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The weld(sp) at the back and bottom of the little bit of seat tube which sticks up on my 2002 Kona Cindercone alu frame, was bought in 2004 from Pauls cycles and cracked either late last year or early this year, forget when exactly.
I guess 7 to 8 years isn't too bad considering i'm large for the frame size and I was always sitting on the back of the saddle.
Fascinating thread guys - good call. It provides great visibility of typical failures, brand failures and more importantly, manufacturer customer support
1988 Raleigh Banana Road bike: Wrapped around the front of a VW transporter (REALLY HURT!!)
1992 Raleigh Dyna Tech Mission - split dowtube - under warranty
1994 Raleigh Dyna Tech Ogre - broke chainstay - under warranty
1994 Raleigh Dyna Tech Ogre - bent main triangle in crash
2011 Lapierre Zesty - cracked frame by shock mount - good warranty
2011 Lapierre Zesty - cracked weld on top tube/seat tube weld - awaiting warranty feedback....
I only ever shop at LBS, as i know i break a lot of things, and they've always looked after me
Sorry to ruin it for you zerocool 😳 , but my first and only failed frame was my Kona Tanuki Deluxe 2011. Seat tube cracked around the weld where the shock is mounted. Still currently in the process of getting replaced.
2002 scott mx 4 seat tube cracked;replaced with voltage yz 1 on warranty 2003 specialized enduro again seattube(but 5 years old)replaced on warranty 🙂
have only ever bent 1 frame (an old raleigh elan road bike).it wasn't the bikes fault though (a van driver pulled out of a roundabout as i had right of way).completely bent the front of the bike 😡
I can add two Commencal Meta frames to the list (2007, 2009).
I can't remember if I mentioned my first Soda in this thread the first time, but Cotic were fantastic.
I did this to my 2009 Niner RIP 9, and Jungle were equally great. This one was a known fault, resulting in the seat tube being beefed up.
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Cracked a DMR Trailstar at the head tube weld.
Orange Sub Zeo cracked at seat tube weld. Only 9 months old within warranty but Orange would not replace. 🙁
Never actualy broken a frame!
Cracked parts:
DMR Trailblades - cracked crown
Buggered parts (in the least 18 months!)
manitou minutes - blown damper and spring in one ride, but they were always shit
Fox RP2 - hopefully being warentied by MOJO, but we'll see.
Interesting, so despite their reputation on STW, not one Lynskey failure in maybe 100 broken bikes.
Find it interesting that there are numerous stories of Orange's warranty being less-than-brilliant.
Edit - right on cue, another one below.
Orange P7. Rear drop out ripped out of stays. Screwed on warranty. Never buy another. Ever.
£79 special full sus from Halfords I ragged down some random hill in Mid Wales. Lasted about 30 seconds. Great fun!!!!!
Pretty much every BMX I owned in the 80s, except the SE Quadangle and PK Ripper. I loved my Haros even though they were made of tissue paper and cheese.
1981 - Raleigh Grifter
2011 - Ragley Blue Pig
Interesting, so despite their reputation on STW, not one Lynskey failure in maybe 100 broken bikes
Possibly because Lynskey frames are few and far between compared to other brands ...
Orange's warranty service isn't looking too good on this thread is it?
Does anyone have a good story to tell about Orange warranty??
2004 Scott Genius - Cracked chainstay by dropout.
2006 Commencal Meta 5 - Crack propogating from seatpost slot. Cracked linkage.
2009 Lapierre Zesty - Cracked chainstay by BB, twice
That's a failure on every full suss fram I've owned but no problem on any hardtails. All were sorted under warranty.
Nicknoxx - Member
Interesting, so despite their reputation on STW, not one Lynskey failure in maybe 100 broken bikes.
and if you read the first post, it refers to a broken Lynskey....dan lurinsky - Member
Ragley Ti - cracked headtube.
2005 Whyte 19 - warrantied after 18 months
2007 Cotic Soda - warrantied after 3.5 years
2010 Kinesis Decade I - warrantied after 6 months
Really ought to get a carbon HT and go for the full set of materials.
Ragleigh Dyna tech. Bent top and down tube at headset, sorted no problem.
Orange Sub 5. Cracked around BB. Sent to Orange Friday, Spoke to them Tuesday, and decided on upgrade to the new 5 which arrived that Friday. Still have bike now. Top bike and service. What more could you ask.
My bikes:
2001 rocky moutain Fanatik kept 2 years no problems.
2002 rocky mountain switch (or is it 2003 well anyway the very first model) kept until 2010.
Since 2010 a 2008 commencal meta 5 still going strong despite me riding it a lot in the Alps everyday.
My cove handjob 2005 cracked at the head tube, re-welded and still ridden.
Another CynicAl fail.
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I broke a Stumpjumper down tube stair racing in the 80s
My carbon TCR delaminated at the headtube, its replacement's top tube broke in two dimensions. I first noticed it decending a mountain road at 45mph.
My Flux rockers broke, Turner never replied to my email, STW came up trumps with updated new replacements.
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I've had the following frames break:
Trek VRX (swing arm)
Spesh Enduro (shock mounting)
Spesh S-work Enduro (shock mounting)
Cove Stiffee (chainstay)
Cove Stiffee (paint fell off)
So not too bad, after that I just bought DialledBikes stuff and its been bombproof tbh.
My 2010 Rockhopper cracked at the bend on the chainstay. Didn't think I had abused it that much. It was an eBay buy so no warranty claim but Spesh did offer a crash replacement at half price which was nice.
Club Roost xc "superlight" copy. x3
Ellsworth FS The single pivot one x2
Santa Cruz Heckler swing arm and then main frame so.. x2
Cove Hustler seat/top tube 2nd hand managed to find the god like genius that is...
http://www.vernonbarkercycles.co.uk/
Repaired with no issues whatsoever and ridden for a year with no problem at all!
Now on an Orange 5. one month in and still in one piece!
2009 Ironhorse Bootleg
2010 Tomac Automatic 120
The rear triangle of the bootleg pretty-much disintergrated.... broke in about 6 places, including halfway up the seatstay.
The Tomac was a great bike, but the seatstay bridge cracked, and so went back 🙁
Am now riding a Rose Granite Chief, which seems to be made of girders and comes with a 10 year warantee... lesson learned
I had 2 Cannondale CAAD4 frames which broke at the chainstay/BB weld. They replaced both under warranty, which was nice, as the 2nd one I only spotted as I was taking the bits off it to transfer over to a Cotic. I got a Caffeine to replace it that I ebayed for £270.
The Cotic Soul Mk1 That I've been riding for 5 years (it was a good few years old when I bought it) developed a crack in the chainstay by the dropout but that got welded up by a nice man for less than the cost of posting it back, so I'm happy with that.
Oranged P7. Original bought in 1995 bust in 1998. Replacement broke about 2001. Sold the third one before I could bust it.
Gary Fisher Big Sur. Got it 2001 broke it 2004. Warranty replacement Palisades trail frame lasted till 2006. Warranty replacement big sur much bigger section tubing broke in 2008. Warranty replacement sold.
None of these bikes were abused they were just ridden hard for long periods of time. However what I would say is that I ride XL frames and I wonder if a scaled up frame of a lightweight hardtail design is really strong enough. Now ride a Giant Anthem which at present appears to be able to take whatever I throw at it although wondering if a on-one 29er if for me.
Old Peugot road bike - cracked the dropoout off the chain stay (rust).
Intense Uzzi Sl. Broke pivot bolts constantly.Shit design for the most part.
Turner '02 RFX. Cracked disc mount, cracked rocker link. Both sorted stupidly quickly by Turner despite being s/hand.
Proto Cotic Simple - weld failed where the old dropouts had been cut off and the new ones bodged on. Repaired and still riding it.
Intense Uzzi VP - swingarm cracked where they all go. Replaced under warranty.
1997 Orange O2 - Cracked along head tube / downtube weld a just before the warrenty ran out. Replaced with...
2000 Orange evO2 - Cracks top and bottom of drive side chainstay, and the bottom of the none drive side. Had never seen a frame crack along the length of a tube before. It was 10 years old by this point, and was being used as a winter hack. I now clean the mud off more often.
2008 Cotic Soul - Cracked head tube either side of the hole that lines up with the down tube. Flakey paint and a fine black line perpendicular the the weld looked a bit strange until I took the forks out. Replaced under warranty, Paul at Cotic said that it was a very strange palce to see a failure.
2005 Orange 5 - Managed to kill this twice. Cracked on the seat tube/BB weld with about 2 weeks left ont he warranty. Orange repaired it and gave it a new paint job without any fuss. It lasted another 3 1/2 years before going in the same place again, but on the opposite side of the tube. Closer inspection lead to me finding 2 more cracks in the swingarm. Orange sorted me out with brand new frame on their crash replacement scheme with a much bigger discount that I expected given the age of the old one.
Foes FXC. cracked 3 times, utterly rubbish service, took 3 months to bodge reweld a gusset, on 3rd crack I chucked it in the skip. Will ever buy Foes again.
Dialled Bikes Morning Glory (Ti). seat tube cracked, no quibble replaced by Dialled with frame of my choice, had 2 other Dialled frames since, both brilliant.
Klein Rascal - Cracked at headtube / downtube weld. Replaced no problem.
Klein Pulse Pro - Cracked at seat tube / BB weld. Fair enough, it was about 10 years old.
Several Raleigh Dyna-Tech road and Mtb frames. (Chainstays & downtube at gear lever bosses.)
Gary Fisher Tassajarra - after 5 years
Gary Fisher Hi-Fi Pro - after 2 years
both went at the same place - Chainstay, about 2 inches in for the bottom bracket, whilst climbing. Make me wonder if my legs are just too strong for the bike 😉
Both replaced under warranty
so probably as many bike for "top" brands like specialized ans giant as bikes from "small" brands such as Kona and commencal.
Titus Racer-x 2003 alu weld crack at seat tube top tube junction
Was using with a seatpost shim so i recon it is eqiv to always running at max insertion which is probably a recipe for failiure
distributor had changed and wernt interested in warranty or goodwill prices so claimed as accedental damage on my specific bike insurance
It strikes me how many from Trek and their brands have failed, yet folk rarely moan about them like they do Commencal.
2005 Specialized Demo 8 - the rib cage section where the rear shock was positioned cracked, by all accounts a common failure on the 2005's. Spesh said the bike was fine to continue riding as if it broke there the bike was still remain together. However they were very, very good at replacing it and within 3 working days I had a replacement 2006 Demo 8 frame all built up - in a rather cool looking anodized bronze colour.
2011 Orange Blood - cracked chainstay and headtube after 14 months. Replaced under warranty by Orange after some initial reluctance...
Klein Attitude 1998 - cracked chainstay warrantied
Klein Attitude 2000 - snapped BB
Litespeed hyperion road - snapped right chainstay
Commencal meta 5 2007 - snapped headtube / toptube.
Interesting, so despite their reputation on STW, not one Lynskey failure in maybe 100 broken bikes
...apart from the bikes built by the Lynskey brothers but not self-branded (original Litespeeds to name just one).
It strikes me how many from Trek and their brands have failed, yet folk rarely moan about them like they do Commencal
Maybe not as significant given relative size of brands, and possibly better warranty experiences?
Does anyone have a good story to tell about Orange warranty??
Yes me. They sent parts for my ST4 twice, out of warranty, and I had email replies and parts almost instantly. Broken on Saturday/Sunday, fixed by Thursday. When I spoke to them they were very reasonable and helpful.
The final break was sorted, just the rocker was a smidge to tight a fit in my opinion, so loading up pivits really. This *may* be that the main triangle was then also out of true.
This was on a 3+ year old bike that spent it's life in the Peak and Highlands, under a hefer (14st) of me and was ridden a couple of times a week properly offroad, and commuted twice a week on a 16 mile trip.
Not ideal that it broke, but I am not complaining about it, I could have carried on riding it....
S+M Dirt Bike
Trek Fuel 90 x 2 - both cracked in same place on chain stays
Current ride - Nicolai Helius - bought 2004 and still in excellent condition, totally indestructible
Almost all the frames I've ever owned have "failed".
In the early nineties - three Rocky Mountain Blizzards in two years. Bottom bracket shell stretch x2 and seattube to seatstay cracks.
Next up was two Trek OCLV team issue frames in 6 months, brake boss snapped off one and the bonded in bottom bracket fell out of the other.
Next to go was my ninety five Kona Explosif - it took me eight years to break this at the dropout, but for a few of those years it was in a loft. Welded and still going as my SS.
1999 Intense Uzzi SL - I ran this for 7 years and the only bit that didn't break was the main frame - something broke at least once a year. Frame retired in 2005 when the bearings started lasting weeks as it was all so wobbly.
2000 Trek 8900 didn't fail... probably because the forks and wheels always failed first!!! Eventually the bottom bracket needed PTFE tape to stop it creaking as the shell had stretched/worn. Sold to a friend cheaply with all it's history known in 2010.
I did not manage to break the Nicolai Nucleon which was my main bike from 2005 to 2010... but it was a beast of a bike and would probably survive armagedon.
2005 Nicolai BMXTB - didn't fail as it was too small so I sold it
2007 Balfa Minuteman cracked at seattube after 4 years
1993 Dave Lloyd CATS WISKAS retro project. I broke two retro Pace forks on this so decided to sell it before I broke it, or it broke me.
2011 White 19 steel cracked at dropout after 6 months
2010 Nicolai Helius AM - not failed yet, two years and counting.
2010 Ragley Mmmbop - not failed but I did break the RS Rev forks so I replaced it with a Ragley Troof so I could fit stronger Fox 36 forks
2012 Ragley Troof - not failed yet, but I've only had a few months.
Original Raleith Torus Ti frame - cracked top of seat tube/top tube - was replaced within 7 days!
The replacement cracked at the seat tube / BB junction.
The third one was flogged on ebay immediately!
2009 Gary Fisher Paragon. Just above weld between seat an top tubes after a couple of years. Looking at the forums at the time this was a known issue. To be fair I'm big and my smaller mate with the same frame has not had an issue.
Replaced under warranty with the new, redesigned, trek branded version of the frame. Had lots of hammer since without issue. LBS rebuilt the bike using new frame without charge - is that the norm?
I also folded the forks on a hire bike in France in the 90s, followed by a heated exchange with hire guy in my crap french about whther I'd been jumping the bike - 20 years later and from a safe distance I admit I may have been riding the the bike a little ahem beyond what it was designed for.
My Pace RC303 failed at the weld between the seat tube and the seat tube-top tube bridge. Quite a common failure on them, I believe. It was replaced by an RC305 under warranty, which I sold.
My 2004 Rocky Mountain ETS-X cracked at the lower shock mount a few months after I sold it.
1982(ish)Raleigh Tuff Burner, seat tube/BB weld crack
I frickin loved that bike 😥
2009 Yeti 575 - Carbon rear triangle snapped ...
'93 or '94 KHS Team - buckled downtube. Probably my fault for hitting a Landrover wheel rut at 90 degrees at about 20 miles per.
Giant ATX 990 - pitting in downtube under paint (it blistered, I took the paint off to look, screamed and took it to the local Giant dealer, who got me a new triangle even 'though it was a second hand frame).
Marin (ech) Attack Trail. Frame was fine, but everything else blew up. Three SID air shocks, the travel adjust QR, the granny ring (god knows), every bottom bracket (It was ISIS) went after six weeks of riding. It was a real Friday bike. Should have bought the Orange Sub 5 I'd intended to buy in the first place.
Just to even things out, frames I bought that never, ever complained:
DeKerf Generation (Ten years going, now being ridden by a good friend)
Two Mountain Cycles San Andreaseseseses
Genesis Io
Orange Sub 5
Orange 5
Commencal Meta 4
Alan Audax
It would be great if there was an online survey for every frame where you could tick the ones you've owned and the ones you've broken. If enough people filled it out we'd get breakage rates for each frame
On One Inbred 853 - Chainstay gave out to chainsuck, reapired and still in use.
+1
I'm glad it went coz it's much better now 🙂
Only the one.... Litespeed Niota full sus. Cracked around the weld at the pivot on the toptube. Replaced with no real fuss.
diablocableguy,
I have a 2011 Tanuki, and just noticed the frame is cracked. It sounds like the same location as where yours is cracked. Is Kona taking care of it for you no problem?
Raleigh Grifter (c. 1985) cracked at seatstay bridge.
Giant NRS (c. 2001) cracked chainstay near dropout. I was able to replace the stays and carry on using the frame.
BITD, I had an Orange Aliuminium O that had a crack on the top tube. I bought is 2nd hand from a shop (an ex race bike) and despite not being the original owner Orange sold me a brand new one for £100. Which I promptly sold on and recouped my costs :). So another cracking good orange warranty story (sorry ill get my coat...)
Only other failure was a noleen shock disintigrating at the top of the Firmounth leaving me with a 2 hour walk back to the car park. Shimano spd shoes are not made for walking.
Messiah, yes your frame wrecking capabilities were legendary BITD too. Along with Scotty (Dangerous)...
Specialized Demo 8
Commencal Meta 5.5
Both cracked round the shock welding
Yeti 575.....borrowed off of a friend !!
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Yeti Big Top, original 2011 frame, carbon split top of wishbone / seat stay area.
Replaced under warranty via BETD / Silverfish / Yeti, no issues, quick turn around. Now on the 2012 version.
😆
Ancient brand-x XC frame - cracked headtube, still commuting on it
Intense Socom - cracked top tube/pivot mount, still riding it...
Remind me never to let any of you lot near either of my bikes!
94 Marin rocky ridge - cracked on seat tube at welds
Haro DHR - the intense m1 rear chain stay cracked
Isaac Force - rear chain stay
Isaac Force - rear chain stay
Isaac Sonic - main tube
Trek Madone 5.5 - bottom bracket
Kinesis Evo Cross 2 - rear chain stay
Colnago Extreme Power - rear chain stay
Giant Advanced XTC 2 - seat tube
Trek Top Fuel 9.0 - seat tube
My carbon road bike frame disagreed with a car and failed lol
....and as of yesterday the left side chainstays on my trek Fuel Ex 9 🙁
Now i get to compare the warranty on a Trek with Giants I suppose