Frame crack inspection
After a crash, an impact, or a creak you cannot place — before you ride it again.
Carbon does not warn you. Metal bends, creaks and gives you a season of hints. Carbon holds full strength right up until it does not, and it usually chooses a moment when you are loading it.
That is why an inspection after any real impact is worth the time — including impacts that seem minor, like a bike falling off a car rack or being dropped by an airline.
What we can and cannot tell you
We can find visible cracking, crazing, delamination by tap test, and misalignment. We cannot see inside the laminate. Where the evidence is genuinely ambiguous we will tell you that, and tell you when a manufacturer inspection or an ultrasound test is the right next step — rather than guessing in either direction on something that decides whether a bike is safe.
What the job involves
What we look at
- High-stress areas firstHead tube junction, down tube behind the head tube, chainstays, seat tube and dropouts.
- Paint and clear coatFine crazing that follows a line rather than a chip is the classic carbon tell.
- Tap testDelamination changes the sound. Crude, quick, and genuinely effective.
- Alignment checkedA frame pulled out of alignment handles badly even when nothing is cracked.
When this is not the job you need
A repair business that only ever says "book it in" is not worth trusting on anything else. These are the cases where you should not.
- A scratch through the clear coat only is cosmetic. We will say so rather than sell you a frame.
- We are not a substitute for a manufacturer warranty inspection or an ultrasound test, and we will tell you when one is warranted.
Symptoms that lead here
Common questions
Can a cracked carbon frame be ridden?
No. Carbon does not bend before it fails — it holds until it does not, usually under load. If there is a genuine crack, the bike should not be ridden until it is repaired or replaced.
How can you tell a crack from a scratch?
A scratch stops at the clear coat and has no pattern. A crack tends to follow the load path, often shows fine crazing either side, and changes the sound under a tap test. When it is genuinely ambiguous we say so rather than guess.