Is this chainstay crack repairable?

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Trull

Über Member
Location
Aberdeenshire
I bought this titanium framed bicycle in 2016 and completed various Audax Ecosse events on it including my biggest ride to date the Snow Roads 300k. It was a smashing bike - but upon laying the bike down for some maintenance I noticed the cracking on the power side and also there is a smaller crack on the inside of the other chainstay. According to Strava I have 15,000 km on it. Which is not high mileage at all really?

Does anyone think this is repairable? If so where? cost estimate?
The manufacturer offers a 5 year warranty, so I'm assuming the worst (although I've asked my redoubtable LBS to investigate).

Any thoughts/commiserations are welcome.
 

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wafter

I like steel bikes and I cannot lie..
Location
Oxford
Looks like ally - in which case I'd bin it as it's funny stuff to weld and if it's gone in one area you could spend a good wedge getting it repaired (which in itself would probably be disproportionately costly relative to the value of the bike) only for it to crack elsewhere.

I'd agree that 15k km isn't a great lifespan; however it's better than my old Giant OCR which died due to a pair of cracks at the seatpost tube / top tube junction after about half that..
 
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OP
Trull

Trull

Über Member
Location
Aberdeenshire
Yes its definitly not a scratch - the thick lacquer has sprung off it outwards, and there's no abrasion aside from a few feather lines from my heel. Its a titanium frame with carbon fork.
 

roubaixtuesday

self serving virtue signaller
It's a very odd place for a crack - are you sure it's not a deep scratch ? - frames usually fail around welds. What material, Ti ?

Mrs Tuesday's Van Nicholas suffered a very similar crack after far fewer miles, frame was replaced under warranty.

Frame looks borked to me, well beyond any economic repair. And would you trust the other tubes anyway?

Ti seems to be the material most prone to this sort of manufacturing defect failure, though maybe that's because Ti frame owners get more annoyed and whinge louder when they fail. Personally, I wouldn't go near it.
 

Spiderweb

Not So Special One
Location
North Yorkshire
What brand of frame?
 

wafter

I like steel bikes and I cannot lie..
Location
Oxford
Crikey... that's far from splendid given the cost, mileage and frame material.. I assumed it was a relatively cheap ally offering.

Worth an irate email IMO, although given the warranty terms I'd not hold out a lot of hope..

If you get no joy, send it to Hambini ;)
 

Ian H

Ancient randonneur
Ted James (Design Ltd) repaired my Ti frame. He builds frames in steel & Ti. Definitely a good craftsman, he mostly builds MTBs & BMX, so he knows about frames subjected to stress.
 
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