New Campy Chorus rear derailleur polymer body crack

[Redbasso2]

Hi, check this out! This is a brand-new late 2014 chorus derailleur with a suspicious-looking crack near the attachment bolt. Does it look safe?, I don't think so! I will replace it before installing on my new bike. "Carbon powder infused" plastic is light, but i never saw a crack on the old aluminum body!

[Blown Reek]

Sure looks like a molding seam to me. Is there another angle/picture?

[jtakeda]

Sure looks like a molding seam to me. Is there another angle/picture?

+1. Looks like a molding seam

[OperaLover]

+1. Looks like a molding seam

Either that or maybe a surface scratch from the QR skewer(?)

[Redbasso2]

I added another picture. I thought perhaps a molding seam at first but the crack is irregular/ non linear and it feels very raised and bumpy when I run my finger over it. Besides, it is in what is probably the thinnest spot of the body. I found a typical molding seam on the bottom portion of the body and that looks completely different...looks mechanical/ processing induced.

[FlashUNC]

The alloy 9 speed RDs often had a crack at the same position. It ain't a carbon/alloy thing.

Fwiw, my Record RD of the same Rev+ generation has a molding seam that looks exactly the same in that spot.

[-dustin]

irregular/ non linear and it feels very raised and bumpy when I run my finger over it.
sounds like the molding seam on Campy rear derailleurs...

https://www.bikerumor.com/2011/02/07/core-bike-photos-3-full-carbon-campagnolo-super-record-rear-derailleur-sub-620g-crankset/

[Redbasso2]

i'm having difficulty adding another picture from my phone.

The gentleman who wrote that he has the same seam on a record derailleur, can you please include that picture? thanks.

p.s. definitely not a surface scratch, this is brand new out of the box.

[-dustin]

http://www.ebay.com/itm/301391424851?rmvSB=true

i know it's ebay, but the last picture shows it quite clearly. probably won't see it in many marketing photos since it could be mistaken as a crack.

[beeatnik]

[https://c1.staticflickr.com/5/4187/33620576313_eed576303a_h.jpg

https://c1.staticflickr.com/5/4192/33620575673_3d63d28fe1_h.jpg


:p

[FlashUNC]

Apologies for the horrid flash work. It is a bit tough to see in the lighting otherwise, but you can see the seam running straight across the knuckle from one end to the other. Feels raised and all that jazz to boot. Been that way since day 1.

https://c1.staticflickr.com/5/4161/34389398046_9ea39872b1_b.jpg

https://c1.staticflickr.com/5/4178/34046140520_dbedcd723a_b.jpg

[Redbasso2]

Thanks for posting the additional pictures. I am no expert, but to my eye, the Potenza crack looks exactly like mine. where as the Record derailleur picture looks more like a regular mold seam.

[Redbasso2]

Question for Beeatnik...Do you feel safe riding with your Potenza derailleur looking like that?
I just don't know if it's normal.
Thanks.

[ColonelJLloyd]

Just curious if anyone has brought up the fact that this is a molding seam. Anyone?

[Redbasso2]

Added picture

[FlashUNC]

Ye Gods man its a seam.

[beeatnik]

Question for Beeatnik...Do you feel safe riding with your Potenza derailleur looking like that?
I just don't know if it's normal.
Thanks.

Red, it's a molding seam. There's another above the Campagnolo logo. For future reference (and the history of the internet), the Potenza body is plastic not carbon fiber or carbon fiber-reinforced. So, it would seem that SR, Record, Chorus and Potenza employ the same manufacturing/assembly process.

[ftf]

Ye Gods man its a seam.

But are we sure?

[jruhlen1980]

But are we sure?

Sure seems like a seam; although it might look unseemly.

[beeatnik]

Paceline seams to be having a slow morning.

[Vientomas]

http://www.ebay.com/itm/301391424851?rmvSB=true

check the 5th picture...

Oops..Dustin beat me too it.

I'd take the cracked item off the OP's hands for the cost of shipping. :)

[lhuerta]

...note how the alleged "crack" is at the exact same spot on all the pictured knuckles.....this is is simply an ugly and unfortunate molding seam. However, u can always send pics to Capmpagnolo USA and let them weigh in.

[jruhlen1980]

Paceline seams to be having a slow morning.

Yeah, today's activity sure doesn't fit the mold.

[nate2351]

Wait, guys, I think it's a molding seam.

[FlashUNC]

The prior gen Super Record derailleur I have that I'm trying to pawn off on Beattnik has what used to be the seam in that exact same location, just someone at Campy took a buffer to it to flatten it out.

Guess that's an option on the Super Record derailleurs only.

[-dustin]

Yeah, today's activity sure doesn't fit the mold.
not sure if you were trying to be funny, but i got a chuckle.

[notsew]

There seams to be some confusion

[Redbasso2]

thanks all...I think we all got our seam jokes out our systems.

I'm assuming that it is a sound seam and not a crack. Although, when I stare at that damn thing (the actual derailleur, not a photo) , it looks like it could give way under a little stress!

[Joachim]

thanks all...I think we all got our seam jokes out our systems.

I'm assuming that it is a sound seam and not a crack. Although, when I stare at that damn thing (the actual derailleur, not a photo) , it looks like it could give way under a little stress!

I'm going to inspect all my cracks now that the seams are closed up....

[ColonelJLloyd]

I'm assuming that it is a sound seam and not a crack. Although, when I stare at that damn thing (the actual derailleur, not a photo) , it looks like it could give way under a little stress!

I don't think I'd enjoy having you as a client/customer.

[kookmyers]

There seams to be some confusion

:D
Well played.

[jruhlen1980]

not sure if you were trying to be funny, but i got a chuckle.

But did you crack up? :D

[fuzzalow]

Maybe it was "alternative cracks".

Don't let the derailleur anywhere near the microwave. I think the OP may be correct about the derailleur being cracked at the seam...because none of us have proven it WASN'T cracked at the seam.

And so it goes.

[cnighbor1]

Usually if a item has a real crack in it when you tap it it sounds weird
so tap it and maybe another CF RD to see if it sound different

[oldpotatoe]

+1. Looks like a molding seam

Yup and 2015+...jus for info.

[zank]

Red, it's a molding seam. There's another above the Campagnolo logo. For future reference (and the history of the internet), the Potenza body is plastic not carbon fiber or carbon fiber-reinforced. So, it would seem that SR, Record, Chorus and Potenza employ the same manufacturing/assembly process.

Correct. The Potenza knuckles are glass reinforced nylon and the upper three groups are carbon reinforced nylon.