Just heard back from Enigma and they’re not taking any 3rd party work at the moment as too busy.
They did say all they would have done is re-weld the cracks which might last 5 years or 5 days but the cracks would eventually carry on.
I’m not sure I’m convinced by that answer though to be honest, these aren’t cracks propagating through virgin metal, which I agree would always be a stress riser, even when welded. They’re all existing welds that have cracked away from the metal below, so I feel if they are redone professionally (and maybe more substantially, sod the aesthetics) it should be a permanent solution.
Obviously nothing changes the design which I still think is poor, and new cracks and stress could arise at any time.
Every time I look at this I think of the current integrated seatpost designs in carbon… would be great if you could take the seat clamp off and find some kind of integrated seatpost extender to match.
Sounds like a 3d print job now i mention it…
1 Like
okay now you have me thinking… chop the top off… shaped insert to leave regular seatpost shaped hole that supports the seatpost all the way down into the frame… wedge expander (like on my specialized) at the back to clamp the post… et voila … maybe
1 Like
I like where you’re going, if I had the ability to do any of that myself it would be an interesting project.
One concern would be that the thickness of the aero tube section wouldn’t be sufficient to hold the insert/wedge so would need a band of some description welding around it to add extra rigidity.
I like the idea of doing a better job than the factory originally did but suspect that would involve a lot of extra work (read cost) so I’ll probably end up getting it welded up pretty much as it is now.
Having said that my instruction will very much be, if it’s a choice between pretty or strong, go with strong every time, that area wasn’t pretty to start with so got nothing to lose really.
2 Likes
Try Ted James Design near Stroud. He replaced the downtube on my Kinesis after it cracked round the cable guides due to poor purging when originally welded.
2 Likes
Thanks, not come across him on any of my searches but sounds just the job (and close enough to drive to from me) so just pinged him the pictures now.
Maybe try contacting Lynskey Titanium Bicycles in Tennessee? Those are the (now rebranded) guys who built your Blade. I bet they’ve seen this problem before and might have some ideas about fixing it.
2 Likes
That’s a good shout thanks, they won’t fix it and I probably wouldn’t be arsed shipping it there and back if they would, but they must have come across it before given the potential weakness there.
Does no harm to ask. 
I thought Lynskey was the brains at litespeed who split off to start his own company… either way it’s probably his fault 
2 Likes
It’s certainly his fault 
. IIRC, when Litespeed and Merlin merged, production was consolidated with the Merlin guys in Massachusetts. Lynskey carried on at the original Litespeed shop in Tennessee.
1 Like
I can vouch for Ted James also, a Mountain bike mate of mine had an 853 frame of his, very nicely made.
1 Like
Had a reply from Lynskey: “Have you tried contacting Litespeed?”
I thought they’d gone after switching to Carbon for their last few years but a quick Google shows them very much alive and selling Ti bikes. I wonder how much of the current company dates back to the original but I’ll see what they say.
I’d thought they’d disappeared too! I’ve a Litespeed Obed and a Lynskey Helix so you’d think I’d know too.
1 Like
You could do the leg work on the welding yourself and just tip up at a local fabricatior and just ask them to just do it for you.
Although it’s possible without ideally you’ll want some narrow guage Ti rod the same material as your frame.
Then using a TIG welder you need to have an Argon gas blower on the inside of your frame as well as well as at the TIG torch. (This step is not normally needed so you would want to make sure its done).
This is from memory but just watch some YouTube vids & youbwill be an expert.
Every fabricatior is going to be handy with a TIG welder but not advertise TI welding. Also could chance you will find a cyclist or they just have some professional interest to do somthing different.
Also, don’t think you can make it worse.
1 Like
Thanks yeah, ideally I’d like a bike specialist but I’ve got a more generic place in Wolverhampton who say they can do it and have some good reviews for bike frames on their website, as well as all sorts of other obscure Ti stuff.
Ted James sounds perfect, and is close enough to drive to, but haven’t heard anything back yet so going to hang on for him.
I’d really like to take it somewhere in person to have a proper discussion about what they can do and avoid any potential damage from posting so those are the favourites at the moment.
2 Likes
Update - Part 1
Got frame welded today at Ti specialist in Wolverhampton, not a bike place but got some decent reviews for bike frames so gave it a punt, and it was only £30 done while I waited.
The bike place I wanted to go to just didn’t return calls or emails, I spoke to him twice about the job and he said he’d look at the pictures but then never did so got to assume he didn’t want the work.
It’s certainly not pretty (to be fair it never was) but that’s partly my fault as I told them I wanted strong and ugly if that was the choice. (I had also exchanged some emails with a bike specialist who said they’d put a dirty great weld over the area as the best bet to strengthen it.)
4 Likes
Update - Part 2
Built the bike back up this evening and encountered a bit of an issue with the seatpost.
The round tube that holds the seatpost seems to have been distorted in some way and is also no longer perfectly in line with the aero section seat tube (front to back, not sideways thank god).
As such, when I tried to put my normal Ti seatpost in, it was really tight and got stuck halfway down. I had a devil of a job getting it back out and really thought I might rip the new welds off.
Thankfully it came out eventually and I cut down an alloy one I had lying around so it only inserted as much as necessary. (Which isn’t much at all given that round bit of tube is only about 2" long!)
Anyway, it lives, but I haven’t ridden it yet and it usually gets relegated to turbo duties for the winter.
6 Likes
could you not get that weld ground down a bit so it looks a little nicer??
1 Like
Yeah, I probably could but I’m thinking I’d rather not risk it. It would be taking material away and in my mind that’s reducing the strength, go a fraction too far and I’m back to square one.
I’ll see how I get on with it, if it starts to bother me then I may do something in the future, it may just crack again anyway, in which case I’ll grind it, smooth it and hang it on the wall.
Ps. Even before it broke I had considered trying to make some kind of plastic sleeve that extended the aero section up to the saddle, I may have another look at that as it doesn’t have any structural impact.
1 Like
yeh, I guess suck it and see before making further decisions on what to do. I have 2 Ti frames (3 if I include Mrs FBs bike) so hope that nothing major happens but if it does I’m not too far from the Enigma bikes workshop
1 Like