Re: Thoughts on top tube anomaly

[Ryan]

New bike and you are the original owner correct?

looks a little scary and if you are the only owner hopping down stairs sounds 

like the culprit

see what riv says but not sure this would be a warranty issue...but it's prob

fixable 

good luck!

sorry for shifty typing 

On Friday, November 17, 2023 at 9:30:29 AM UTC-6 ted.l...@gmail.com wrote:

Noticed this after my morning ride today and I'm not sure what to make of it. To my eye, it looks like the tube has wrinkled slightly, however, I can't think of how it could have happened (no crashes, etc.). Additionally, there's no evidence of damage to the downtube as you would see from something like a front end collision. The only "hard" impact I can think of was from last week when I hopped down some stairs and did feel like the front wheel took a harder "thud" on the bottom step than expected. I inspected the wheel and fork afterwards and didn't notice anything off. I didn't look in this exact spot, but I was working on the frontend of the bike later that day in the shop stand and feel like I would have seen it during that time.

My plan is to chip off the paint a little to inspect the bare metal underneath to check for corrosion or cracks, though I'm not expecting to see any. Assuming that, I plan to just cover up the exposed metal and keep on truckin' given how minior any possible damage appears to be. I'm curious to see what people think, though. I've also reached out to Riv with the same photos to get an "official" opinion on the matter as well.

--

Ted Wood < ted.l...@gmail.com >

[Ted W]

Yup, bought this bike brand new when the last run of Appaloosas went live. Built it up a few months ago and I've ridden it pretty much daily since. It is almost certainly fixable. There are several reputable frame builders in my area and I'm sure any one of them could replace the tube if needed... if needed being the key there. I love the purple and worry about color matching after the repair. I guess I could look at it as a chance to get a custom work up but my wallet doesn't like the sound of that.

--
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "RBW Owners Bunch" group.
To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to rbw-owners-bun...@googlegroups.com.
To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/rbw-owners-bunch/cd8fdb81-eff7-4435-a5fc-d0d5437d3a25n%40googlegroups.com.

--

Ted Wood < ted.l...@gmail.com >

[Jason Fuller]

Is it just the blister on the top of the tube, or does it look wrinkled on the sides too?  Sorry, not really able to tell on my screen.  If it's just that blister on top, it could very well just be from poor paint bonding due to debris or maybe it wasn't cleaned well enough after brazing I'd think too. Maybe a little bit of flex from riding finally caused it to lift and split like that.  It just looks like an air bubble under there rather than a crack - a crack wouldn't lift like that 

Hope I'm right about that because it would certainly be a shame to need repair! 

[Ted W]

Per Will's instruction I chipped off the paint around the blister and I think there's a hairline crack in the tube... I hope I'm wrong but that's sure what it looks like

To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/rbw-owners-bunch/2cbaabfa-17d4-4b1c-a018-b485b9ec4f6cn%40googlegroups.com.

--

Ted Wood < ted.l...@gmail.com >

[Garth]

That's definitely a crack in the tube Ted. Whichever frame builder you take it to will also inspect the other relevant tubes, plus the fork. That would be an opportune time to add any braze-ons to the frame too, and well maybe you'd like another color as there's nothing like choosing your own !

For those unaware, right click on the image and open it in another tab, then double click it to make it full size.

[Garth]

Oh heck, just one click embiggens the photo in it's own tab. (No edit capacity is maddening...)

[Jason Fuller]

Oh no, I guess I spoke too soon. That's a real bummer! 

You received this message because you are subscribed to a topic in the Google Groups "RBW Owners Bunch" group.
To unsubscribe from this topic, visit https://groups.google.com/d/topic/rbw-owners-bunch/19ufj8yfH1M/unsubscribe.
To unsubscribe from this group and all its topics, send an email to rbw-owners-bun...@googlegroups.com.
To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/rbw-owners-bunch/45210b1c-5a81-48b4-a01d-b3e5265b27e1n%40googlegroups.com.

[Patrick Moore]

That certainly looks like a crack to me. Scrape a thin knife blade perpendicularly across the line: does it catch?

How heavy are you, and how far was the stairway jump? 135 and 6" and I'd tend to consider the crack the result of a tube or brazing defect. 235 and 24" and I'd guess otherwise.

FWIW, I once ran the front wheel of my 1999 Riv Road custom against a curb (handicap-lowered but I missed the lowest part) while riding home at twilight after I had forgotten to bring a headlight. Rim, tire, frame all unscathed but steerer indeed bent. (170 lb + a small commuting load.) I did ride it how thereafter, tho' the bike felt very odd with an effective 80* head angle. What seem to be small bumps can cause major damage.

[Bill Lindsay]

Don't forget the reason for "No edit capacity".  When you post something on google groups, you are sending an email.  The reason you can't edit a google groups post is the same reason you can't edit an email that you've sent to dozens of people.  The fact that almost all of us view google groups as a webpage doesn't change what happens under the hood.  There are still a proud few who still only interact with Google groups in their email client.  Bizarre but true.  

Bill Lindsay

El Cerrito, CA