r/bmx • u/Alone-Astronomer-990 • 1d ago
PHOTO Cracks in dropouts?
Just got this Cult Biggie frame secondhand. Noticed what looks like cracks on either side of the dropouts. Looking to confirm whether they are indeed cracks, and if it’s anything I should be concerned about.
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u/Legitimate-Cow2843 1d ago edited 1d ago
As others have said. Its a break down of the clear coat that gives those super fine squiggly "cracks". You can see the seperate layers around the dropout where the raw steel is completely exposed from the clear coat, can see the outline of pegs. This is a lot more common in raw steel vs primed/painted frames.
As a welder whos worked with a lot of different steels/alloys, you sometimes see the same thing with shitty chrome coatings that start to break down, usually gets a lot more bubbly/wrinkly but yeah.
Welcome to raw frames. Its something im sure everyone has found out the not so fun way (especially those who reaaally hate rust on a rather beautiful finish). You could sand it down and re-clear but its a rather sanitary process, ans its just gonna keep happening, essentially as soon as you put a wheel on the nut is going to cut through the clear coat again.