and this my friends is why you should buy cheap unbranded chinese carbon frames and abuse them until they break then just buy another…..instead of spending a small fortune on a frame which is probably no stronger.

Well that’s not very eco is it bwaarp.

Hello Mark and all,

I have been lurking around for some time with an interest in Titanium bikes and I came across this thread. It is something that I know a little about as I am a materials scientist so I thought I would add my 2 pence worth. The majority of my expertise lies within the composites area, however I also used to work for a F1 team in their materials laboratory where failure analysis of titanium components was my forte. So here are my comments:

Firstly, the warranty.
Specifying a 5 year life for a mountain bike is a complete nonsense and a ridiculous argument to base their decision on not honouring your warranty. As some members have already commented, fatigue could have a roll to play in this failure. However, fatigue is not sensitive to time (years of ownership). it is sensitive to cycles of a certain amplitude. This could be linked to the number hours of riding and type of riding and also probably your weight. Now Im rambling, but in short, there is no way that they can tell how many hours this bike has been used for therefore it is unreasonable to assume that it has reached the end of its useful life. After all you could have bought it used it twice and left it in the garage for the remaining years. So this is my first point. They have no way of estimating how much or little the bike has been ridden.

My second point is that realistically, unless these guys have cut up your bicycle, and examined it under a scanning electron microscope, it is unlikely (highly) that they will be able to know if materials or workmanship is at fault. You have a crack on the weld, this is probably a fatigue crack. To determine the cause they will need to cut away and section the weld to reveal the fracture surfaces. These surfaces will show markings which will indicate the origin of crack. There are numerous potential cause of crack initiation. These can include a simple scratch on the surface to inclusions and impurities in the materials that have occurred during welding or even during the production of the welding materials. So to summarise they don’t know.

In my opinion, you have had the bike a while, and you know how much you have used it, so you will know or feel whether you have had reasonable usage. If you do not, I think you have a scientific case to follow this up.

I once bought a litespeed stem which i never used. I had it for a year or so then decided to use it. I realised it was bent (you couldn’t see with out the handlebars in. Anyway, I had to really push them to change it so it doesn’t surprise me at all that you are in this position.

Personally I also thinks its a complete kick in the balls that they have the cheek to try and charge you 500 for a repair !! i mean what the hell is that ! I think we all know its not going to cost that much, they should do it for free for good will! Anyway, if anything you can be safe in the knowledge that your post has made up my mind to never buy a litespeed frame!

If you need any help with this drop me a mail.

Cheers

[Well that’s not very eco is it bwaarp.]

Titanium is not very eco (steel 6-15 MJ/kg, Titanium 900-940MJ/kg

Although it would help if these frames lasted longer than 5 years!!!!!

😀

Cheers

Gutted for you mate

I’ve been riding a Raleigh Titanium frame since 94 and its still going strong

The power of the internet might just help you out on this!!

Good luck!

Bloody hell Chief 9000….

“STW member in useful, informed, balanced, forum post shocker!”

It’ll never catch on