GearlessinSeattle
Senior Retro Guru
So this is what happens when you have time, a frame and a bunch of misc parts sitting around.
I bought this Litespeed some time ago for the parts group that was hanging on it and sold the frame on ebay. When the fella that bought it got the frame he went to clean it and found a very small crack(see photo) in the headtube where the breathe hole meets the downtube. I took the frame back and refunded his money. When I got the frame back I showed it to 3 different frame builders, all of which have many years of welding Ti under their belt, and asked their opinion on what happened and what if anything could be done about it. All three said the same thing, nothing could be done but to ride the heck out of it because they all believed that the crack had been there for a while and was not going to get any worse. The crack starts at the inside of the hole and stops right at the weld. All three said that the weld stopped the crack from going any further and would keep it that way. So…….what to do?
The frame had been hanging in my storage unit for some time until today. I brought it home and decided to build it up using some parts I have had. I tried to keep it as close to period correct as I could. I feel I built as if I bought it new in 1990 and then sometime around 1992 I decided to upgrade a little. I am having trouble with the seat tube sizing so if anyone knows what it should be please let me know. I think 28.6 but not sure. Right now I have a couple of shims in it to make it work. I took it for a spin around town today as it was sunny but cool and it rides great. The elastomers in the Manitou have been replaced with Speedsprings I got from a friend so it rides better than before.
So now this has been added to the stable. Hope the wife does not notice.
Happy New Years all!
I bought this Litespeed some time ago for the parts group that was hanging on it and sold the frame on ebay. When the fella that bought it got the frame he went to clean it and found a very small crack(see photo) in the headtube where the breathe hole meets the downtube. I took the frame back and refunded his money. When I got the frame back I showed it to 3 different frame builders, all of which have many years of welding Ti under their belt, and asked their opinion on what happened and what if anything could be done about it. All three said the same thing, nothing could be done but to ride the heck out of it because they all believed that the crack had been there for a while and was not going to get any worse. The crack starts at the inside of the hole and stops right at the weld. All three said that the weld stopped the crack from going any further and would keep it that way. So…….what to do?
The frame had been hanging in my storage unit for some time until today. I brought it home and decided to build it up using some parts I have had. I tried to keep it as close to period correct as I could. I feel I built as if I bought it new in 1990 and then sometime around 1992 I decided to upgrade a little.
I am having trouble with the seat tube sizing so if anyone knows what it should be please let me know. I think 28.6 but not sure. Right now I have a couple of shims in it to make it work. I took it for a spin around town today as it was sunny but cool and it rides great. The elastomers in the Manitou have been replaced with Speedsprings I got from a friend so it rides better than before. So now this has been added to the stable. Hope the wife does not notice.
Happy New Years all!
