Cracked

Comment

Comment by ambimb on December 19, 2010 at 10:14pm

Um, there isn't a lot more to the story. I bought this bike on eBay in about 2002; it was technically used but arrived looking like it had never been ridden. The seller told me he'd bought it for his girlfriend and she didn't like it. I rode it as a city bike in Champaign, IL, then as school commuter in D.C. for three years, and most recently as a daily, 20-mile-round-trip commuter here in Chicago since July 2010. Just before Thanksgiving I switched out the clipless pedals for some new platform pedals w/Powergrips; I was switching to riding w/boots for the cold weather. Soon after I noticed a lot of lateral play in the pedals, but I thought it was just me getting used to not being clipped in tight like before. But then the play kept getting worse and worse and I noticed that my chainring was moving from side-to-side, too. Ah-oh. That's when I finally realized the frame was cracked. By that time, the cracks were almost all the way around both tubes.

 

I figure it was fatigue over the life of the bike, but who knows? I've been told that someone at Miller Electric can fix an aluminum break like this. I haven't had a chance to investigate further, but when I do, I'll report back.

Comment by h' Zerocats on December 19, 2010 at 9:44pm

Is there more to this story?