Wow, I have had more than one Softride Rocket beam de-lam on me. Never ever heard of that with Titan Flex.

Not at all shocked that you got great service from them in the slightest.

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What if the Hokey Pokey is what it is all about?

 
Did Tom have any comments or explanation to about the failure? Did you buy the bike new or used? Is it possible a previous owner exceeded the weight limit of the boom?

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Just Triing
Triathlete since 9:56:39 AM EST Aug 20, 2006.
Be kind English is my 2nd language. My primary language is Dave it's a unique evolution of English.

I had to ride 40 kms to StGirons standing on the pedals! The only good part of the whole experience has been the excellent service from Tom.

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regards
Michael

It was a new bike, a custom frame. Tom has no clear idea why it failed - whilst this still leaves me anxious, he's extended the receiver tube so there's less flex in the boom.

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regards
Michael

I weigh 73 Kg and have 8000 miles on my "Mocha" boom with no issues other than periodic squeaking.

You say you weigh 75Kg. Out of curiosity, which stiffness boom did you have?

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"100% of the people who confuse correlation and causation end up dying."

Ouch! Glad to hear you're ok. I've had my TF since '02 and had no problems (I'm 82kg and on a Vanilla boom...the thing hardly flexes at all, but it's pushed all the way in).
I would assume that the booms were designed for infinite fatigue life at max. extension and max. rider weight. I'm a mech-E and I know that's how I'd do it. Dunno if TF uses seamed Ti tubes for the boom, but if so one might have had an imperfection that led to a crack. Did they recommend any type of periodic inspection or other way to detect any issues?

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ECMGN Therapy Silicon Valley:
Depression, Neurocognitive problems, Dementias (Testing and Evaluation), Trauma and PTSD, Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI)

I think that it was a Rocky Road. If Tom's on the forum he can confirm. i got a Rocky Road so that I could have some leeway with some extra weight as I use a Carradice SQR saddlebag but this was only 2-3kg at max anyway although it is cantilevered out behind the saddle.

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regards
Michael

Michael, after much research I've discovered why your boom failed. The last batch of titanium (seamless 3/2.5 alloy) tubing I received was not CWSR (cold-worked, stress-relieved). The yield strength of annealed material is about 13% lower than the CWSR tubing my source had always delivered.

Re-engineering your Transition frame to reduce the boom extension without shortening your effective top tube length is a permanent fix...although I've not given up on locating another source for CWSR tubing. In the meantime I have lowered the rider weight limit of a fully-extended Mocha boom to 160 lb. The RockyRoad and ChunkyMonkey booms are not affected.

Cheers,
Tom Piszkin


P.S. Enjoy the second half of the Tour!

thanks Tom:)

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regards
Michael