Kinesis titanium frame, it was great while it lasted!

[AlanW]

My aluminium Ridley frame covered an impressive 93k miles before the drive side drop out snapped off the chain stay, thankfully just as I pulled up on the drive! No advance warning with this, I literally pulled up on the drive and the rear wheel kicked over, which left me scratching my head why the bike wouldn't push forward as the rear wheel was locked?

My current replacement for the above, an aluminium Kinesis T3 has so far covered 29k miles, that's roughly six years old.

My 15-year-old Scott CF frame has covered 12k miles.

My 20-year-old custom made Reynolds 853 frame has covered 22k miles and has just gone in for a refurb and respray.

 

[Cycleops]

Can never understand why some of us get all excited about Ti. Apart from looking nice and shiny there's no real advantage in the material and adding in cases like this make it a serious disadvantage.
I'd like to ask the OP what was so great about it 'while it lasted'?

 

[Sallar55]

The ride😄

 

[Tenacious Sloth]

Can never understand why some of us get all excited about Ti. Apart from looking nice and shiny there's no real advantage in the material and adding in cases like this make it a serious disadvantage.
I'd like to ask the OP what was so great about it 'while it lasted'?

You answered your own question, “looking nice and shiny”.

That’s what attracted me to my Kinesis Ti frame anyway.

 

[Alex321]

The ride😄

Is it really better than CF for that?

I know when Ti frames first came on the market, CF wasn't really a thing, and Ti is supposed to be way better than steel or Alu. But not so sure that holds up against CF.

 

[FishFright]

I'd imagine compared to a rod, a bike frame has a harder life in terms of both magnitude and frequency of loading.

Plus it's a question of potential severity of outcome - a rod breaking in use is unlikely to be life changing / ending...

Never seen a bike loaded enough to bend though 90 degrees over and over again. But CF failing is now a meme on here so.

 

[cougie uk]

The ride😄

Looks great. Can take knocks. The ride is great. Love mine.

 

[MichaelW2]

Carbon fibre racing yatchs break, esp in the Southern Ocean.


View: https://youtu.be/CgI8a-z0OF0

 

[Deleted member 35268]

I can imagine your unhappiness. Good luck finding a replacement and solution

 

[AlanW]

The first response received from Kinesis is to say sorry to see the crack in my titanium frame and very quick to point out that unfortunately the frame is now out of warranty. But if I can send a copy of the receipt (which I can) then they can offer a non-warranty assistance of 25% discount from the cost of a equivalent replacement frame. To be fair no exact figures have been quoted, but they list the equivalent frame on their website as being £2400.

However, I can actually purchase the same frame (and its in stock) from an online retailer cheaper by £80.51 than I can by taking the 25% discount from Kinesis, assuming they are working on the figure of £2400 quoted on the web page?

 

[roubaixtuesday]

The first response received from Kinesis is to say sorry to see the crack in my titanium frame and very quick to point out that unfortunately the frame is now out of warranty. But if I can send a copy of the receipt (which I can) then they can offer a non-warranty assistance of 25% discount from the cost of a equivalent replacement frame. To be fair no exact figures have been quoted, but they list the equivalent frame on their website as being £2400.

However, I can actually purchase the same frame (and its in stock) from an online retailer cheaper by £80.51 than I can by taking the 25% discount from Kinesis, assuming they are working on the figure of £2400 quoted on the web page?

Is an equivalent what you want?

If yes, I'd suggest responding saying regardless of warranty, very disappointing the poor durability in such a high end product, say you're sure kinesis want a reputation as a trustworthy supplier, and note that as such, you're sure they can do better than match online prices when a valued customer is left with a defective product.

If they don't improve their offer, go to Twitter with the same disappointment and see if public shaming helps.

 

[PaulSB]

The first response received from Kinesis is to say sorry to see the crack in my titanium frame and very quick to point out that unfortunately the frame is now out of warranty. But if I can send a copy of the receipt (which I can) then they can offer a non-warranty assistance of 25% discount from the cost of a equivalent replacement frame. To be fair no exact figures have been quoted, but they list the equivalent frame on their website as being £2400.

However, I can actually purchase the same frame (and its in stock) from an online retailer cheaper by £80.51 than I can by taking the 25% discount from Kinesis, assuming they are working on the figure of £2400 quoted on the web page?

I'm no expert but I'm sure we have UK legislation which requires products to be "fit for purpose." My feeling would be five years is a long way from fit for purpose for a bike frame.

 

[FishFright]

Carbon fibre racing yatchs break, esp in the Southern Ocean.


View: https://youtu.be/CgI8a-z0OF0

The southern ocean pretty much breaks whatever it fancies and no amount of material will stop it .

 

[AlanW]

Is an equivalent what you want?

If yes, I'd suggest responding saying regardless of warranty, very disappointing the poor durability in such a high end product, say you're sure kinesis want a reputation as a trustworthy supplier, and note that as such, you're sure they can do better than match online prices when a valued customer is left with a defective product.

If they don't improve their offer, go to Twitter with the same disappointment and see if public shaming helps.

The equivalent frame is my only option to be honest as they no longer manufacture a rim braked titanium frame. The fact that the frame has broken is such a short period of time with not a great number of miles is equally annoying and very disappointing. I accept that when I purchased the frame, I knew it only had a three-year warranty. But being a very fussy person about the fit, based on my current Kinesis aluminum frame I knew that the Kinesis titanium frame would be 100% right for me, sadly I let that cloud my judgement as to the best frame to buy.

But they still only offer a five-year warranty, which given recent events doesn't fill me with the greatest of coincidence to be honest, Reilly and Van Nick both offer lifetime warranty for example.

But if I want that piece of mind, it comes at a cost, circa £2500 plus I then need to upgrade my current group set to hydraulic plus new disc wheels, so add another £2k to the price of the frame maybe?

 

[Fastpedaller]

I'm no expert but I'm sure we have UK legislation which requires products to be "fit for purpose." My feeling would be five years is a long way from fit for purpose for a bike frame.

Whilst I agree, I can see the scenario playing out thus:-
K say 5 years is reasonable, we'll see it in court if you wish
K gets a statement from an 'expert witness' stating 'it seems reasonable, and we don't know what's happened to it - it could have been crashed'
Case closed.
Companies will dig their heels in, unfortunately. We have a hoover washing machine with 1 year warranty and 5 years parts warranty. after 366 days the door latch broke. Hoover were emailed asking them what testing they had done, and was reasonable use 1 day after warranty for a domestic use machine. They just said 'pay the labour £190 for us to fix it, the part is £70 ( a complete door!) if you want to buy it, the 5 year parts only applies if we fit it'. Lovely.......
I found a similar handle at £2.95 from Ebay, modified it slightly and had the job done in 45 minutes. I bought a spare just in case (and of course 5 years later it's still in the drawer)