So I guess it’s only appropriate that I cracked one.
While dismantling the back end to renew the swingarm bearings (which turned out to be completely shot)
Oh noes, what’s this funny little lump in the paint? I ground the paint off to reveal…
A nasty little crack 🙁 Oh well, this explains the creaking noises that were coming from the back end last season.
I have no idea how this happened. Stinkies are supposed to be tough, and the previous owner didn’t seem like the kind of guy who would huck off his garage roof all day. And I didn’t ride off anything that big, either! This part of the frame seems to be exposed to a lot of bending forces from chain tension, so maybe it just came to the end of its fatigue life.
Or maybe I’m just rad to the edge of sickness.
Urm… i’m not sure if you have done anything about this, but i have seen a couple of kona’s fail here, one of my friends had an experienced welder TIG it all back together, he rode the bike hard for a god couple of years and it never broke.
Hey Ryan
Thanks for the comment. I’ve had frames welded in the past and it never quite worked out. They tend to warp out of alignment with the heat. I didn’t like this one much anyway so off to the scrapyard it went!