Trek Domane frame failure

[TrevA]

Reviving an old thread in a Cyril Haearn stylee!

Sad to say that my replacement Trek Domane frame has again cracked in the same place. It was making a funny noise on its last ride on Wednesday and I discovered a crack when last cleaning it yesterday. I don’t think I’ve still got the the paperwork relating to the original purchase or the replacement frame so it might be curtains for this bike. It’s done sterling service over the last 6 years - probably about 25000 miles. Im a bit gutted as I’ve just changed the chain, cassette and brake and gear cables, but I may be able to salvage these and re-use them.

So it looks like it’s new bike time!

[whoof]

Reviving an old thread in a Cyril Haearn stylee!


So it looks like it’s new bike time!

It's not really in that style as it's a relevant up date to the original post.

Pity about the frame, look on the bright side, getting a new bike/frame it's always something to look forward to.

[Paulatic]

Reviving an old thread in a Cyril Haearn stylee!

Sad to say that my replacement Trek Domane frame has again cracked in the same place. It was making a funny noise on its last ride on Wednesday and I discovered a crack when last cleaning it yesterday. I don’t think I’ve still got the the paperwork relating to the original purchase or the replacement frame so it might be curtains for this bike. It’s done sterling service over the last 6 years - probably about 25000 miles. Im a bit gutted as I’ve just changed the chain, cassette and brake and gear cables, but I may be able to salvage these and re-use them.

So it looks like it’s new bike time!

Surely the dealer you bought from will still have all the details?
That’s if still in business where I bought from AFAIK is no longer a Trek dealer.

[Brucey]

Sad to say that my replacement Trek Domane frame has again cracked in the same place. …... It’s done sterling service over the last 6 years - probably about 25000 miles.......

from the dates of your posts, the replacement frame has lasted less than four years.

You might be able to get another frame out of them but IMHO it is pointless; unless you do something different (longer seat post?) it'll almost certainly just break again.

cheers

[mig]

sorry to hear about another crack.

is 6 years and 25,000 miles really 'sterling service' though?

[NickJP]

One of my riding friends whose son is a Trek dealer turned up a few weeks ago on a brand new Trek Domane SLR 7 disc machine. On our last ride but one the whole saddle/seatmast section started waggling around in a fairly alarming manner - something seemed to have broken in the IsoSpeed suspension stuff - and he had to exercise his mobile phone to call his wife for a lift home. He said he'd only ridden about 1000km on the bike at the time it failed. It's presently back at his son's bike shop awaiting a replacement frame from Trek.

[NetworkMan]

I thought that due to the low fatigue resistance of aluminium it wasn't generally advisable to allow it to flex much at all. As far as I can see this frame deliberately allows some motion at the interface between seat tube and top-tube/seat stays. Is that right?

[geocycle]

It certainly looks like the movement of the iso wotsit has allowed the seat post to flex the seat tube. I guess there is going to be a certain combination of rider weight, ride style and seatpost length that is not compatible over a longish period.

[Cugel]

I thought that due to the low fatigue resistance of aluminium it wasn't generally advisable to allow it to flex much at all. As far as I can see this frame deliberately allows some motion at the interface between seat tube and top-tube/seat stays. Is that right?

The aluminium Domane original design with an isospeed joint and a flexing seat tube was always a fatigue-failure risk. Trek no longer have an aluminium Domane with such a joint - they're now standard frames with solid welded or brazed joints.

It does make one wonder about other aluminium frames that rely on a lot of flex i' the parts for their "comfort" or "suspension" effects. Cannondale have aluminium-framed Synapse with flexy seat and perhaps chainstays, for example. Do they break after a while?

I have two carbon fibre framed Domane of the least expensive type (400 series). These are still lightweight, very comfortable yet don't waste pedalling energy in BB flex or give steering frights with headtube flex. The isospeed thingy does seem to work with carbon fibre, which presumably is far more resistant to fatigue failure from flex if the fibres are laid-up in an appropriate way - a technique impossible with aluminium flexing as much as the CF frames are made to do.

Cugel

[Brucey]

IME aluminium road bike frames that can be described as 'comfortable' are far more likely to break; no fatigue limit in aluminium, y'see.

I've seen plenty of aluminium frames with 'dropped seat stays' break; another daft design meant to be 'comfortable'....

cheers

[NetworkMan]

That's really weird. It must have cost them a fair bit in guarantee claims - perhaps the marketing guys made the engineers do it I'm sure you are right; carbon fibre is a totally different kettle of fish and that's probably why carbon fibre forks are common and aluminium ones rare.

[Samuel D]

It’s plain that most bicycles are not ridden much, even ones aimed at supposed enthusiasts. The warranty claims are then spread over the tiny minority ridden several thousand miles a year for several years.

If you’re the sort who wants something to last a long time in regular use, you need to be pretty selective in what you buy.

[thelawnet]

the ISOspeed stuff is like full suspension, most manufacturers won't guarantee that, surprises Trek do, but I guess it helps the marketing to delude the customer that it's a durable bike

[pwa]

I would never trust anything that has aluminium alloy in an application that is meant to flex. It seems like a recipe for disaster. Aluminium for rigid things, fine, and all the flexy things in a material that can take flexing to the degree to be expected.

[NickJP]

I would never trust anything that has aluminium alloy in an application that is meant to flex. It seems like a recipe for disaster.

You should watch the winds flexing up and down in turbulent conditions on the next passenger jet you fly on...