
From Columbus, Italy's world renowned manufacturer of bicycle tubing, come
these guidelines for inspecting your bicycle frame:
Road frames:
Every 1000 miles do a thorough
visual inspection of your bicycle frame. Look carefully at any scratches or dings
for any signs of cracking. Give extra care when inspecting the area around the
seat tube clamp as well as the joint of the head tube and the down tube of your
bike.
Every
2000 miles redo the above inspection and take extra care while inspecting
the area of the bottom bracket shell, the chainstays, and the front and rear
dropouts. Also, inspect the integrity of the add-ons to the frame such as rack
mounts, water bottle bosses, cable guides, as well as derailleur mounts.
IN CASE OF ROUGH IMPACT, be sure to have your frame
geometry checked by a high quality shop.
Mountain frames:
Due to the extra abuse that these bikes generally receive,
do your inspections at least twice as often as on your road bike.
Racing frames:
Do a thorough inspection the day before every race.
