N
Nate Woodhams
Guest
I have some questions concerning a possible crack in my titanium mountain frame.
During an inspection of my bike last weekend I noticed a very small crack on the non-drive side
seatstay near the stay/dropout junction. The frame is a 2001 Litespeed Toccoa mountain frame with
about 6500 miles on it. You can view a picture of the failure at:
http://pages.sbcglobal.net/nwoodhams/
When I took the bike into the shop for a warranty return to LS, the guy was very skeptical. He spent
a lot of time tapping the frame with his fingernail saying that it should sound different if it was
cracked. Is this accurate or is this person misinformed? I don't know much about the shop, the only
reason I took the frame there was because it was on the Litespeed webpage as a dealer. Now the shop
is having the Litespeed rep come to examine the frame before they send it in for warranty work. I
feel as I have made a mistake in taking my beloved frame to this shop. My only consolation is they
cannot possibly screw it up more. I understand the failure is small, but it certainly looks like a
failure to me.
What can I reasonably expect to happen in a situation like this? Is it possible for failures such as
this to be repaired or will it be more cost effective for Litespeed to replace the frame? I
originally purchased the frame because of the ride and general durability of titanium. I was hoping
the frame would last a bit longer than it has.
Thanks in advance for your comments.
-NW
During an inspection of my bike last weekend I noticed a very small crack on the non-drive side
seatstay near the stay/dropout junction. The frame is a 2001 Litespeed Toccoa mountain frame with
about 6500 miles on it. You can view a picture of the failure at:
http://pages.sbcglobal.net/nwoodhams/
When I took the bike into the shop for a warranty return to LS, the guy was very skeptical. He spent
a lot of time tapping the frame with his fingernail saying that it should sound different if it was
cracked. Is this accurate or is this person misinformed? I don't know much about the shop, the only
reason I took the frame there was because it was on the Litespeed webpage as a dealer. Now the shop
is having the Litespeed rep come to examine the frame before they send it in for warranty work. I
feel as I have made a mistake in taking my beloved frame to this shop. My only consolation is they
cannot possibly screw it up more. I understand the failure is small, but it certainly looks like a
failure to me.
What can I reasonably expect to happen in a situation like this? Is it possible for failures such as
this to be repaired or will it be more cost effective for Litespeed to replace the frame? I
originally purchased the frame because of the ride and general durability of titanium. I was hoping
the frame would last a bit longer than it has.
Thanks in advance for your comments.
-NW