I have a 2004 or is it 2005 Litespeed Firenza road bike that I still ride. Been on some rough rides. Aside from changing saddle, etc, it has held up well. No complaints.

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Once, I was fast. But I got over it.

I’d be more concerned with the fork than the frame.

Although, I do have a friend who had some cracking start to appear on the head tube welds of his old litespeed. He sent it to either litespeed or lynskey and they repaired it.

A well built Ti bike should have a virtually infinite life under normal riding conditions.*

There is a level of strain (i.e. bending/elongation) under which Ti can undergo a infinite number of cycles without failure (infinite fatigue life). Good bikes are designed to fall below that limit under normal use. For loads above that limit, there is some impact to the metal, and failure will happen after enough cycles (think bending a paperclip). In contrast, Aluminum will undergo some damage from even low load cycles and has, by definition, a finite lifespan. Steel can also have infinite fatigue life under low loads, but frames are typically not designed this way (for weight reasons), and environmental degradation (ex. rust) may eventually compromise the frame.


*Applies to the frame. Things like the carbon fork, etc. will have their own lifespan.

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

That’s very helpful. Thanks. I did swap out the fork the last time I switched out the group set. If the frame gets to 100,000 miles I will chrome it and hang it in the garage, but have a while to go.

Hi, I have a Quintana roo titanium framed bike I use as my everyday training bike it was manufactured by them in 2004 time frame thousands of miles and it is still like new, in fact I still have the carbon fork it came with, no issues. I also installed a FSA titanium bottom bracket in the bike around 2006 time frame without any issues either. Think you should be good to go. I still have my old pair of racing Kestrels KM40 one from 1992 and the other I got around 2002 both look new although they certainly don't have anywhere near the miles the QR has. Cheers LA Rob

No problem.

If the frame were to have any issues they would probably be at the welds (typically the BB and rear dropouts) or where the tubing has been cold-worked (bent/crimped/shaped), since that's where human error comes into play. That being said, most of the key brands have top notch welders on staff, and I say that having worked for the world's largest arc welding company. The quality of welds on frames like Seven, etc. are artful. Just to be extra safe, you should have your shop visually inspect the welds for cracks when they service the bike.

Even if there is a crack that starts to propagate, it can be easily repaired. It also tends to fail "gracefully" (vs. carbon which fails catastrophically). I had an Aluminum frame that developed a crack in the BB. I only noticed it when I found the crank was shifting under load due to the extra flex.

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

I have a 2008 titanium mountain bike (a Cove), and just can't get rid of it. Seems to be solid. Changed the fork twice but the frame seems bombproof.

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A frame might develop some cracking in the welds over time but you will notice that. It's not just going to fall apart while you're riding down the road I wouldn't worry about it for one second. That bike was well built in its time and should last you for a good long time. I ride a 20-year-old Eddie Merckx steel bike and have no hesitation about using it.

I was in the Bay Area back in the early 90s and rode with some guy who worked for Rickey. Their MTB race team was on these very light (for the day) steel frames. He was saying they weren't lasting more than a couple months before they started to fatigue and crack so all the riders were going through multiple frames a season. I think they used Tange tubing and that stuff never seemed to have the longevity of Reynolds or Columbus tubing.

Sort of. The endurance limit proves out great if you test a uniform metal bar in a laboratory, but bicycle frames are complicated pretzels of cuts, drillings, welds, brazes, crimps, etc. The theory still works, but the practical question is what the distribution of manufacturing defects or design errors looks like. It seems uncommon for failures in a metal bicycle frame to start propagating out from some spot in the middle of a tube with nothing around it.

Rarely from outdoor use though, even if the bike gets used in the rain. The thing to watch out for is sticking a steel bike on an indoor trainer.

Why do you swap out your tri bike every few years?

My 1994 Serotta Ti is going fine. As someone else said, I'm more concerned about the Kestrel EMS (carbon) fork that is original to the frame.

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"Go yell at an M&M"

Engineering type here (mechanical) I agree with the others that say ride it! I had a Litespeed Tuscany 2000, still one of the best bikes I ever had! I have only ridden ti for the past 20+ years. If it’s still going, just keep riding it. If the frame does crack, it more than likely won’t collapse under you while riding. Clean and inspect regularly.
Happy Trails

Ha. It’s the same rig, a 2000 Tuscany. I Bought it over a custom Serotta when it was clear that I have a rather stock body frame and a 54 tuscany was perfect. No need to go custom when off the peg with a 1cm swap on the stem was all I ever needed. Love that bike.

Anyone got the number for BUA? Bike Upgrades is a sickness I tell you. I've upgraded the water bottle bolts to titanium already on mine. I've been looking for titanium seat posts and titanium forks in local bike shops and online, and have seem titanium bottle cages and even titanium SPD pedals in a shop or two.

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The more people I encounter the more I love my cats.

Why would you want to chrome it??? Let it hang in it’s natural glory!!

Riding a 2002 Lemond titanium

2010 Motobecane Ti Cross bike that’s been modified for long distance rides. About 22000 miles on it, incl a few 1200K rides and many 200-600K rides. Lots of abuse (rough roads, rain, intl travel). Still going, frame is as good as it was on day 1 (knock on wood).

Agreed.
Titianium polishes up to be as good as chrome and takes very little to keep that way.
Of all my bike the Ti is the one I'll never sell.
DH

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Dont complain about the results you did n't get from the training you did n't do.

Ha.. although 26" is kind of "old" tech now, I still have a 2001 RM Blizzard (steel) that I've always said i want to get replicated in Ti, with disc mounts added to the rear. Love that bike.

My thoughts exactly. I was rather bemused to read that in celebration of the bike's long life (largely due to it's being titanium), he would cover up said titanium!
Americans be crazy!
(I'm assuming you're American because of the chrome thing ;) Feel free to correct me)

I’m American, but don’t know about the OP.

Myself, if I am hanging a frame due to whatever reason it will be in the condition it was in when I stopped riding. Let the battle scars be part of the history.

My thoughts exactly.

Incidentally, the "Americans be crazy" comment was aimed at the OP not you, and was of course not meant to be taken seriously. I trust no-one is excessively offended by friendly ribbing ;)

“Aluminum ..has, by definition, a finite lifespan.”

What in the “definition” of Aluminum is finite?

Unlike steel or Ti, Al has a finite endurance limit. No matter how small the flex (strain), Al experiences some damage and will eventually fail (with steel and Ti there is a level of strain where the material will survive an infinite number of cycles). This is an intrinsic property of Al that exists regardless of part design.

When designing Al parts, the typical methodology is to factor for some sort of worst-case loading (sometimes adding an additional safety factor multiple) and design for an acceptable lifespan under those conditions. An example would be designing for a 300lb rider riding the bike 100mi/day on rough roads for 10 years. This is then expressed as some form of cyclic loading that can be tested in the lab (i.e. Xlbs of force or Ymm of displacement for Z cycles).

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