OK – so what frames have failed on you then?

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.

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.

dan lurinsky – Member
Ragley Ti – cracked headtube.

and if you read the first post, it refers to a broken Lynskey….

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.

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.

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?