Things that make your heart drop

[shovelon]

"Wear and Tear" my a###. That is really a stupid area to crack from wear and tear.

That material is 3al2v or 3al2.5v. Which means it is soft and stretched before the weld did. When the weld finally cracked, the tube cracked in that area. I think they got over zealous with thin tube.


So they did nothing wrong and niether did the buyer. That frame has a built-in lifespan according to LiteSpeed?

Bad design IMO.

P.S. It can be rewelded no problem by someone that knows the proceedure.

 

[MikeD]

14 years seems like a good innings. What's that, about £2 a week? Bargain. Time to move on

 

[one-eyed_jim]

The Wonderful One-Hoss Shay

The Deacon's Masterpiece or The Wonderful One-Hoss Shay - A Logical Story

http://eldritchpress.org/owh/shay.html

Have you heard of the wonderful one-hoss shay,
That was built in such a logical way
It ran a hundred years to a day?
And then of a sudden it — ah, but stay,
I’ll tell you what happened without delay.

...

Now in building of chaises, I tell you what,
There is always, somewhere, a weakest spot –
In hub, tire, felloe, in spring or thill,
In panel or crossbar, or floor, or sill,
In screw, bolt, throughbrace, lurking still,
Find it somewhere you must and will,
Above or below, or within or without,
And that’s the reason, beyond a doubt,
That a chaise breaks down, but doesn’t wear out.

...

 

[one-eyed_jim]

"Wear and Tear" my a###. That is really a stupid area to crack from wear and tear.

Where's the smart place for a frame to fail? Assuming the designer has any real control over where a frame breaks when it finally does (which is debatable given his lack of control over how the frame is used) a front end separation is bad. Beyond that, a cracked frame is a cracked frame.

That material is 3al2v or 3al2.5v. Which means it is soft and stretched before the weld did. When the weld finally cracked, the tube cracked in that area.

The '97 Litespeed catalogue says that the Tellico is made entirely from 6Al4V:

http://www.litespeed.com/archives/lscatalog1997.pdf

I think they got over zealous with thin tube.

It's possible to argue that Litespeed mis-sold the Tellico when they said "the Litespeed Tellico is the lightest and most durable mountain bike in existence". A heavier frame will usually live longer than a lighter one, and the Tellico is light.

But we're still talking about fourteen years of hard use. Is it because it's titanium that we want it to last for ever? What if this were a Klein with a cracked weld after fourteen active years?

 

[Lid]

That isn't a failure at a weld. If the weld had failed the crack would follow the weld.
I would just drill holes to stop the crrack and get an uglypatch made that goes up both tubes. Weld it in like a gusset and just think of it as a girlfriend with a scar.
Still ridable.

 

[one-eyed_jim]

That isn't a failure at a weld. If the weld had failed the crack would follow the weld.

It's a failure at a weld. It's not a failure of the weld. Two different things.

Similarly, a lugged frame can fail at a lug without the lug itself failing.

 

[AMPrider]

Start posting these photos all over the internet(along with the Litespeed response) and you may find that your lifetime warranty is actually respected.

The "wear and tear" exception is pure bullshit. What is "wear and tear" anyway? Wear and tear is normal use over the lifetime of the frame. If the frame has a lifetime warranty, it is against but normal usage(wear and tear). If they want to place a limit on the warranty they should do so at the point of sale, and not when a claim is made.

 

[Lid]

That isn't a failure at a weld. If the weld had failed the crack would follow the weld.

It's a failure at a weld. It's not a failure of the weld. Two different things.

Similarly, a lugged frame can fail at a lug without the lug itself failing.

You are absolutly right. I meant to say "of".
Sorry about that.

 

[shovelon]

"Wear and Tear" my a###. That is really a stupid area to crack from wear and tear.

Where's the smart place for a frame to fail? Assuming the designer has any real control over where a frame breaks when it finally does (which is debatable given his lack of control over how the frame is used) a front end separation is bad. Beyond that, a cracked frame is a cracked frame.

That material is 3al2v or 3al2.5v. Which means it is soft and stretched before the weld did. When the weld finally cracked, the tube cracked in that area.

The '97 Litespeed catalogue says that the Tellico is made entirely from 6Al4V:

Right you are. Even more distressing that it failed like that. I would have expected cracking at the chainstays where the tubes are small and the flex is great.

Such a shame, that is a nice frame.

 

[OldNBroken]

I posted this, just to be a bitch.

http://forums.mtbr.com/showthread.php?p ... ost8088225