Recently I bought old Litespeed Vortex frame from 2005 with the intend to build it with modern components and ride it, but now I have some second thoughts. I find a lot information online about how these frames (and other old Litespeed/Ti frames) are prone to cracking and the specific model (Vortex) doesn’t make it better because it’s made of Ti-6Al-4V alloy, which seems even harder to work with and prone to cracking the welds. I bought the frame with the intend to use it and ride it hard, but if it’s dangerous to do so, I would rather let it hang on the wall.If the frame do crack, how would that happen - can it fail all of a sudden catastrophically and disintegrate on descend or will it crack, but still hold structural integrity for some time allowing me to stop safely? If it’s the latter,I wouldn’t care that much.
>>2083850Not sure but what I have heard is that titanium is difficult to weld (unlike steel) so if someone who knows what the fuck they are doing made the frame it should be really solid but it a sub par person made the frame then the welds will fail
>>2083854lets be real, any titanium frame a normal person has access to will have been made by a machine and probably competently
Pretty sure if the crack is from poor welding it would have already happened on a used frame
>>2083850If your ti frame cracks, it's a welder skill issue. I'm a clydesdale and I do bunny hops, and trackstands between sprints on my 19 year old SEVEN Ti road frame regularly and it's strong as ever. >ftp: 287
