gt rts 3 cracked frame

[acelectrical]

Hi
Posted about a week ago about an rts 3 I bought off eBay, thought I had a bargin, but while cleaning it I found that the steer tube has 2 cracks, I was a bit gutted but has spoken to a few engineering firms and they seem to think its not that big a deal, they have said it can sorted for about £30, I am not sure if I should contact the seller as his discription said very good condition and never mentioned any cracks.
Is it common for these bikes to crack in this place, these cracks are verticle and not around the welds.

 

[stauqmuk]

RTSs did have a propensity for cracking though I haven't seen them crack at the headtube I have seen a bunch with cracks. Most of the time they develop around the BB shell and I've seen a few on the downtube. I bet a quick clean and weld on the headtube would be a perfectly fine fix, a friend of mine has employed this on his 2 Answer frames (prone to headtube failure) and those are still running.

 

[mtbdave]

read about a cracking problem with the rts but i was lead to believe it was only on the rts3 frames?
I maybe wrong tho.

As for the repair it should be easy enough as the frame is 7005 series ali so no heat treatment required,once done will be good for another 10-15 yrs!!

 

[jimihendrix]

A wrongly instaled headset can crack an alloy headtube (dont ask how i know this :roll: ), especially if the headset has steel cups installed with the mallet and block of wood method.

As suggested repairs can be done successfully but a repaired frame wont be as desireable or sellable as a non repaired one, not so much of a problem if you intend to keep the bike for a while and did get it for a bargain price.

 

[stauqmuk]

^^^ All true but while a "repaired frame wont be as desireable or sellable as a non repaired one" it would be more desirable and sellable than a cracked frame.

 

[stu]

Hi!

I had an RTS-3 that had cracked all the way around the BB too, managed to sell the rear end and the shock and recoup my money so wasn't all bad

Cheers
Stu

 

[jimihendrix]

^^^ All true but while a "repaired frame wont be as desireable or sellable as a non repaired one" it would be more desirable and sellable than a cracked frame.

Also true, but when selling an alloy frame and you mention "repaired" a lot wont touch it with a barge pole (unless it's something rare).

No problem though if the owner intends to get it repaired then get his use out of it.

 

[acelectrical]

Thanks all for the input,I have no intention of selling it, but if the tube is replaced and the weld is very good not sure if that would have any effect on the value of the bike, plus I doubt if it would be noticed, but like I said. have no plans to sell anyway