# Impulse buy that cracked me literally. TREK 1400



## carbonite (May 30, 2004)

hey there fellas. i recently picked up(bought) a TREK 1400 that i saw for sale in front of a house. i took a quick scan saw good parts upgrade, it looked my size, so i sprung for it. size 57 perfect! Happy score right? well, as a veteran, i did a rookie mistake. i failed to inspect it. i have it up on the stand and while changing out the seatpost, i discovered three cracks at the seat tube where the seat stays meet. crack where the tube splits to allow for expansion and retraction to tighten the post and two cracks on either side under the stays. the one side is all the way through, i can see/feel it from inside the seat tube. about half inch long cracks. this is their aluminum range as most of you know. i still want to tune it up to ride it, it is so nice but everything tells me no way. anyhow the shifters are at least worth what i paid. i should be able to get my money back and a little more. nothing lost, nothing gained i reckon. 

Just letting you guys know to try to remember to check these things. the worst part is i have gone to purchase oldies before and have discovered cracks and said politely, no thanks. anyhow , that shiny red caught my eye and it caught me up.


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## josephr (Jun 17, 2010)

excellent points! I have a friend who has a Trek 1500 and he bought it without riding it....found out its got a bad pull to the right and then when he got it on the stand, he found a hairline fracture in the fork. Luckily, he didn't have that much $ in it!


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## zmudshark (Jan 28, 2007)

One reason I try to stick to lugged steel when buying used.

Pro Tip:

Run your hands down all the tubes and lugs (if present), you can feel imperfections easier than seeing them.

Yes, I am a flipper, soon to be a retired flipper, but man, I have learned tons of stuff in the past few years.


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## abarth (Aug 12, 2008)

I hate buying aluminum bikes too. I learned my lesson, but sometime cracks are so hard to spot. I purchased a C'dale series 2.8 with a cracked seat stay. I had it tig welded and so far 500 miles it is still going strong. Once, I purchased a Klein Q Carbon Pro frame painted in Gerolsteiner team color scheme at a swap meet and when I got home I discovered a tiny crack next a bottle holder boss on the down tube. I was so pissed. Probably will sent the frame to the welder for repair soon. Too beautiful to just hang on the wall.


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## carbonite (May 30, 2004)

Well, I have seen this before on steel bikes


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## zmudshark (Jan 28, 2007)

carbonite said:


> Well, I have seen this before on steel bikes


Which is why I recommend actually feeling the tubes.

In my 30+ years of messing with bikes, I've only seen a couple of cracked lugs, and those were on 'raced hard' bikes.

I've seen dozens of failed ALU bikes.

As always, your experience may be different than mine, but I shy away from ALU bikes, as a flipper.


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