Titanium frame repair update & warning!

as a few forum members are aware, i purchased a used gt xizang titanium frame a few weeks ago.
the frame had suffered a cracked weld and had had a very poor brazed repair.
as i had always wanted but, never owned a ti frame i assumed that it would not be too expensive to repair the frame correctly.
after getting a few quotes to do a ti reweld of around £200 i contacted a contact at rolls-royce whom i have dealt with, via my business, for a number of years.
he offered to get his best ti welder to repair the frame for free as a favour.
i took the frame in this morning and was informed that the brazing had damaged the surounding titanium tubes and that this would make a reweld impossible. :cry:
they will have to cut away part of the tubing and insert a ti patch and also replace a section of cross tubing before rewelding and finishing (exactly what rody advised me by e-mail).
the welder has estimated that the cost of this repair by a ti frame builder to be £400 minimum.
it is my great fortune that i have someone willing to do me a one off favour.
however, it is something you may wish to keep in mind if you are tempted to buy a damaged titanium frame
i will post pic's of the repair when i collect the frame at the end of next week.

interesting stuff Gaf, you hear all the rumours, but good to get a first hand comment.

The good thing to come out of this is that it confirmed again Rody is a framebuilding god

it's true gump, rody knows his stuff alright

out of intrest, we had a litespeed roadbike frame come into our shop, (we sold it) that had suffered an impact with a car (rider ok!)

the amazing thing was, (it was a big impact) the welds had held out, it was the downtube that took the stress, & failed. it was completly twisted out of shape, like someone had given it a chinese burn!! it was mangled bigtime.

we sent it back to litespeed, they cut the tube out, & replaced it. for £250. happy ending!

So glad to hear that the repair is going to work out...and easy on the pocket book to boot.

Make sure you post some before and after shots for the forum to view, would be an excellent opportunity to learn a bit from your experience for all.

cheers,

rody