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snapped the downtube on my new leccy bike........on the last 100 yards of a 6 day offroad tour.
went into a boggy dip, suspension compressed and SNAP
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where the downtube meets the big weld, just above the pivot behind the bb.
the weld has snapped the wholeway round right in the centerline of the weld.
if i was not there when it snapped, i would have said one of the lads had sawn through the weld..... 😀
Warranty or too old?
6 week old, so i do hope so.
[quote=ton ]on the last 100 yards of a 6 day offroad tour.
Lucky AND unlucky!!!
Hope you get it resolved. Must have been all that booze you were carrying 🙂
If it cracks directly through a weld that's due to the use of a non suitable filler alloy with inferior grain refiners added, for such a weld if it's a 6X or 7X alloy tubing used you need to use a filler alloy with added titanium or zirconium and pass at speed to reduce the hot cracking range - i'd start to question who made/designed the frame and what procedure they followed.
PS : I did mechanical engineering at college/uni years ago and been brought up with my fathers knowledge as a welder/fabricator who's worked on nuclear/pharmaceutical/gas pipeline/steam pressure plants etc....etc...I'm boring even me now...Zzzzzzzzz.
Forgot to add -> or it may just be poorly designed and need additional strengthening gussets added but this is highly unlikely as you say....."it cracked clean through the weld" rather than either side of it where it would have snapped if the none-use of gussets was a contributory factor.
Or ton, even post weight loss, might be a sturdy lad...
what did you think of the bike before it snapped? was it fun?
Ton, mate, hope you get that sorted! 😕
theendisnigh - Memberwhat did you think of the bike before it snapped? was it fun?
fantastic mate, 2.5 days in the dales, 3.5 in the north yorks moors, rode everything all the other blokes did.
2 batteries gave me a range of over 50 miles, which is plenty enough for me.
cool, I do like the look of them. It sounds like a pretty clear warranty case, good luck with it. I hope you have more luck with the next one.
The load path doesn't look great at the failure point. It looks like it goes from tube directly into the motor. If the tube is flexy and the motor stiff (relative to each other) it might be causing a big stress concentration. It doesn't look like it has any gussets to try and feed the stress back away from the weld.
Maybe you were too hardcore, did you take it off any sweet jumps? 😉
Ton, i think that you're a bit larger than the average electric bike customer and a bit more mincecore lite too. hence the breakage. Definitely a warranty job, good luck getting it sorted.
How much does the bike weigh?
This is what you need....Might break the bank though!
Good Luck
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