Kinesis titanium frame, it was great while it lasted!

[Fastpedaller]

Sounds like it
Just keep an eye on it, presumably it has a decent warranty

No warranty that I'm aware of....... I'm restored a friends caravan, so he gifted me the Brompton. It was his late father-In-Laws, who was a collector of many things including Bikes and cameras. It had done zero miles (2007 SL with Ti seatpost, I keep meaning to check the bars.)
At least it didn't go for next to nothing, unlike the pristine Mercian tandem, which (despite me telling him it was worth good money) he sold for £300 . The purchaser (who said he owned a bike shop) said he wanted it for himself and it would be well cared for and my mate fell hook line and sinker -maybe I'm getting cynical but........

 

[vickster]

No warranty that I'm aware of....... I'm restored a friends caravan, so he gifted me the Brompton. It was his late father-In-Laws, who was a collector of many things including Bikes and cameras. It had done zero miles (2007 SL with Ti seatpost, I keep meaning to check the bars.)
At least it didn't go for next to nothing, unlike the pristine Mercian tandem, which (despite me telling him it was worth good money) he sold for £300 . The purchaser (who said he owned a bike shop) said he wanted it for himself and it would be well cared for and my mate fell hook line and sinker -maybe I'm getting cynical but........

Ah, won’t have a warranty if not original owner. Check it over thoroughly regularly

 

[IanSmithCSE]

Good aftertnoon,

I just cannot agree with that. All frames should be able to last indefinitely in normal use no matter which material they are made from. Ti frames are routinely touted as "A frame for life" because the material does not corrode and if Kinesis know differently they should warn the customer at the point of sale that the frame will fail after a relatively short time. They don't, because they don't expect it to and if it has it is down to a manufacturing or a design flaw - I would suspect the latter where they have made the tube wall too thin in a weight saving excercise.

If it were me I'd be looking for a full refund.

I have both a carbon fibre frame and forks and one of the 40th anniversary 753 Raleighs.

In my mind the CF frame definitely has a life span of less than 20 years even if just left in the box, nobody really knows as there are relatively few CF frames that old and using the same resins. It is also getting a hammering as a commute bike hitting pot holes etc and doing 10k miles a year.

Every time I read about CF lifespans outside of the cycle marketing departments there is agreement that CF does break down internally under heavy loads and these failures build up over time. On a new frame the load may be spread over 30,000 strands so fracturing a dozen makes no difference, but the next heavy load breaks a dozen more and over time the load needed to cause damage becomes less and less.

Whether this failure is me doing 60k miles or "Cav" wrecking a frame in a season of sprints sort of doesn't matter,

There is also a reluctance to say how long a new frame left in a box would last for, just how stable is the resin, it depends upon ..... a collection of unknowns

The 753 is more interesting, it weighs a tad under 2.1kg which for a 56cm frame that is 531c/CroMo territory.

I wonder if Raleigh went OTT on tube thickness to avoid warranty claims as they would be unable to supply replacement frames and could only refund the purchaser in the event of a major issue. It seems likely that many of the purchasers would be like me, older and not as light as we once were, equally not as concerned over weight as buying the frame doesn't really make any sense anyway.


Bye

Ian

 

[Bonefish Blues]

Fishing rods don't break after 20 years. Is there something specific to bike frames made out of carbon fibre that results in deterioration?

 

[wafter]

Fishing rods don't break after 20 years. Is there something specific to bike frames made out of carbon fibre that results in deterioration?

I'd imagine compared to a rod, a bike frame has a harder life in terms of both magnitude and frequency of loading.

Plus it's a question of potential severity of outcome - a rod breaking in use is unlikely to be life changing / ending...

 

[Sallar55]

When i bought my first Ti bike back in 2004 i wondered why they never had stickers with the tube manufacturers . In steel you have Colombus, Renyolds Tange etc. When i found out that Airbourne had one with a Ti tube manufacturers sticker .
i decided to buy the Airbourne Torch frame ,cost a bit more but at least i knew that the tubes were good.

 

[Sallar55]

Fishing rods don't break after 20 years. Is there something specific to bike frames made out of carbon fibre that results in deterioration?

The do break much easier than the old fibreglass rods if a car door/ boot shuts on them ☹️

 

[Bonefish Blues]

The do break much easier than the old fibreglass rods if a car door/ boot shuts on them ☹️

Agreed. Snap like a stick of celery when a fishing buddy climbs into a boat and steps on them, I found.

 

[Bonefish Blues]

I'd imagine compared to a rod, a bike frame has a harder life in terms of both magnitude and frequency of loading.

Plus it's a question of potential severity of outcome - a rod breaking in use is unlikely to be life changing / ending...

Presumably each will be designed for its intended purpose though. Rod blanks are incredibly thin and experience rapid and immediate loads in directly opposite directions (fly rods, that is) for instance, but unless hit with a heavy fly they're incredibly durable, without apparent deterioration over decades.

 

[Ming the Merciless]

Fishing rods see very few stresses compared to bikes. Orders of magnitude less, unless you never ride your bike.

 

[november4]

Surely they can weld it at their factory, heat treat it, paint and check before sending back

They already have skilled workers there getting paid, not going to cost them much, rather than ruin future sales.

 

[Jameshow]

No

Good aftertnoon,


I have both a carbon fibre frame and forks and one of the 40th anniversary 753 Raleighs.

In my mind the CF frame definitely has a life span of less than 20 years even if just left in the box, nobody really knows as there are relatively few CF frames that old and using the same resins. It is also getting a hammering as a commute bike hitting pot holes etc and doing 10k miles a year.

Every time I read about CF lifespans outside of the cycle marketing departments there is agreement that CF does break down internally under heavy loads and these failures build up over time. On a new frame the load may be spread over 30,000 strands so fracturing a dozen makes no difference, but the next heavy load breaks a dozen more and over time the load needed to cause damage becomes less and less.

Whether this failure is me doing 60k miles or "Cav" wrecking a frame in a season of sprints sort of doesn't matter,

There is also a reluctance to say how long a new frame left in a box would last for, just how stable is the resin, it depends upon ..... a collection of unknowns

The 753 is more interesting, it weighs a tad under 2.1kg which for a 56cm frame that is 531c/CroMo territory.

I wonder if Raleigh went OTT on tube thickness to avoid warranty claims as they would be unable to supply replacement frames and could only refund the purchaser in the event of a major issue. It seems likely that many of the purchasers would be like me, older and not as light as we once were, equally not as concerned over weight as buying the frame doesn't really make any sense anyway.


Bye

Ian

I'm going to have to talk to my 2010 Cannondale and tell it times up, crack v gently and give me a nice new aero bike!

However I get the impression it will say naff off I'm still good for years to come!!

I think perhaps the older frames like the older Boardman's, planet X, Ribble, Cannondale were heavier built. (not the HM one obvs)

 

[Sallar55]

Have a Time VXR its had a few crashes, still trust it. its a 2006 vintage.😲 bike , well thats if you are just talking carbon .

 

[Bonefish Blues]

Fishing rods see very few stresses compared to bikes. Orders of magnitude less, unless you never ride your bike.

My point is that they are many orders of magnitude lighter too, with incredibly thin walls, which don't seem to deteriorate over the decades.

 

[ColinJ]

Surely they can weld it at their factory, heat treat it, paint and check before sending back

They already have skilled workers there getting paid, not going to cost them much, rather than ruin future sales.

But that factory is probably somewhere on the other side of the world... It isn't going to be a case of paying Parcel Force £25 to ship it there!