Just when you thought you owned a forever bike...
#1
Thread derailleur
Thread Starter
Join Date: Mar 2004
Location: Glendora, CA
Posts: 771
Bikes: Croll '94 & Cannondale Supersix '15
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Just when you thought you owned a forever bike...
My Merlin Extralight seemed indestructible to me. Well-used and hardly abused. Always kept in tiptop mechanical condition.
It felt squirrelly the last few rides, especially when out-of-the-saddle climbing or cornering.
A couple times, I hopped off to see if I punctured or my rim got tweaked. Very strange feeling.
Decided to swap tires today to see if that would right the ship.
And do my usual thorough cleaning at the same time. Through the years, that habit led to me noticing a few mechanical issues.
Low and behold, my frame cracked in the weirdest spot! Never thought this would occur, even after 60k miles.
Luckily, I held onto a nice 531 1994 Croll steel frameset. Swapped the components over and it rides nicely. Waiting for a 28.6 adapter for the front derailleur.
I took this photos in tight quarters under my back patio. Hopefully it conveys things.
When I first spotted the fracture!
After stripping components off.
After pulling the Croll from mothballs. Nearly perfect swap, except for my 34.9 DA front derailleur needing shims.
30c Vittoria Graphene 2.0's fit okay. Barely in the rear without the vertical dropouts.
It felt squirrelly the last few rides, especially when out-of-the-saddle climbing or cornering.
A couple times, I hopped off to see if I punctured or my rim got tweaked. Very strange feeling.
Decided to swap tires today to see if that would right the ship.
And do my usual thorough cleaning at the same time. Through the years, that habit led to me noticing a few mechanical issues.
Low and behold, my frame cracked in the weirdest spot! Never thought this would occur, even after 60k miles.
Luckily, I held onto a nice 531 1994 Croll steel frameset. Swapped the components over and it rides nicely. Waiting for a 28.6 adapter for the front derailleur.
I took this photos in tight quarters under my back patio. Hopefully it conveys things.
When I first spotted the fracture!
After stripping components off.
After pulling the Croll from mothballs. Nearly perfect swap, except for my 34.9 DA front derailleur needing shims.
30c Vittoria Graphene 2.0's fit okay. Barely in the rear without the vertical dropouts.
#2
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Interesting failure location. I remember those Croll frames!
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#3
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Ti failure remains rare, but when it happens, it seems to come out of nowhere for no obvious reason. I guess the installation of the cable stop introduced some very slow-moving stress riser. Are you going to get it repaired? I don't know what I'd do in your situation, given the age of the frame, the likely cost of decent Ti repair and that sweet looking Croll in the wings. I have what I consider to be a lifetime Ti frame, with 21 years and ~100k miles in, but if it failed like yours did...it might be time for something with wider tire capability and disk brakes.....
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#4
Senior Member
Looks familiar.
From this page:
The myth of indestructibility collapses: Relatively early, considering the price and the high expectations, a crack spiraled around the down tube of the Merlin Team Road titanium frame. Point of origin: the small weld at the shift-lever boss.
From this page:
The myth of indestructibility collapses: Relatively early, considering the price and the high expectations, a crack spiraled around the down tube of the Merlin Team Road titanium frame. Point of origin: the small weld at the shift-lever boss.
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#5
My daily rider is titanium and the ride is very good, much like a sweet steel frame, but a little nicer. The Croll is a nice visual, much nicer than the Merlin. The ride is likely a bit rougher than the Merlin, but I'm sure it is not objectionable.
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#6
Mother Nature's Son
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I feel your loss. I have an Airborne Zeppelin, 2004?, that I check for signs of failure, quite often. I have had it for 7 years and have maybe 15,000 miles on it. It looked to be low miles when I bought it. Research on the frame set showed that some certain models from specific production dates were subject to failure around the bb area, but I never found specific information on which or when. So far, all good. It is a fine ride.
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#7
I don't know.
Join Date: May 2003
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That Croll is pretty.
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#8
Senior Member
Wait, what? I thought only carbon fiber frames assploded like this.
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#9
The Croll is so awesome that I'd be afraid to ride it.
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#10
Thread derailleur
Thread Starter
Join Date: Mar 2004
Location: Glendora, CA
Posts: 771
Bikes: Croll '94 & Cannondale Supersix '15
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Ti failure remains rare, but when it happens, it seems to come out of nowhere for no obvious reason. I guess the installation of the cable stop introduced some very slow-moving stress riser. Are you going to get it repaired? I don't know what I'd do in your situation, given the age of the frame, the likely cost of decent Ti repair and that sweet looking Croll in the wings. I have what I consider to be a lifetime Ti frame, with 21 years and ~100k miles in, but if it failed like yours did...it might be time for something with wider tire capability and disk brakes.....
The 30's barely fit and really smooth out the ride. I rode it a few miles yesterday to buy some lotto tix. haha
#11
Thread derailleur
Thread Starter
Join Date: Mar 2004
Location: Glendora, CA
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Bikes: Croll '94 & Cannondale Supersix '15
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Looks familiar.
From this page:
The myth of indestructibility collapses: Relatively early, considering the price and the high expectations, a crack spiraled around the down tube of the Merlin Team Road titanium frame. Point of origin: the small weld at the shift-lever boss.
From this page:
The myth of indestructibility collapses: Relatively early, considering the price and the high expectations, a crack spiraled around the down tube of the Merlin Team Road titanium frame. Point of origin: the small weld at the shift-lever boss.
#13
Thread derailleur
Thread Starter
Join Date: Mar 2004
Location: Glendora, CA
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Bikes: Croll '94 & Cannondale Supersix '15
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Some paint chipping in a couple spots. It came that way to me. Gorgeous color and paint job.
Hoping it withstands the many miles ahead on crappy California roads.
Yeah, my first thought springing to mind got me thinking of rebuilding an old beater Kestrel 200sci I retired years ago.
Then remembered the Croll in the garage rafters. Got very lucky hanging onto it. My procrastination paid off!
Hoping it withstands the many miles ahead on crappy California roads.
Yeah, my first thought springing to mind got me thinking of rebuilding an old beater Kestrel 200sci I retired years ago.
Then remembered the Croll in the garage rafters. Got very lucky hanging onto it. My procrastination paid off!
#14
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Ouch, sorry for your loss.
Tim
Tim
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#15
Senior Member
Terrible. Hope nothing like this happens to my Litespeed.
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#16
With a mighty wind
I’ve heard of titanium cracking with repeated stress.
i think the Moots soft-tails occasionally had issues with this.
Someone once told me that’s the reason ice axes are carbon fiber or aluminum vs ti.
i think the Moots soft-tails occasionally had issues with this.
Someone once told me that’s the reason ice axes are carbon fiber or aluminum vs ti.
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#17
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This will, I hope, finally convince all those downtube shifter retrogrouches how wrong they are ....
(Why is there no "Stir the pot" emoji?)
(Why is there no "Stir the pot" emoji?)
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#18
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this seems to be a lose/win in different way situation. And point for keeping stuff you might need some day
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Life is too short not to ride the best bike you have, as much as you can.
Life is too short not to ride the best bike you have, as much as you can.
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#19
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correct, there was no need for brazeon bosses, banded shifter bosses for the win
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Life is too short not to ride the best bike you have, as much as you can.
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#20
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Sorry for your loss.Hope your new/old bike gives you miles of smiles.
#21
pan y agua
Join Date: Aug 2005
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they did a great job retrofitting S&S couplers on my Merlin Extralight.
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You could fall off a cliff and die.
You could get lost and die.
You could hit a tree and die.
OR YOU COULD STAY HOME AND FALL OFF THE COUCH AND DIE.
You could fall off a cliff and die.
You could get lost and die.
You could hit a tree and die.
OR YOU COULD STAY HOME AND FALL OFF THE COUCH AND DIE.
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#22
pan y agua
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Posts: 31,475
Bikes: Willier Zero 7; Merlin Extralight; Calfee Dragonfly tandem, Calfee Adventure tandem; Cervelo P2; Motebecane Ti Fly 29er; Motebecanne Phantom Cross; Schwinn Paramount Track bike
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Thank goodness my MerlinExtralight is just new enough to not have DT shifter bosses
__________________
You could fall off a cliff and die.
You could get lost and die.
You could hit a tree and die.
OR YOU COULD STAY HOME AND FALL OFF THE COUCH AND DIE.
You could fall off a cliff and die.
You could get lost and die.
You could hit a tree and die.
OR YOU COULD STAY HOME AND FALL OFF THE COUCH AND DIE.
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#24
Senior Member
It's a very interesting article, with non-intuitive results. (All the steel and titanium frames broke; two aluminum frames and one carbon frame survived.)
#25
Thread derailleur
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Oddly enough, the steel fork seems fine. The slight harshness occurs aft. The 30's smoothed it out some.
I can tell the saddle could use some tweaking. Center-to-center, both toptubes measure 53cm,
while seatube comes to 51 on the Merlin and 52 on the Croll. Very close dimensions made the parts swap a snap.
Ultimately, my body will adapt to the ride. For now, I already miss the Merlin.