture 2 is almost definiately just the paint

bkaapcke

Photo #1 definitely looks like a brazed or silver soldered joint is letting go. bk

jsharr

It lools like the seat stay has come loose or at least has been moving where it meets the dropout. If the bike is covered under warranty and you are the original owner, I would take it to a dealer and have them check it out. If not warrantied, I would find a frame shop to check it out.

aidanpringle

No expert but looks like the stay had been bent or pushed to the left which caused the paint to crack, I don't think the dropout is cracked, in my opinion, it may be wrong though.

Looigi

Remove the paint in that area and examine the metal. I'm guessing paint, but can't be sure from the pix.

jolly_ross

It's a crack in your camera lens.

the_tool_man

It's hard to tell from the photos, but I'll speculate.

The first picture looks like the brazed joint has begun to fail. The outboard side of the non-drive side seat stay has begun to flex away from the dropout. Picture looking at the bike from the rear, the non-drive side seatstay is flexing clockwise about the dropout. The second picture is just the paint chipping off. But, I suspect the paint is chipping off because of the flexing of the seatstay relative to the dropout. If it is as I speculate, that side of the joint is under compression, which will cause the paint to "spall". Spalling looks exactly like your second photo. Do as jsharr suggested and get it looked at.

Andrew R Stewart 

Can you lever/pull the drop out down and away from the seat stay? If so then the joint is fully broken and a warranty (barring any accident damage) should be straight forward. If not then the joint is not (yet?) compromised. Any warranty claim might be more dependent on the relationship you/the LBS/the manufacturer have. Andy.

DannoXYZ 

Insuffiicent brass used during installation of that dropout. If you look at pic#1 at the top of the rectangular-slot where the drop-out slides into, it's not filled in at all. Due to the wicking capillary action, this area should be completely filled in with just a slight concave miniscus. In this case, only the middle of the slot has brass touching the dropouts. The dark-corners appears to be showing lack of brass as well.

What kind of a thin paint-job is this? Looks like single-layer of colour with no primer. The brass is visible through the paint!

uciflylow

I had a steel frame built up once that had a poor braze joint just where this pitcure shows. It took less than 10 miles for it to turn all the way loose and start auto shifting on me! You may be able to grab the rear wheel and tug on it and see a little flex if it is broken, or have a buddy ride behind and pay attention to that joint as you ride. From my limited experence with this sort of thing, if it's broken you will have no doubt VERY soon!