Seen a lot of talk/photos on here of Ti frames with cracks etc how sturdy/reliable/strong/durable are they? I was always lead to believe Ti to have better durability than steel….don’t believe the hype!? Love the Blender but contemplating picking up a 2nd hand Ti version for pimpness!

I would say that steel has better durability – as long as it’s protected against corrosion. Ti is built for low weight and springyness and combined with it being more vulnerable to imperfect welds means the compromise is strength and fatigue life.

I was always lead to believe Ti to have better durability than steel

Steel bikes can break too. The issue with Ti bike breaking is a) they cost a fortune and b)people sell themselves on the idea of Ti on the basis that its a ‘bike for life’ so if it breaks is as if some sort of unwritten contract has been broken. But they are as likely or unlikely to break as any thing else.

Depends entirely on the frame tbh. But ti frames are often built with light weight in mind which seems to lead some companies to push the safety margins a bit

This is a difficult one i know people with 15 year old Ti bikes then you see the New Hummers going pop.My Lookout mountain is 9 and half years old and looks great and has done alot of work in the past.So who knows.

Got me thinking now….apart from pimpness I was keen to shead some weight 3 pounds lighter sounded appealing. Anyone have experience with charge Ti frames?

Is the Ti Blender really that much lighter?!!

I wouldn’t imagine second hand ti blenders are easy to come by?

I’ve seen a steady stream of them coming up over there various web sites, I’m thinking about it now so that if I decide to buy I cahn nab one as soon as it comes up. As they are ax little rare when they come up no time for pondering!

Ti is 3’4′ stellar is over 6.

Ti makes some sense for an xc hardtail.

It doesnt make sense for a bike that you’ll be serving/dishing out portions of abuse to.

It doesnt make sense for a bike that you’ll be serving/dishing out portions of abuse to.

True 🙄

An overbuilt Ti HT frame will weigh about 3/5ths the weight of an equivilent steel frame.

Come on, thats hardly abuse. I’d be shocked if my road bike broke off a drop like that.

The blender is a bike for jumps, downhill etc. Casing a 25 foot jump or coming up short on a drop. I dint think I could trust a 3.5lb frame for riding like that.

There’s a reason bmx’s are made from steel (probably cos its cheap, but you dont see many titanium ones)

If I’d designed a 4X frame and wanted to make a version to save those critical fractions of a second to get you the holeshot, I’d make it out of Ti. I’d make it out of pretty big but thin wall tubes for maximum efficiency out of the gate but low weight, which would mean it wouldn’t be massively robust and would die from fatigue or crashing way before a hefty steel version. I’d assume that riders going large and crashing on dirt jumps would do so on their stronger cheaper steel bike and keep the Ti bike for race day. Not saying that’s what Charge did but…

Come on, thats hardly abuse. I’d be shocked if my road bike broke off a drop like that.

Agree, but its the only picture I have.

Based on the 2500km’s ridden so far this year, the frame has managed upwards of 10000km’s of everything from the South Downs thru to the Highlands, and living in the Borders it definately is ‘abused’.

Based on the 2500km’s ridden so far this year, the frame has managed upwards of 10000km’s of everything from the South Downs thru to the Highlands, and living in the Borders it definately is ‘abused’.

Fair play, I guess it has lasted well as a tough xc frame. I imagine a lightweight alloy frame would probably have broken sooner.

But for stacking into the backside of a landing, I cant help but think a 3.5lb frame is the wrong tool for the job.

The more I read & think the less appealing it sounds, I do give it a reasonable about of abuse, I cased my mavic rim on a 15 foot hook to log hang up! Frame didn’t flinch….

http://www.pinkbike.com/photo/7572644/

Abused or just used hard? I treat my Soul similarly and expect it to last ages but I wouldn’t lend it to a dirt jumper!