Death of a Record Ace

[SimonCelsa]

Woe is me. I just recently fixed an annoying random and frequent 'clunk' by removing the thin shim from my 5 speed freewheel and all has been smooth and quiet.

Yesterday I observed a different, but familiar 'squeaking' sort of sound. This has normally been silenced by tightening the nose bolt on the saddle. I tried this 'fix' and then went out for an early 20 miler at a reasonable effort. The sound remained and even appeared a little louder. On closer investigations this afternoon I noticed this:

I think it is (was!) a 1984 frame. I bought it off eBay for £90 in Feb 2020 and built it up initially into a fixed gear commuter, converting it to 5 speed at the start of last winter. I fitted a SA front hub brake when I put it together and it has done just shy of 8000 miles in the last couple of years. Perhaps the hub brake has overstressed the downtube? I can't recall hitting anything head on although I've dropped into a few potholes.

I think it's had it. Glad I noticed it now and not when careering downhill with the wind flowing through my bald head!!

[Clipper_2018]

I think the pothole theory is the best.

[mjr]

Yes, potholes are a likely culprit. I was riding this when it had hit one bump too many... split through at the front of the down tube, then the twisting of the head tube yanked the top tube out of the rear lug. I landed on my feet but no longer had a bike beneath me!

[SimonCelsa]

Gordon Bennett, I feel blessed!!

[andrew_s]

I had a very similar frame failure, to a Singular Peregrine.

My guess, so far unconfirmed by the use of a hacksaw, was that the end of the butting coincided with the underside lug point, causing a stress raiser.
I was on Arran when I spotted it, and it had progressed to ~85% of the tube circumference by the time I got home.

The other similar failure I've seen was on a clubmate's Galaxy. The down tube was maybe half an inch short of being long enough to meet the head tube properly, with the gap in the upper part of the mitre being covered over by the lug. He was in Tetbury when the lug broke and caused complete separation, and made it back home to Cheltenham with a U-lock splinting the break, strapped on with assorted cable ties and toe straps.

[Cyclewala]

Yes, potholes are a likely culprit. I was riding this when it had hit one bump too many... split through at the front of the down tube, then the twisting of the head tube yanked the top tube out of the rear lug. I landed on my feet but no longer had a bike beneath me!
dutchiesplit.jpg

It’s the basket at the front that killed it.

[rjb]

Glad you're all in one piece. Tube of supeglue and your friend flebay should help you pass it on.

[cycle tramp]

Sorry to here about your frame- it's not the first bike I've heard of which has been fitted with a drum brake which has then gone on to develop down tube problems...
..the issue was raised in one of the bicycle quarterlies (an independent bicycle magazine produced in the 1990's) by Jim Mcgurn who raised the issue. It was mooted that as the drum brake moves the braking force from the top of the fork crown to part way down the fork leg, the braking force to the head tube/down tube is increased by the leverage of the fork leg...
..when I raised this issue in a thread about retro fitting disc brakes to a frame which wasn't designed for disc brakes, CJ dismissed the theory..
... I still have my 90mm drum brake on my bike and it's coming up to 5 years use. That said the frame and forks are probably alot more over built...
..on the other hand pashley seem to fit drum brakes to everything and there's not been any reported issues, so perhaps it was a pothole..

[Nearholmer]

.on the other hand pashley seem to fit drum brakes to everything and there's not been any reported issues,

Based on my experience with my shopping bike, the SA drum brakes on a Pashley exert so little braking force, and the forks are so flexible, that barely any shocks can be transmitted to the rest of the frame. When I have a load of shopping on board, I take it very gently downhill, because the stopping distance is immense!

[Barrowman]

Drum brakes in a fork not designed for them are an accident waiting to happen in my opinion.
Friend broke his forks with a Sturmey drum brake.
I suspect the frame may have had an impact before you acquired it. There Raleigh frames are pretty well put together.

[pete75]

Yes, potholes are a likely culprit. I was riding this when it had hit one bump too many... split through at the front of the down tube, then the twisting of the head tube yanked the top tube out of the rear lug. I landed on my feet but no longer had a bike beneath me!
dutchiesplit.jpg

The god of sartorial elegance looked down, then punished you for wearing socks with sandals.

[mjr]

Yes, potholes are a likely culprit. I was riding this when it had hit one bump too many... split through at the front of the down tube, then the twisting of the head tube yanked the top tube out of the rear lug. I landed on my feet but no longer had a bike beneath me!
dutchiesplit.jpg

The god of sartorial elegance looked down, then punished you for wearing socks with sandals.

I took the photo and I'm not that much of a contortionist!

[pete75]

Yes, potholes are a likely culprit. I was riding this when it had hit one bump too many... split through at the front of the down tube, then the twisting of the head tube yanked the top tube out of the rear lug. I landed on my feet but no longer had a bike beneath me!
dutchiesplit.jpg

The god of sartorial elegance looked down, then punished you for wearing socks with sandals.

I took the photo and I'm not that much of a contortionist!

Yoga???
Sorry - thought it was someone else taking it. The sock chap appears to be wearing SPD sandals so thought he was the rider.

[rogerzilla]

I've seen such things fixed with epoxy bandage. Pretty, it isn't.

[mjr]

The sock chap appears to be wearing SPD sandals so thought he was the rider.

It went on a group ride, so all feet in shot are riders'. They probably are SPD sandals. The owner of those legs is also almost twice my age, the man who helped me get started touring abroad, so I ain't telling him he's doing it wrong

The split bike didn't have SPD pedals but I don't think that would have saved it.