Kinesis titanium frame, it was great while it lasted!

[ColinJ]

I always fancied trying titanium but my 20 year old aluminium Cannnodale (<--- see avatar on left) has so far refused to break (despite me riding it hard for years when I was very overweight) and is good enough for my purposes so no new bike for me, and these reports of cracking titanium bikes do put me off a little anyway...

I was just looking around and there are a few firms advertising that they can repair titanium frames. It might be worth phoning some of them?

 

[AlanW]

Thanks for starting this thread. I have Kinesis ATRV3 which is titanium. She developed a creak 3-4 weeks ago. I've been investigating all the possible suspects, seat rails, post etc. all the little things which can be the source.

I hadn't considered the frame itself. I'll be going over it with a fine toothcomb tomorrow.

When l got home last week l looked all around the suspect areas with a torch and didn't see anything that concerned me. Hence why l went out and did a 67 mile on it, little did l know!!

The reason being the crack was on the inside of the driveside chainstay and as it was slowly moving/cracking around the circumference of the chain stay it was obscured by the chainrings.

But as soon as l removed the chainset in order to remove the bottom bracket imagine my surprise when l saw the crack!!!

 

[AlanW]

I always fancied trying titanium but my 20 year old aluminium Cannnodale (<--- see avatar on left) has so far refused to break (despite me riding it hard for years when I was very overweight) and is good enough for my purposes so no new bike for me, and these reports of cracking titanium bikes do put me off a little anyway...

I was just looking around and there are a few firms advertising that they can repair titanium frames. It might be worth phoning some of them?

I've had a rough quote to repair it, £160 plus carriage costs there and back. But l personally feel it's throwing good money after bad.
If the heat affected zone adjacent to the original weld had fractured, how stable are the other heat affected zones.
Plus, reading some of the reviews of the company concerned, yes it can be repaired but most cite the repair as being "agricultural".
So lm waiting to hear back from Kinesis first and see what they say or suggest.
The problem being they no longer make a rim braked bike of any material. So even if they offered by a replacement disc frame at half price, so say £1k, l would still need to then spend another £1k on hydraulic shifters/calipers and wheels.

 

[StuAff]

I've had a rough quote to repair it, £160 plus carriage costs there and back. But l personally feel it's throwing good money after bad.
If the heat affected zone adjacent to the original weld had fractured, how stable are the other heat affected zones.
Plus, reading some of the reviews of the company concerned, yes it can be repaired but most cite the repair as being "agricultural".
So lm waiting to hear back from Kinesis first and see what they say or suggest.
The problem being they no longer make a rim braked bike of any material. So even if they offered by a replacement disc frame at half price, so say £1k, l would still need to then spend another £1k on hydraulic shifters/calipers and wheels.

Hope they do the right thing by you. My Litespeed has hopefully broken under whoever stole it, but I'd like my Tripster to have no issues…
Would point out you wouldn't need to go hydraulic for a disc group- mechanical discs would work with your existing shifters.

 

[AlanW]

Hope they do the right thing by you. My Litespeed has hopefully broken under whoever stole it, but I'd like my Tripster to have no issues…
Would point out you wouldn't need to go hydraulic for a disc group- mechanical discs would work with your existing shifters.

I hope they do to, let's wait and see.

I hadn't thought of mechanical disc's, but it wouldn't be something l would consider anyway to be honest, but thanks for mentioning it

 

[PaulSB]

I always fancied trying titanium but my 20 year old aluminium Cannnodale (<--- see avatar on left) has so far refused to break (despite me riding it hard for years when I was very overweight) and is good enough for my purposes so no new bike for me, and these reports of cracking titanium bikes do put me off a little anyway...

I was just looking around and there are a few firms advertising that they can repair titanium frames. It might be worth phoning some of them?

I see why you say that but equally you can find reports of other frame materials failing. There's nothing inherently wrong with any of the frame materials in use but all will have the potential for the occasional failure through a weak spot, poor manufacture, missed quality control etc. I recently gave away a 15 year old aluminium Dolan to someone and thought I was doing her a favour. The frame turned out to be cracked and I had absolutely no idea. It isn't only ti bikes which fail and if we worried about the occasional report we probably wouldn't ride bikes.

 

[AlanW]

I should have known better to be honest, in April 2017 l ordered a Kinesis titanium frame from my local LBS.
This is what arrived, zoom in on the bottom bottle boss.
Believe it or not, it took a year before l got a replacement frame!

 

[ColinJ]

I see why you say that but equally you can find reports of other frame materials failing. There's nothing inherently wrong with any of the frame materials in use but all will have the potential for the occasional failure through a weak spot, poor manufacture, missed quality control etc. I recently gave away a 15 year old aluminium Dolan to someone and thought I was doing her a favour. The frame turned out to be cracked and I had absolutely no idea. It isn't only ti bikes which fail and if we worried about the occasional report we probably wouldn't ride bikes.

That's true.

Which reminds me... I need to get back in touch with your favourite LBS in Blackburn to finally get the carbon fork on my CAADX replaced. Cannondale are recalling them because there have been 'life-changing' injuries and at least one fatality due to fork failures. (I was going to get it done a couple of years ago but then there were more lockdowns.)

 

[Jameshow]

I always fancied trying titanium but my 20 year old aluminium Cannnodale (<--- see avatar on left) has so far refused to break (despite me riding it hard for years when I was very overweight) and is good enough for my purposes so no new bike for me, and these reports of cracking titanium bikes do put me off a little anyway...

I was just looking around and there are a few firms advertising that they can repair titanium frames. It might be worth phoning some of them?

Your caad is probably overbuilt compared to ok after caad frames. Which were liable to dents etc.

Titanium and high end steel like 853 / 953 is tougher tha lesser steel and more likely to crack imho.

 

[Fastpedaller]

I've had a rough quote to repair it, £160 plus carriage costs there and back. But l personally feel it's throwing good money after bad.
If the heat affected zone adjacent to the original weld had fractured, how stable are the other heat affected zones.
Plus, reading some of the reviews of the company concerned, yes it can be repaired but most cite the repair as being "agricultural".
So lm waiting to hear back from Kinesis first and see what they say or suggest.
The problem being they no longer make a rim braked bike of any material. So even if they offered by a replacement disc frame at half price, so say £1k, l would still need to then spend another £1k on hydraulic shifters/calipers and wheels.

The forces on the forks and chainstay/seatstay if using disc brakes will be huge compared to rim brakes. Steel frames for disc brakes are somewhat 'beefier' to take account of this. With your experience with that manufacturer's product, I'd certainly not want to trust one of their disc-braked bikes!

 

[HLaB]

Thanks for starting this thread. I have Kinesis ATRV3 which is titanium. She developed a creak 3-4 weeks ago. I've been investigating all the possible suspects, seat rails, post etc. all the little things which can be the source.

I hadn't considered the frame itself. I'll be going over it with a fine toothcomb tomorrow.

Different Ti frame but my Ti frame started creaking a lot a year and a bit ago. It turned out it wasn't the frame but the sh1tmano crank failing due to the problem that has happened to thousands of people but sh1tmano says doesn't exist. Touchwood it has been silent since, except when the waxed chain needs degreased.

 

[PaulSB]

That's true.

Which reminds me... I need to get back in touch with your favourite LBS in Blackburn to finally get the carbon fork on my CAADX replaced. Cannondale are recalling them because there have been 'life-changing' injuries and at least one fatality due to fork failures. (I was going to get it done a couple of years ago but then there were more lockdowns.)

I don't think they stock Cannondale anymore.

 

[postman]

Great advice as normal on here.A phone call,letter or email,you have all to gain and nothing to lose.On a lighter note,my frame also creaks not sure if it has a lifetime guarantee but it was 73 yesterday.

 

[AlanW]

Mudguard removed and a closer inspection reveals the full extent of the crack. Pretty much 3/4 of the circumference of the drive side chain stay.

 

[MichaelW2]

Mudguard removed and a closer inspection reveals the full extent of the crack. Pretty much 3/4 of the circumference of the drive side chain stay.

View attachment 676805

Putting a cable hole next to a weld by a bridge is just stupid.
Ti frame builders seem to make a point of incorporating stress risers.