I'm sure any engineer who was tasked with the repair would give an honest assessment of their own abilities...
As it is, the frame was obviously abused by a previous owner ie: treating an XC bike like a
'jump bike' as youngsters are like to do? :roll:
...but the damage has been very neatly repaired, by someone who knew
NOT to grind his welds down afterwards just for the sake of making it look
'pretty' and who very obviously observed the correct technique because there is
no oxidisation in the repairs whatsoever.
...and Maksters Rock Lobster damage was worse than this and repaired just fine by all accounts, so this should be very straight forward for someone who can weld Ti in the first place. You can see from the photo that it is a clean break at the weld - a weld that obviously did not have enough penetration initially.
Not only that, the frame was welded up from individual tubes in the first place - repairing the chainstay/dropout break is no different.
I'm no lightweight and I would have been very happy to ride it had I gone ahead with the project at the time.
My own credentials as an engineer include being able to weld - in 1979 I used to design my own custom motorcycle frames;
As an impoverished student with no access to fancy cutting equipment or professional jigs I built my frames from box section steel because it was easy to cut to length, chop out a section with an angle grider, bend it to shape and weld up the join. Taking my inspiration from Bimota I wrapped my rails around the engine instead of above it. I cut-and-shut Honda 400 Four petrol tanks to make TZ-style tanks and used pattern fibreglass TZ single seats intended for the track. Twin headlights were mounted to the front of TZ pattern full race fairings. I used cut down plastic rear mudguards with the tail light mounted in the seat
YEARS before the
'Hugger' was invented.
People laughed and called me a cowboy, but it worked and as it turned out it took the industry several more years to catch up with my innovative design when Yamaha brought out the first steel DeltaBox framed
'Race Rep...' :!:
Whether it be motorcycles, cars or now bikes I have always found there are two ways to do everything;
You can go to the
'Specialist' who will suck his teeth, shake his head and give you half a dozen different reasons why something can't be done;
Or you can go to a professional engineer who says
'Yeah sure, when do you want it by?'
Another case in point: I once had a lowered Opel Manta that went like the proverbial brown stuff off a stick. Unfortunately, as was so often the case, longevity never appeared to be a material concern in the automotive industry and the floor wells rotted out... :cry:
I took the car along to a young guy in Loddon whose father had helped him set up in business who promptly welded me two new floor pans in from sheet steel and didn't charge me a fortune into the bargain.
When it failed it's next MoT I asked the Tester why and he said
'You're lucky to be alive, the floors rotted out completely!'
'Really?' says I, lifting the carpet to show the pristine repair,
'What's that then?'
Needless to say I got my certificate.
My glass is always half full... 
