[Biffff]

My bike lets out a crack after a landing today. I stop and check it out, and find my Ti spring to be cracked in two. It is 2 years old but I'm thinking that shouldn't of happenned.
Anybody else experiance the same thing????? Do Ti springs have an expirery date?

It was a manitou Ti-spring and a CCDB. I think I'm just going to order a Ti spring from Cane Creek themselves this time, as the Manitou spring was fitted to my old DHX for most of its 2 years of use. I put it on the CCDB as I didn't feel like dumping the extra $200 for the CC tI-spring at the time. Hopefully the CC Ti springs are better quality.

 

[blender]

did you run a lot of preload on the spring?

 

[IH8Rice]

i cant wait for everyone to blame manitou for it cracking.....wait for it.....waaait.....

 

[Kanye West]

What frame?

Measure the length from collar to collar exactly the way it is now, and then look up the exact free length of the spring. Get back to us with those two numbers and the stroke of the shock AND the spring too.

 

[Biffff]

no. One turn maybe. It is a 500x2.75 spring on a 8.75x2.75 shock. Like I said it's been used hard for over two seasons so I'm not blaiming Manitou. I actaully think Renton or another company made the springs for them.

did you run a lot of preload on the spring?

 

[Biffff]

What frame?

Giant Faith.

 

[davep]

no. One turn maybe. It is a 500x2.75 spring on a 8.75x2.75 shock. Like I said it's been used hard for over two seasons so I'm not blaiming Manitou. I actaully think Renton or another company made the springs for them.

I dont think RCS made those (the super light ones) but it would depend on when it was made etc. If it is one of the older (super light) Manitou ti springs with few, widely spaced coils it would make sense that it would not last forever. In general, the fewer and wider spaced the coils, the higher the stress at a given compression. The 'one size fits all' RCS springs that are currently available have quite a few coils at lower pitch, resulting in a lower stressed (yet heavier) spring.

 

[Biffff]

I'd say its not the super light widely spaced version. Heres a pic

 

[JRogers]

It can happen. I had a steel spring snap on me once. A standard Fox spring. It was the right stroke, right weight, no excessive preload or poor setup- just developed some kind of crack at some point (only know this because I saw a bit of rust on the inside of the spring where it broke) and then gave out. I don't think the spring was defective or of inferior quality...it just broke....

 

[pyynö]

yep, same here. Normal Fox steelspring gave up after two seasons of regular abuse... Same pattern as above little Crack in the spring and, my guess, Snap and Pop wont be left far behind

 

[BaNZ]

Pix of snap!

 

[Gary]

every single Ti product I ever bought (back when I cared about light bikes) snapped.
I've also snapped a Fox steel spring so wouldn't even think about spending loads on a Ti spring to save 150g.

 

[nowlan]

Ive heard of them snapping before. Sucks Daver, at least you got 2 years out of it.

 

[dhkid]

did you spring rub on the shock body? as far as i know manitou springs are standard size, and the ccdb requires a 1.5 Id spring.

the reason i ask is because ti is very sensitive to scratches, that's why ti parts are always shot peened to increase the surface hardness.

 

[NY_Star]

The same thing happened to a spring on a KTM 300 that a guy at my work races. I will post pics later.

 

[Slater]

titanium used in spring applications work hardens from the constant cycling and eventually snaps because of brittleness. Its just a characteristic of titanium. The lighter progressive/manitou springs will harden faster because of the design (few coils). Springs like obtanium and rcs will do this too but will take longer because the metal is not stressed as much. The closer you get to plastic deformation with each stroke the faster this will happen.

 

[Jump Chump]

Dumb question, but since I haven't broken a spring before, is this a catastrophic failure, or barely noticeable?

I'm guessing it's something you can ride away from without a problem.

damon

 

[robert80]

did you spring rub on the shock body? as far as i know manitou springs are standard size, and the ccdb requires a 1.5 Id spring.

the reason i ask is because ti is very sensitive to scratches, that's why ti parts are always shot peened to increase the surface hardness.

Peening puts the surfaces into compression and reduces or eliminates the alternating stresses that accelerate fatigue failure around stress concentrations such as scratches.

titanium used in spring applications work hardens from the constant cycling and eventually snaps because of brittleness. Its just a characteristic of titanium. The lighter progressive/manitou springs will harden faster because of the design (few coils). Springs like obtanium and rcs will do this too but will take longer because the metal is not stressed as much. The closer you get to plastic deformation with each stroke the faster this will happen.

Slater's right - non-ferrous materials will not last forever under cyclic loading. However, for those who have had steel springs break, a steel spring would not be expected to fail unless its design is insufficient for the application or the spring includes stress concentrations due to scratches, dents, defects, etc.

 

[Biffff]

Dumb question, but since I haven't broken a spring before, is this a catastrophic failure, or barely noticeable?

I'm guessing it's something you can ride away from without a problem.

damon

I rode away after it broke, and probably could have finished a race run it due to the fact that it broke halfway through the first coil. If it broke in the middle of the spring you'd be done, and probably crash.

 

[ridiculous]

Cracked my Fox 40 spring earlier this season. This doesnt surprise me at all, as some one said earlier, the brittleness properties of titanium are probably to blame.

 

[DHRracer]

titanium used in spring applications work hardens from the constant cycling and eventually snaps because of brittleness. Its just a characteristic of titanium. The lighter progressive/manitou springs will harden faster because of the design (few coils). Springs like obtanium and rcs will do this too but will take longer because the metal is not stressed as much. The closer you get to plastic deformation with each stroke the faster this will happen.

The Manitou springs were Taiwian built and not of the Aerospace quality Ti that is used by US built Ti springs.Hence the cost difference.

 

[Biffff]

who makes makes the Ti springs for Cane Creek?????

 

[jasons]

www.diverse-mfg.com They make Ti springs for just about everything.

 

[dhkid]

Peening puts the surfaces into compression and reduces or eliminates the alternating stresses that accelerate fatigue failure around stress concentrations such as scratches.

yea, i know that. that's why i asked if there was any rub, because those springs aren't supposed to fit on a ccdb. once that compressive layer is gone, scratches will be a problem.

 

[davet]

yea, i know that. that's why i asked if there was any rub, because those springs aren't supposed to fit on a ccdb. once that compressive layer is gone, scratches will be a problem.

so any rubbing on a Ti spring is a sign of impending doom?

 

[Biffff]

for the record. My spring didn't have any rubbing issues.

 

[dhkid]

so any rubbing on a Ti spring is a sign of impending doom?

well, its not good for it. its going to effect it more then a steel spring.

 

[pyynö]

The broken Fox steel one of mine most likely had all sorts of crack and dents on it. Was on Bighit (-02) and I didn't use any "shock covering boots"/sleeves. Mine snapped when I was on my way out to the hill, there was this 2 ft flatdrop 100ft away from my door. The snap was very much noticable, but not catastrophic in my case. Spring failed also pretty "low" (abt 1/4). But thenagain I wasn't riding very fast, flat ground etc
Oh the millenium: Monsters, 8ft flatdrops, 50 pound bikes...

 

[robert80]

so any rubbing on a Ti spring is a sign of impending doom?

and a waste of $400

 

[contactjt]

did you spring rub on the shock body? as far as i know manitou springs are standard size, and the ccdb requires a 1.5 Id spring.

the reason i ask is because ti is very sensitive to scratches, that's why ti parts are always shot peened to increase the surface hardness.

CCDB is same damper body OD as Manitou. Both are fine with a spring with ID of 1.42/1.43.

 

[EVRAC]

I'd assume after five years he'd have it sorted out.

Smells like spam.

 

[Sandwich]

we really should have a rule that you need 10 posts before you can start posting links.

if it's not spam, why did you revive a 5 year old thread?

 

[Ithnu]

Damn, I didn't even see how old this thread was. It just got me thinking about my 5 year old Ti spring that's been with me for 3 bikes...

 

[sbabuser]

Damn, I didn't even see how old this thread was. It just got me thinking about my 5 year old Ti spring that's been with me for 3 bikes...

It's gonna snap! 'Cause ti is brittle, and doesn't like being flexed. Which explains why all those ti bars and frames keep breaking. Too bad ti doesn't burn like magnesium, 'cause at least then we'd have a use for the big pile of broken ti parts lying everywhere.