Cracked Frame?

meesterbond

Guess this is more Bike Selling Advice than buying, but thought I'd ask anyway.

I've got a Kinesis Crosslight CX bike built up, lovely thing, pure CX race frame (no bottle bosses etc) which I've done a few races on but it's quite lightly used. Anyway, now the Indy Fab's arrived I'm going to sell the Kinesis as I just don't need it. However, when I cleaned it up and recabled it over the weekend I noticed a couple of horizontal 'cracks' on the downtube as per the below photo.



You can feel them with your nail but there's no movement at all if you try and bend the tube - I'm 95% sure that they're marks in the (notoriously fragile) paintwork caused by a pair of clip-on bottle mounts http://www.wiggle.co.uk/elite-vip-bottle-cage-clamps/ as it seems a bit coincidental that there would be two real cracks in the same places.

Anyway, the reason I posting is to ask you lot, as potential buyers of such an item, what's the best way to approach selling it. It's not a particularly expensive bike in the whole scheme of things but as I see it I've three options:

- Sell as seen face to face only - gives the buyer the chance to inspect first
- Sell and ship but offer to accept returns on receipt - potentially a lot of hassle given the value
- Write it off and either move the parts onto another frame for the missus or sell separately

Or wouldn't you touch it with a proverbial bargepole!

What do you think?

Vmlopes

Have you had it checked by a LBS?? Would take all the guessing out of the equation then

CYCLESPORT1

Ask Kinesis

meesterbond

Haven't had a chance to get to the lbs (which isn't that local unfortunately) and I'm not sure what Kinesis would be able to offer based on a picture

Bobbinogs

If it was an alu frame then I wouldn't fret one jot as a buyer. However it does look like you tightened the bottle cage bonds too tightly and whilst the damage could be superficial, I personally would not touch it as you could just as easily have cracked the carbon below.

You may need to get some piece of paper from Kinesis to ensure the best resell value.

meesterbond

Sorry, should have said - It is an Alu frame, the Crosslight Five from a few years back.



The bottle cage things are nylon and barely strong enough to hold the bottle in place, let alone crush a tube

cougie

Cracked paint more likely then. You just need a buyer who is convinced the same..

I've an alu cross bike with a lovely ding on the top tube where I smacked the bars into it. Its solid and I don't worry about it at all.

iron-clover

I would agree that they are probably just marks in the paint partially caused by the bottle mounts. I have lots of similar fractures in the paint on the alloy forks of my Trek which has now seen a lot of miles, in my case probably where the metal has flexed slightly and the enamel paint hasn't.

You could take it to a bike shop for piece of mind when selling- it would probably mean you can sell the frame for much more than if it is just guesswork too.

alan_sherman

Have you tried TCut? May be a ridge in the paint rather than a crack.

Matthewfalle

If its an alu frame then it'll be fine - unless you are Hercules, Thor or an angry Hulk there is no way that you an crack an ali tube using a bottle cage.

northpole

Only an internet photo but looks cosmetic from my seat. I'd offer it for sale as seen complete with bottle cages, removal of which would logically support the superficial paint damage argument.

Peter

styxd

Not a crack; the tube would have failed a long time ago if it was. Get some car polish on a rag and give it a good rub; bet it buffs out.

ugo.santalucia

Agree, not a crack