9 ms·
A year ago, my titanium fork broke (while driving rather slowly on good tarmac, photo here https://twitter.com/dothebart/status/1486765955254530051 https://twit
by max_k 4y ago
A year ago, my titanium fork broke (while driving rather slowly on good tarmac, photo here https://twitter.com/dothebart/status/1486765955254530051 https://twitter.com/dothebart/status/1486765955254530051), and the titanium frame got a few cracks as well. My motto "the last bike I'll ever buy" collided with reality. Fortunately, I got away with just a few scratches - just a minute later, I would have been at 60+ kph downhill.
My new bike has a steel frame. I love it, but titanium was more flexible and more comfortable. And of course titanium is nerdier! :-)
- kasey_junk 4y agoDid the manufacturer provide an explanation? A sheer (which that looks like) should be near impossible on any properly manufactured bicycle under normal usage.
- max_k 4y agoNo. I got a full refund, though. Most importantly, I'm so extremely happy I'm still alive, I don't care about anything else.
- kasey_junk 4y agoI wouldn’t view that as an indictment of a particular material. That’s like first generation carbon failure and those went away 20 years ago. I’d blame the manufacturer specifically in that case because it’s both catastrophic & unexpected.
- robin_reala 4y agoSudden memories of early http://www.bustedcarbon.com/ http://www.bustedcarbon.com/
- jupp0r 4y agoGlad you're ok. I wish the anti helmet crowd from the Netherlands from a different thread 2 weeks ago would read this.
- max_k 4y agoOh, bike helmets. I missed that thread, and I don't want to start yet another endless internet discussion about helmets, but let me point out one thing: the helmet I did wear likely wouldn't have saved my life, had the fork breakage happened one minute later.
- Xylakant 4y agoThe “anti helmet crowd” wouldn’t have any issue reading be this. Wearing helmets when you’re on a sports bike is very common in the Netherlands. It’s just not common on Dutch commuters cycles, but then again, these do not have this failure mode. Sports bikes in general have much less margin for failure, and thus fail more often and catastrophic than a solid steel bike.
- jupp0r 4y agoRight, all commuter bikes are made of solid steel and steel bikes never break. Got it.
- Xylakant 4y agoTypical Dutch commuter bikes are made of steel. And yes, steel breaks, but the failure mode of a solid steel fork is much much different from a titanium, aluminum or carbon fork. They bend, crack and at some point break, but they’ll typically not snap like this because steel is much less brittle than any of those materials. Also, speed matters. Going 15 or 50 when the thing breaks makes a difference.
- digitalscribe 4y ago> Also, speed matters. Going 15 or 50 when the thing breaks makes a difference. Isnt this an argument that helmets are more important for passenger vehicles? After all, car accidents cause about 10x more head trauma in the usa.
- toast0 4y ago
- ralfd 4y agoI thought titan would keep good for a life time?
- max_k 4y ago... yes, that's what they say about titanium, why I decided to pay the price, but turns out it's not true.
- speed_spread 4y agoThe metal, yes. What's at stake here seems to be the welding, which is the tricky part with titanium.
- giuliomagnifico 4y agoWoaa horror story, what a luck that you didn’t get hurt! Anyway it’s weird because it doesn’t look broken on a weld, very rare situation, titanium should last forever.
- 70rd 4y agoYeah, I'm kind of flabbergasted to be honest, total failures like that are rare for metal tubing.
- steelframe 4y ago> my titanium fork broke Yikes! Fork failure is the stuff of nightmares. I'm glad you're okay. Among the participants of a local riding club in my area, I've met two people with custom titanium frame builds who told me that their frames cracked within a few years of use.
- liotier 4y ago> Yikes! Fork failure is the stuff of nightmares Still have nightmares about a fork that, during a mountain bike descent 30 years ago, started oscillating increasingly until it bent and locked the wheel perpendicular to my vector - and my buddy still has dreams of me acting Superman along his ride, for a few short instants...
- galangalalgol 4y agoTitanium can have problems with oils I've been told. Seeping into crystal defects and propagating. Typically I've been told they use polymer coatings to prevent the ingress. But with scratches and lubricants I think this would be much more common if it was a real thing. I've always thought a spring bronze/brass frame would be fun. Even better modulus of elasticity, but the strength to weight is much worse. Also keep waiting to see flash bainite frames.
- xcskier56 4y agoOne of my coaches in college raced for a pro/semi-pro team. Their first race of the season was on new/pre-production bikes straight from one of the major manufacturers. 3, I repeat, 3 steer tubes broke in that 1 race. It was a really rugged race, but needless to say the manufacturer had to scramble to fix the forks before going to production. One guy was going over railroad tracks and his handlebars just came off. Not what you want in the middle of a cat-1/pro peloton.
- WalterBright 4y agoThat's what happens when one tries to shave grams off of the weight.
- analog31 4y agoI had one of the fork ends break off a steel fork. Fortunately I was going at less than a walking pace, navigating out of a store parking lot. I was 2 miles from home, and just walked the bike while planning its replacement. It was a break that I would have noticed much sooner, had I regularly inspected it, because the other side was half broken off. The funny thing is, I play in a band, and when I told my story that night, 3 guys in the band offered to weld it.
- kazinator 4y agoI'd get the drummer to put together the rig which holds the parts in place, bass player to make the crucial spot welds and then the lead guitarist to go ape shit with the rest, while the singer goes whoo yeah!
- deleted 4y ago[deleted]
- bambax 4y agoOMG the image is terrifying! Glad you were ok...