|   Buying a used ti frame | Riding Joe
Jan 22, 2003 2:43 PM | | Hi
I am getting a great deal on a ti mtb frame from a person who's leaving the country. In other words I will be screwed if the frame is bad. Is there a special technique to check the frame other than usual visual inspection. In the picture, it looks pretty beat up but since it's ti I would expect it will be still good. I will appreciate any advice on this since it's still a big chunk of money (250).
Thanks! |
| Re: ti frame | mtnbiker68
Jan 22, 2003 3:17 PM | | As long as you are able to visually inspect the frame for cracks, I wouldn't be too concerned. Ti has a lot longer fatigue life than ALU frames. In fact, most Ti framebuilders warrant their frames for life. Which means they are pretty confident the frame won't fail under normal usage. hope this helps. |
| Check the welds | Anonymous Gerbil
Jan 23, 2003 6:47 AM | | If possible - that is, if you can personally check out the frame - check all the weld areas and make sure there is no discoloration. If the frame is from one of the major builders - Merlin, Moots, etc. - you don't have to worry about much. Failures for Ti frames usually occurs at the welds - unless the frame was involved in a very bad crash and tubes were damaged. |
| 1 bad experience | albob
Jan 23, 2003 10:26 AM | | I bought a used GT Xizang and inspected all the welds very closely in person. I rode the bike once and a weld cracked at the head tube and top tube. I'm fairly sure that it wasn't there when I bought it. Ti welds are brittle if any dirt etc is around durring the welding process. I think that if you can look on the inside and see a discoloration then it is suspect but not sure if that is accurate. It would be around $300.00 to fix my frame and it would shorten the top tube. I didn't get my money back and after posting on this list was advised that it was my bad luck and the seller didn't owe me anything. |
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