Frame breaking – who's done it?

I’ve never snapped one, killed my inbred though, the chainstay was bent.

Can’t beleive Samuri’s not been on here yet

A mate and myself bought ‘cheap’ Klein’s I think just about the time they were bought by Trek.

Mine failed and was replaced FOC with a rather nice Attitude Race frame. Rang my mate to advise him to check his and it had snapped too, both in exactly the same place on the chainstay not far from where it joins the seat tube.

This was back in the day so we just called it riding a bike whether it was on the flat, uphill or downhill. God knows what that type of riding would be called now.. Trail/AM/Enduro/DH light … WTF?

http://www.singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/poll-the-one-fs-bike-what-frame-would-you-go-for 🙂

If we are including bending frames… I’ve got a road bike with a bent rear triangle from using in a cheap nasty turbo trainer many years ago.

…and then a mate bent said nice Klein hardtail above when he put it on his roof rack. He over tightened the down tube clamp so the tube now is concave at one point… numpty.

1995 Kona Kilauea – snapped driveside dropout – twice (eg repaired twice in 1998 and 2003)
1995 Peugeot road bike – snapped both dropouts in 1996
1999 GT edge road bike – snapped seat tube in 2001
1999 Scott G-Zero – snapped seat tube/shock mount in 2006
2003 Rocky Mountain – snapped dropout in 2010
2003 Giant NRS – snapped seat tube in 2010 (though I suspect that it was already broken when the guy on the classifieds sold it to me… 😈
2006 Dolan road bike – snapped driveside dropout in 2007
2007 Pace RC303 – snapped seat tube in 2007

Ooops

2x Orange Sub 5s. JRA – both failed at the stub axle weld.

That was the end of my relationship with orange after being accused of jumping them (I can’t jump, even now)

1x 5spot chainstay across the CNC yoke. It was 5 years old though. Saved by Khani of this forum who had a spare and its still going strong.

So terribly sorry I’m late.

Frames only or should I include all bike bits?

Early 70’s, I broke my tracker jumping over about 6 kids off a ramp when the handlebar grip came off.
My next tracker got driven over by a car.
I think the next breakage was my very first crank snap. I was riding up Union Road in New Mills and the crank snapped in half, I shot sideways into a car and put a samuri sized dint in the door.
Then a raleigh road bike of some description, headtube cracked.
Then my eddy merckx (I loved that bike) snapped one of the stays clean off the seat tube. The Merckx used to eat rear spindles, I suspect it was misaligned.
Bit of a gap then while I didn’t ride bikes a lot.
Then in the mid nineties I got my first official mountain bike, a Scott Bandera. I snapped the forks in about 3 months after I tried a massive jump.
New forks and another three months, another jump, crimped the downtube.
Which meant I could get a new bike, a Scott Race Comp. Great bike. Still going strong now, I see the guy who bought it off the guy who nicked it riding around town sometimes.
Next bike was a Mk1 Idrive. Now while I didn’t snap that bike, I did break the idrive. idrive spares? don’t be silly.

inbred. This lasted a long time but it did see off a number of cranks, we’re into photographs now.
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Snapped Crank[/url] by Jon Wyatt[/url], on Flickr

Then the inbred snapped at the chainstay bridge, I was very, very sad.

Gimp next I think. I didn’t snap this bike, sold it.

Pompino now. This is still going well but again, it saw off a number of components, everything I think. Here’s one of the cranks it killed.
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P1010498[/url] by Jon Wyatt[/url], on Flickr

Chameleon has seen off two sets of cranks now
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snapped-deore2[/url] by Jon Wyatt[/url], on Flickr

Litespeed, that didn’t last long.
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crack[/url] by Jon Wyatt[/url], on Flickr

Lemond, that didn’t last long
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lemond-crack[/url] by Jon Wyatt[/url], on Flickr

Roly, he didn’t last long
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roly snappage[/url] by Jon Wyatt[/url], on Flickr

New Pompino, he didn’t last long
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snapped pompino[/url] by Jon Wyatt[/url], on Flickr

White Industries cranks, they didn’t last long
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crack[/url] by Jon Wyatt[/url], on Flickr

Cogs? Should I include those too?
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cog[/url] by Jon Wyatt[/url], on Flickr

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cog[/url] by Jon Wyatt[/url], on Flickr

How about handlebars?
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bars1[/url] by Jon Wyatt[/url], on Flickr

I’m sure I’ve missed some stuff off…..

Nah, not components – we’d be here all week and my memory has its limits…

samurai are you a chubber like clubber?

nope, I’m skinny and fast. And clearly more powerful than the Flying Scotsman.

Or a crap rider.

FWIW Al, I broke most of that stuff when I wasn’t a chubber. Though I was also a lot stronger which is probably worse…

I’ve cracked two Raleigh Dyna-Tech road frames (one chainstay, one downtube by gear-lever bosses)and one Dyna-Tech MTB chainstay. They were utter crap. I worked in a bike shop at the time and most of the frames we sold came back broken at some point.
I had a Klein Rascal that I cracked under the head / downtube join and a Klein Pulse Pro (Trek) that cracked at the seat tube / chainstay junction. (Fair wear and tear on the Pulse though I reckon. It’d had a hard life and lasted well over 10 years.)
Snapped a Raceface Turbine crank arm too.
No pics, I’m afraid.

Specialized epic (shop I was working at’s demo bike)
Destroyed as set of Judys over jumping some doubles.

96 gt tequesta (steel) snapped the drive side dropout between the seat stay and chainstay.

It had had 10 years hard use including several as a trials bike and sevaeral as a singlespeed. i had just SS’d as a commuter. did about 30 meters before i turned right and there was a ‘very funny feeling’ 😯

Cynic-Al and mwleeds the clear front runners at the moment.

Not enough pics in this thread! My only frame breakage was a Grifter when I was 9, I think rust had eaten away at it.

Commuting bike – just commuting along

And a month later I did this:
Airborne Lancaster – just riding along.

Managed this just a week or two ago but the genius bike mechanic I use managed to straighten it back out!

And far more broken bits than I care to remember 🙄

andyl – Member

Verses, looks like you had a crack on the front of that tube emanating from the hole in like with the top tube for a while.

If there was, I’m pretty certain it wasn’t visible from the outside as I was fairly fastidious about keeping it clean. It still makes me sad to look at those photos 🙁

I have a mate with the same year’s GF Rig which broke in the same place. His warranty replacement had extra bracing there, so clearly something they addressed with newer frames.

1994 Specialized Stumpjumper M2 – just riding along at CyB I thought I had a very loose headset and noticed that the noise was coming from the fact that toptube/seattube weld had failed. Had to ride back on the road holding it all together with ‘core upper body strength’!

Contacted SBC and they sent a 2003 Stumpjumper M4 through to my local dealer and picked up the broken frame.

I’ve broken the cranks of a grand total of five exercise bikes at my local gym…

What an appropriate timing for this thread, my 2004 commutered inbred just went wobbly this morning!

Aside from that, I cracked two seperate 2000 Gary Fisher Paragon frames at the bottom of the seat tube just above the bottom bracket (well above the weld though). They were very good with warranty replacement on the original, and then a warranty replacement on the warranty replacement!

numerous component failures…

Keep them coming!

Verses – absolutely no chance you would spot that. was in the portion hidden by the top tube. Would have been cracking and fretting away nicely as you pedalled.

CLub Roost XC-4 bent at the headtube and snapped the swingarm riding in BYC.

Kensis Maxlight 04 ish downtube.

Sintesi Bazooka ’98 – cracked the swingarm.

Marin Muirwoods ’96/’97? – snapped at the headtube doing the Morzine DH tracks…. back in ’98 (on a rigid!).

Pitch Pro ’08 – cracked 2 chainstays, and frame. All replaced FOC under warranty.

Crank (left hand side) – got the scar on the inside of lower leg where it gouged out a hole!

McMoonter – is your mate on the left a jockey?

I bent a brake lever once and that was about it for breaking stuff. But then I bought a Cotic Hemlock in 2009 and snapped the chainstay where several others have gone. 2010 chainstays now mucho beefy around this area. 9 mile walk back to the car down one of the best descents in the Black Mountains. :cries:

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Long walk back…[/url] by Rick T.[/url], on Flickr

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Chainstay snap![/url] by Rick T.[/url], on Flickr

Bent the forks back and rippled the frame on my Mont Cenis road bike back in the late 80’s. Was racing some mates (on their BMXs) down an off road trail. They had grip + I didn’t = crashed into fencing on a bend.

03 Enduro S Works – broke the frame in about 2005. Can’t remember how or where it happened.
04 Enduro S Works – broke the ream arms in 2008. Trails on Ranmore.
07 Stumpy Carbon – broke the frame last year. Road session – very random snappage.

Have also broken seatposts and bent brake levers etc.

Two Marin Attack frames cracked around the main pivot. Bit of a weakness with these frames but replaced with no quibbles.

1997 Orange Gringo hardtail – snapped at the top of the seatstay. Had been riding it for about 8 years so can’t really complain.

My Cannondale gemini,Snapped the Rear swingarm.Replaced under warranty

Saracen X-ESS, Snapped the chainstay and bottom bracket.
Azonic DS-1, Took headtube off
Azonic DS-1, Twisted the frame (head and seat tube out by 5 degrees
Santa Cruz super 8. Snapped pivots
Santa Cruz Super 8. Snapped the rear end brace.
Giant AC Team. Took seat tube off

With parts, i have snapped to many. just say most things.

then had some time of the bike and in 3 years nothing yet.

2002 Specialized Enduro – first I killed the linkage. Bought a new linkage (it was a second hand bike). Then a few years later an upflying rock at CyB dented the BB shell, I took it for a few more rides but the dent became a crack so I had to scuttle it.

Query whether an upflying rock is fair wear and tear on a mountain bike. There is an argument that mountain bikes should be tough enough to withstand that kind of impact. The bike came with a frame protector on the downtube but it didn’t cover the most vulnerable part, the BB area. I’ve fashioned such a protector on my new Enduro. My shop lampooned me for it, “these bikes can take it”, etc., but I know otherwise.

2006 Specialized Roubaix – the glue failed in the BB shell (connecting the shell to the carbon frame, I understand) so the BB shell cracked

I never asked Specialized about replacing the Enduro because it was second hand so why even bother? They were great about replacing the Roubaix.

i wondered how long it would be before a 2009 hemlock chainstay reared it’s head.

you can fix it with an inner tube…

I never asked Specialized about replacing the Enduro because it was second hand so why even bother?

My first Enduro was second hand. When it (the frame) snapped, I called them up and told them it was second hand > they said bring it in > which I did > they offered me the 04 S Works with new shock for £400 under CRW.

Can’t say fairer than that. Top folk are Spesh.

Mid 90’s Dawes 631 Edge, snapped at rear dropout while going over fallen tree on some singletrack.

Cheap Russian Built Coyote Ti frame, cracked at seat stay/top tube joint.

Then more recently cracked a Tomac Eli at Transwales, though never found cracks until home that was after ripping the splines off an XT crank 2 miles from the end of the last stage.

Finally snapped my Karate Monkey on the BB end of the BB at Dusk til Dawn.

no pics but:

ribble reynolds steel road frame – snapped the top tube cranking up a hill

stab primo 2002 – cracked the shock mount

stab primo 2003 (replacement) – bent the down tube after a stack on a rock garden

brand x xc frame circa 2003 – cracked seat tube/seat stay weld and not much use either

Broke my Hemlock in the place where old Hemlock chainstays break. No warranty, I bought it used, Cotic replaced the chainstays for free in 2 days anyway with the new model which was pretty fantastic of them.

Oh and I broke my raleigh budgie in half at the top/downtube (it only had the one tube) by riding it into a river.

Hairline weld fracture on my Titus Racer X at the seattube top tube junction. I blame the fact i was running a seatpost shim so it was pretty much running at minimum insertion at all times.
I miss it 🙁

Samuri and Matt (if he’s still on here) must be the winners 🙂

Snapped the rear seat stay of a Klein attitude because I’m an idiot*
Wish I still had that frame.

*Jumping

Cove Hustler mk 1 broke at top tube/ seat tube weld. New mk 2 full frame suplied as warranty replacement.

put cracks in the front triangle of 3 transition prestons – one was 4 years old (so fair enough) – the other two were under 10 hours of riding each. Its fair to say that I no longer buy transitions (although they did change their front triangle design)

i recently broke a carbon ’09 spesh epic – a v v small crack appeared near the bb chainstay area. so small i thought it was paint flaking off – spesh warranty took one look at it and replaced the frame with a nice sparkly new one.