Road Bike, Cycling Forums banner

cracked seat stay + Calfee carbon repair

7K views 13 replies 10 participants last post by  trihiker 
#1 ·
Hi folks. I was riding my Cervelo R3 along the other day, when my rear wheel abruptly stopped on a short climb (fortunately I was able to unclip without falling over). Turns out some wire on the road got entangled in my cassette, and somehow my rear derraileur sheared off the frame. There were some scratches on the seat stay, so I guess the derailleur must have hit the seat stay after it broke off. I was able to make it home, and later on took the bike to a local Cervelo dealer, who told me the frame was cracked. There is no visible crack, but he took a coin, tapped the seat stay, and said that it should sound hollow unless there was an internal crack, in which case it would sound dead. It indeed did sound dead at one spot in the seat stay.

Does anyone have experience with this? Before I spend gonzo amounts of money on another frame, I'd like to confirm for sure if this frame is useless now (it's only a year old). I will take it to another dealer, but am wondering if there's something other than a coin tap to make sure if the frame is still structurally sound.

Also, they informed me of Calfee's carbon repair program. Has anyone had a good or bad experience with this? This option sounds cheaper than the Cervelo crash replacement program, which would still set me back around $2000.


Thanks for your help!
 
See less See more
#5 ·
You mentioned Calfee and diverted from your original Question.

IMO there is no way some shop rat can tell you the frame is cracked by hitting it with a coin.

Get a second opinion. Remove the rear wheel and yank (hard) on both chain stays. If there is a crack and you can make it worse, than there is nothing to be lost. If you can't get any indication of failure than I would not give it too much thought.

Keep riding it and checking it.
 
#7 ·
Calfee will inspect the frame a little more throughly than with a little coin tapping so that alone is worth the time. Then if it is cracked have them repair it and if not I am sure it will not cost as much as those over priced stock frames people are buying only to have them end up as yours has. Good luck.
 
#9 ·
C-40 said:
Try the same test on the other seatstay. The idea of a crack that does not show through the clearcoat seems highly unlikely to me.
Ditto that. So the force of the external knock from the derraileur cracked the fibers inside under the paint without cracking the top coat in a location away from the scratches? sure the wire didn't cause the scratches? good luck.
 
#10 ·
Lifelover said:
IMO there is no way some shop rat can tell you the frame is cracked by hitting it with a coin.

Because you've seen a bunch of cracked/damaged/compromised frames and know exactly what to look for, right?

Because you're an expert on carbon bike construction and know all of the ins and outs, right?

The "quarter test" as we like to call it in the shop is a pretty accurate way of figuring out where a crack/failure exists.

Non compromised carbon should have a hollow, open sound. A carbon tube that's failed will have a "dead" sound. No resonance whatsoever. Pretty easy.

Even for a shop rat......

:rolleyes:
 
#12 ·
Jacksonhole makes a good point about me ( or none of us including the shop rat) being a expert in CF frames.

Call Calfee and talk to them. If they tell you to send it to them, than do. Maybe they will have you tap on it with a quarter over the phone:thumbsup:
 
#13 ·
Lifelover said:
Jacksonhole makes a good point about me ( or none of us including the shop rat) being a expert in CF frames.

Call Calfee and talk to them. If they tell you to send it to them, than do. Maybe they will have you tap on it with a quarter over the phone:thumbsup:
+1, which is why I too recommended the phone call in the first answer. Coin tests are bogus, but since sometimes people will only believe that from a perceived expert, no harm in a 10 minute 1-800 call.
 
#14 ·
Hi folks, thanks a bunch for your replies! I've been traveling like crazy lately, so haven't been able to get to this. I tried the tap on both seat stays, and to be honest it all kinda sounds the same to me - perhaps I don't really know what to listen for. I'm going to take it to another dealer for a second opinion, and then if they have reservations too might send it to Calfee to get checked out.

FYI, Cervelo's response to me was:

Thank you for your interest in Cervélo. In this case it was wise to allow your dealer to inspect the frame. The coin tap is a very typical test for damage, and effective in many cases. In the absence of x-ray or ultrasound equipment dealers do what they can in order to determine if a frame is still safe to ride after an accident. In this case, you are free to seek a second or third opinion before making a decision.
Repair through a third party is an option, but at this time we do not continue to warranty frames that have been repaired.
The cost of an R3 crash replacement frameset (new frame, fork, headset, seat post) is $1736 USD.
I can tell you that a coin tap is best performed with a point of reference. Does the opposite chainstay sound different when tapped?
 
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top