I've seen more Lynskey-made frame failures than all other brands put together.
Except Lappiere and Commencal
Bike Forum
Titanium! A bike for life.
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Posted 4 months ago #
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druidh - Member
I mean "in the flesh", not pictures on t'internet.
I've seen more Lynskey-made frame failures than all other brands put together.Posted 4 months ago # -
I've seen more Lynskey-made frame failures than all other brands put together.
Did Lynskey make the Soda then?
Posted 4 months ago # -
Geeky post alert. That's a shame. I checked fatigue life of Ti I think it's wrought on page 455 which is the one we're looking at in bike frames, thiough someone might tell me otherwise.
Anyway it does fatigue, although I can't be bothered to work out what those graphs mean in bike frames. I remember in my materials lectures being told that it has a very high crack propogation, so small cracks will quickly become big ones, even scratches. Luckily it's very hard so they don't get scratched too much.
Posted 4 months ago # -
Seeing all the cracked Ti frames on here has put me off ever buying one.
Posted 4 months ago # -
Seeing all the cracked Ti frames on here has put me off ever buying one.
No worries, just go and in invest in a nice alloy Commonfail instead...
Posted 4 months ago # -
It's good to see fred back.
Posted 4 months ago # -
Bike for life was what the mags used to say back in the 90s. nobody believes it now we can see all the cracked frames on the internet, do they?
Posted 4 months ago # -
Bike for life was what the mags used to say back in the 90s. nobody believes it now we can see all the cracked frames on the internet, do they?
if it has a lifetime warranty why not? you just get "refreshed" every few years if it fails
Posted 4 months ago # -
It might have been true in the 90s that a Ti bike was a bike for life but we are all riding bigger stuff now, i mean 140-150mm travel forks on a ti hardtail? back then it was 50mm
and yes i do have said 140mm travel ti hardtail and cringe everytime i read these threads
Posted 4 months ago # -
You probably could build a modern, long travel ti bike-for-life. But nobody'd buy it because it'd be heavier than all these ti bikes-for-slightly-longer-than-the-warranty
Posted 4 months ago # -
My ti bike must be from the early / mid 90s - an all welded raleigh sps one.
Seems to be OK - and its had a hard life
Posted 4 months ago # -
Tend to agree with Haggis on this though my Litespeed made Hummer from 2004 is still going strong .It's been to Whistler,Morzine and Santa Cruz , Lake tahoe area .(Mind i ride it in a semi retired way now !)
Posted 4 months ago # -
TJ - you are very lucky if your welded Raleigh Ti didn't crack!
I've known 3 people with them and all 3 have cracked (in quite weird places).
2 (both owned by fairly lightweight women) cracked on the rear seatstay wishbone. Both replaced under Raleigh lifetime warranty (unfortunately with painted Ti frames because that was all they had left).
The 3rd one was actually an X-Lite (basically the Raleigh frame with a matt blasted / etched finish). It fatigue cracked almost right round the downtube about an inch behind the head tube weld (edge of haz?). Unfortunately it didn't have the same warranty so got welded (and after a number of years has just cracked and been welded again slightly further along the downtube). If this one was mine then it would have been retired by now......
I don't think price has anything to do with durability of Ti frames. Mrs has a Parkpre Ti from 1995 (which would have been an early days Taiwan manufactured model - not the most promising heritage). It did a few years racing elite XC and downhill, a UCI worlds and many years of heavy use. Apart from a dent in the top tube (courtesy of Air New Zealand) it is still totally crack free.
Posted 4 months ago # -
Never been able to actually work out which year / model mine is - painted blue and with disc mounts
Posted 4 months ago # -
My Hummer did the same, same model as yours.
Fortunately it was the 2nd time for me, so when the standard repair option was put forward my LBS was able to be a bit more pushy.
Posted 4 months ago # -
...ill try and see if i can find the thread...
Posted 4 months ago # -
Hi all TI fan boys,
I had a beautiful Merlin XLM 04 - I rode it hard on epic xc stuff - 80/100mm travel and never pranged a wheel and I way sub 74kg all kitted up....
It had a new headtube and down tube as it cracked on the down tube ( with 80mm forks ) - it lasted 2 more years and last year it cracked exactly in the same place as the OP - through the weld etc with a short seatpost with massive overlap - I had it welded at Enigma cycles and crack stoppers drilled etc - It lasted no time at all and it cracked again - same place - Enigma warned me this may happen - it did and they did a good job.
Stuff like this happens in mtbing - however my ancient steel konas / RMs never cracked...
Ti does break and I know a number of bust TI frames. Ti isnt the holy grail of materials... Would i hvae another? Yes in a heartbeat as the ability to polish the frame up is nice - they ride well and look stunning. Can I afford one? Not really and I am loving my steel bikes again...
my 2ps worth.
Posted 4 months ago # -
All this repair talk has me worried. Shouldn't the frame be replaced under warranty?
I've owned it about 15 months
MM
Posted 4 months ago # -
My understanding is that Ti is an extraordinary material which (in theory) should be perfect for bike frames ....however, it is a pig to work with and weld whilst maintaining its good qualities hence just as many failures as Alu and Steel.
Posted 4 months ago # -
Bikes take a hell of a hammering - the forces generated in all sorts of directions are very difficult to contain
I've broken steel, aluminium and titanium. It happens, get used to it
I've avoided carbon as i don't fancy the catastrophic failure when it goes - i've still got the scars from some early carbon bars which failed on me
However, i've got a titanium Raleigh Dyna-tech Torus from 1994 and its had a hell of a hard life and is still going strong
I was quite pleased when i managed to crack my Zesty frame within 6 months - they replaced it without question mind
I punish my bike hard - that's what its built for
If they didn't break, then you wouldn't have a genuine reason to buy a new bike...
Posted 4 months ago # -
TJ - you might be OK - I remember the bare ti ones were being raced 95-96-97 ish. The blue painted ones were what they got as warranty replacements (think they were near the last ones they made - vaguely remember maybe 1998 - 1999 ish). Maybe they rectified something in the production process?
What does seem common is that a lot of the Ti cracks seem to appear near to the welds but not along or in them. A lot of the cracked aluminium frames I've seen (but not all of them) cracked along the edges or through of welds.
Posted 4 months ago # -
I too fell for hey, it's worth it, Ti bikes are "for life" (in this case, a matching pair of Marin Team Ti's which both broke at exactly the same place).
While Ti might have a theoretically infinite fatigue life, clearly the welds don't.
And Marin's lifetime warranty on both the bikes (which I bought full-price, new) came down to "phone a good welder".
Posted 4 months ago # -
Ta Mick
Posted 4 months ago # -
My blue painted Raleigh Ti lasted 6 months...the (aluminium) Zaskar that replaced it is still going strong 15 years later.
Posted 4 months ago # -
And Marin's lifetime warranty on both the bikes (which I bought full-price, new) came down to "phone a good welder".
not the first time I've heard about Marin not honouring their warranty
Posted 4 months ago # -
It's funny because my previous bike, a Kona Hei Hei, I had for 14 years and it was awesome. I only sold it because I wanted something that would take a longer fork. I love the Hummer that I replaced it with, however I'm not sure that it'll last 14 years like the kona did for me, I've just seen too many failures.
2008_0506_183833AA by http://www.sussex-mtb.com, on FlickrThe old Kona, wish I'd kept it
IMAG0557 by http://www.sussex-mtb.com, on FlickrThe Hummer, it's an awesome bike
Posted 4 months ago # -
Nahh ... too much hype surrounding Ti so I am sticking to steel 853 or even one grade down is fine.
Posted 4 months ago # -
Out of all the frames I've designed, percentage-wise, the Morning Glory has had the most failures (10%). The rest of the range are around or below 1%.
However, I don't think it's totally fair to compare old school Ti frames lasting decades to new school frames which don't last more than a few years, as riding has moved on, you're encouraged to fit longer forks, bigger tyres and generally do/attempt more outrageous things than people were doing back in the dayglo lycra era.
Posted 4 months ago # -
PeterPoddy -
'steel is real'
WTF is this meant to mean? What does it mean? NOTHING. NOTHING AT ALL.Does it imply that other substances are somehow a figment of our imagination?
Chill Winston!
No, of course it doesnt mean other substances are a figment of your imagination, just that they are shit.
Keep it steel, steel is the real deal for feel.
It means everything.Plus, it rhymes nicely doesnt it. 'Aluminum is Bloomin (stiff)'. 'Carbon is going to kill you eventually'. Not quite the same ring.
'Ti is Fly'?
Word.Posted 4 months ago # -
Nahh ... too much hype surrounding Ti so I am sticking to steel 853 or even one grade down is fine.
And there's no hype to 853?, or heaven forbid, one grade down?
At least the hype is deserved though, eh? steel is real.
Posted 4 months ago #
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