HELP! Crack in Almega DX 91 E-stays?

[Fatboy1974]

Instpecting the frame after finding a crack in my MEGALITE stem bolt area, i found this strange line in the ST. It's an strange place for a crack, and I'll be using a Sycnros new seatpost with 12 cmt of insertion. Do you think it can be a crack? It has not a lot of sense for me. I'm mechanical engineer and I've seen cracks in these bikes, in Chainstays with ST, in HT, in DT with HT, in Seat clamp area, or in BB, but there?

Seems dirty but also seems a crack.....
If it is, I will ride it anyway. It will be a sporadic use and not heavy ( despite I'm 90 kgs....). Using the long Seatpost will help....

 

[greencat]

It looks like a crack to me - possibly as the result of the seat post not being inserted far enough in the past.

 

[Fatboy1974]

It's a big size, and has the original seatpost, which is quite long. And owner was very careful and has not been used a lot ( there is the original cassette and chain!, and BB!).
I hope that using a long enough Syncros 330 mm, will help to not progress.

 

[Guinessisgoodforyou]

Dye penentant tests are not expensive. You will know for sure then. I personally wouldn't ride a cracked frame, no matter how much seat post is in it. If its a crack it will not get any smaller

 

[Elev12k]

It looks like a crack and probably is one. 15 years ago I bought a mint, rarely ridden Almega XT. Mint, except for that is it showed cracks at the strangest places. I put the parts on a steel e-stay frame.

 

[Lucidone]

Agreed unusual place but look at the form of the weld in the crook of that junction - it looks wedged in there rather than a bridge / amalgamation between the tubes.

Can anything be seen looking internally down the seat tube? Any creaking / strange noises when applying loads?

As above, dye penetrant test should give you the clearest picture without more involved and (prohibitively) expensive NDT.

Always liked the Almega, hoping further inspection proves us all wrong!