A riding buddy’s frame failed this weekend – chainstay welds to b/b cleanly broke off causing a major fall. It’s (we thought) a top end ti frame, from a reputable niche company. Frame’s not been abused nor was the break casued by bumpy ground, but failed when he was (laterally?) weaving.

It’s made the rest of us anxious, so a straw poll of how often do frames (or welds) fail? And because this was a weld failure, is it likley to be a one-off bearing in mind this brand’s relative longevity and reputation?

Impossible to say from that detail. Post some pics and we’ll give a definite answer (tounge-in-cheek alert! 🙂 )

For what it’s worth, it almost certainly didn’t fail from his weaving though – it would have already been cracked/weakened and that was just enough to break it through.

Happened to me; was warrantied by the, also, ‘reputable niche company’ I bought it from!

Frames do break, even top spec. ones. Weld’s not an uncommon place for it to happen either.

First port of call is the place where he bought it.

i had two frames die on the front shock mount, from a niche north american company. Both within 10 hours of riding. I sold the 3rd replacement after they told me that

a) it was a design flaw (and the 3rd frame was a new design for the front shock mount)

b) even so, i was obviously riding it too hard, and they’d not honour the waranty again

a friends bike snapped fairly catastrophically at the scottish champs at weekend …. its not a pretty sight. seat tube/tt/downtube welds all went at once riding over a root …. on a 3 week old bike from a large canadian company !

Aus – Member

What frame, what manufacturer?

I’m always amazed at the reports of frame failure. I’m not the lightest person by a long way, I have no real smoothness to my riding (I’m told I ‘thug’ my way down a hill) yet I rarely damage wheels and have never broken a frame.

My youngest bike is now 18 months old, the oldest is 5 years – all get ridden frequently and hard.

So what on earth are you guys doing to your bikes? Or is it that I’m just lucky?

Impossible to say, Nick without seeing what and how you ride 🙂

I rarely break wheels (self-built mind so they’re done properly) but have broken several frames.

Clubber, I mostly ride a 456Ti – I’ve heard horror stories of failures, rumblings about ‘design flaws’ and even seen the pictures.

Maybe it’s a matter of time, but mine has been good as gold. Can’t help worrying a little though.

Frame failure is not common. Rumours of the failure of Ti456s at the chainstay appear to be getting more common, but you can never tell how many rumours each failure produces. 🙂

this is my 2004 maxlight xc pro after four years of beating it around trails and one year of commuting.

light rider at 9st.

my other bike is Ti456 !

Kev

Come on guys tell us what the broken ones are! 😉

I managed to break a Kona Cindercone a couple of years ago but it was ’97 so it had done a job.

It cracked almost right round the downtube before I noticed, I thought it was the BB creaking!

Interesting this.

Is it my imagination though, or do you hear more about frames from top-end boutiquey brands breaking than those from the big players?

I suppose it could just be that perhaps people are more vocal when their megabucks frame snaps as opposed to their Giant/Spesh/GT that they’d just return to the dealer..

Or is it that the big names have been doing it longer and have designed better fatigue-modelling wotsits??

*is not an engineer*

I’ve snapped a Funworks Rahmen 5, from a well known German site, who refused to warranty it as I ‘Obviously didn’t have the seatube in far enough’ this is despite me finding evidence of the same frames snapping fairly regulrly at the seat tube. My 98/99 M4 stumpy is still going strong as a commuter, although it’ll die sooner or later as it’s feeling progressivly more and more ‘dead’ when i go over bumps/potholes.

I’ve broken a few ‘just riding’. A couple of Specialized frames, a Heckler and a Yeti 575. I’ve broken more while doing something ill-advised on them!

The Spec’s were a treat to warranty. The Heckler made me never go near Santa Cruz again. With a bargepole.

I thought the Ti456 chainstay failure was identified and rectified in later batches?

I remember househusband’s frame failure pics, I have the same frame and it hasn’t affected my view of the frame or how I ride it.

sort of perversely comforting to hear it happens. Wasn’t a Ti456, and don’t want to name brand before they’ve had a look at the frame

I’ve broken three steel frames. Two went at the downtube/headtube join and one broke like yours at the chainstay/BB shell join. All only used from pure all wheels on the ground XC stuff.
Still yet to do any damage to a carbon or ali frame.

I have had 2 GT crack in the same place which was propergating from a weld at the head tube junction and from a search on the net im not the only one. In fact the newer desgin of that frame is completly different at that point. I was told at the last swap that as it was 5 years since my origanl purcahse that iwould not be getting a warrenty on that frame so i sold that one and bought a different one (though still a GT).

I had a Pace RC303 crack at the top of the weld between the seat tube brace and the seat tube. My Rocky Mountain ETS-X cracked at the lower shock mount not that long after I sold it. Both frames seemed to have gained reputations for going at those places.

On the other hand, I’ve had 8 different MTB frames for various periods since 2002 and all the others have been fine.

touches wood*

I’ve got a dmr switchback, apparently I will die horribly when the downtube folds in half.

Untill that day I plan to keep throwing it down singletrack with a stupid grin on my face.

No idea what i’d replace it with, maybe a touch slacker and longer hardtail. But most likely whatever the next specialized pitch turns out to be (i.e. bargain big travel bike, im eagerly awaiting the new giant reign x) .

…propagating from a weld at the head tube junction…

That’s where mine failed; junction between down tube and head tube.