Is this frame unsafe to ride?

[Bill.mtb]

After having some chainring related issues, there's now a pretty big gouge in the frame. The bike is a Specialized Chisel (aluminium frame). Do you reckon this is bound to worsen into a crack, or would it be still safe to ride?

 

[sleuthey]

I can’t see the other side of the tube but On the basis that you have a non penetrating gash affecting around a third of the circumference of that tube, and you have 4 tubes in total holding the rear wheel hub to the bike, then it covers about 8% of the total circumference. If it were mine I would assume it’s therefore safe.

 

[Drago]

There's never a guarantee, but if that should fail I would expect that it would do so progressively. Eyeball it carefully before each ride and you'll likely see if it's cracking or worsening.

 

[Milkfloat]

Nothing there looks scary to me.

 

[wafter]

Anyone's guess tbh; too many unknowns IMO.

On the up-side I'd guess that's not an enormously stressed area of the frame (the seatstays will probably react most of the vertical loading encountered at the rear wheel), on the down-side it's hard to tell how deep it is / how far through the wall it is and it will be acting as a stress raiser; whether this is critical of course is the hard question.

I'm tight so would personally keep riding it but keep a close eye on it for propagation further into the surface or from either end.

 

[Ajax Bay]

Fit a chain guide?

 

[crossfire]

mark the extreme edge in each direction with a felt tip/marker pen, and then you could see any movement?

 

[CanucksTraveller]

Nothing there looks scary to me.

Concur, looks fairly okay to me too.
It might eventually weaken but it's sound for now.

 

[gbb]

Either I'm seeing it wrong or the photo is distorted, or that chainring is well well past it.
Nowt to do with the gash, just looks very worn.

 

[rogerzilla]

Most early MTBs had scarred chainstays from chainsuck. They were ok.