The reason the Titans broke is that they were made using CP titanium (commercially pure). Tensile strength is not very high compared to the alloy used today, 3-2.5. Modern alloy is stronger than needed, CP is not. Forks made with titanium do not make much sense from a technical perspective.
Jim Merz Bainbridge Is. WA
-----Original Message----- From: classicrendezvous-admin@bikelist.org [mailto:classicrendezvous-admin@bikelist.org] On Behalf Of Bill Bryant Sent: Wednesday, August 14, 2002 8:02 PM To: Questor; classicrendezvous Subject: Re: [CR]Teledyne Titan Questions...
on 8/14/02 7:16 PM, Questor at questor@cinci.rr.com wrote:
> I remember teledyne framesets from the mid 1970s and lost track of the
> manufacturer. Is there any truth to rumors that titanium frames
become
> brittle with age?
>
I don't know about Ti getting brittle with age, but a helluva lot of Titans broke before they were very old. Indeed, many were rather new. :-( If modern Ti bikes had the same longevity as the Titans did, they wouldn't have the market share/customer satisfaction they currently do.
If you are going to ride a Titan frequently, check it regularly and very carefully for cracks, especially the forks and downtube. Harder to inspect, but equally worrisome is the steerer tube. I saw quite a few Titan failures in those locations (and more).
This has been discussed on CR before; maybe review the archives for more info?
Bill Bryant
Santa Cruz, CA