Frame failure experiences

[Woz]

Actually @bikeworkshop - if that failed frame is still in your possession and not packed up for return, it would be interesting to share the frame size and weight of the frame and also that failed down-tube outer diameter (I assume the seat-tube is 31.8mm / 32mm OD and the top-tube nothing spectacular from normal).

I suspect like @novocaine mentioned earlier in the thread, this is a case of doing something in AL which wasn't suitable in Ti. I think too much faith was put in that gusset, and I presume it was a clever idea (work around?) for fork clearance but the consequence is raising the down-tube even higher at the head-tube and having even more strain on it.

 

[bikeworkshop]

Packed up already, but by feel I'd put it closer to 3 1/2lb than 4.
As I said earlier i see way more ti frames broken than I should.
Across the welds and at stress risers, or split along the tubes from torsion.
You can often see the naivety of the design - this is a perfect example.
The gusset served to shorten the frame's life. You really don't want any point load on bicycle titanium alloys.