big john

None of the frames I broke were crashed. The first one did suffer a hard landing but the other 3 had no abuse. Most of the people I know who have cracked frames did not crash those frames.

groth

I have a 72 Raleigh Sports (3 speed). I don't ride it all that much (hard to do hills on a 3 speed) and the frame is fine. I had a 97 or 98 Bianchi Volpe. In 2011 or 2012 I was riding it, and making a right turn, I heard a "sproing" and then the handling became squirrelly. I thought I had broken a spoke. With only a half mile to get home, I kept going. Closer inspection showed the right chain stay had broken just in front of the dropout. So I got a 2012 Trek 520. I was run off the road, hit a curb straight on and did a face plant. The only damage was to the fork which was bent so the front wheel overlapped the down tube. A new fork fixed that one and I still have it. (It took some work by a plastic surgeon to fix my nose.) I also bought another 520 (in 2020), kind of as a reward for surviving the crash. While it was still under warranty, the little piece of the seat tube that's above the top tube and has the clamp for the seat post broke completely off (so you could just lift the seat off the bike). The bike had never been crashed or abused in any way. Since it was still under warranty, Trek replaced the frame and the bike shop where I bought it transferred all the components.

Polaris OBark

Mine broke just riding along. I've never been a particularly strong rider, and had not crashed the bike. I weighed about 175 lbs at the time; my lowest adult weight. The bike frame was Columbus SL steel (see above).

Some frames have defects. They warrantied it (replaced it with an SLX), so I guess that means it was one of them.

CrimsonEclipse

Took a car to crack my frame.... and the bike frame too.

Pretty sure neither is designed for that kind of stress.

Never broke on the trails tho.
(cursed statement if I ever saw one)

_ForceD_

Does the steer tube count? I guess that’s not technically part of the frame. Last year I hit a bump and cracked the aluminum steer tube on my vintage Vitus.

Dan

79pmooney

Let's see:

Lambert fork - yup, that fork.

Peugeot UO-8 - chainstay broke behind the bridge at mile 22,000 and after dozens of crashes. Bike was bent and re-bent many times and just tired out. (Rode it home.)

Fuji Pro - BB shell at the seatstay. A known defect in that run of bikes. Fuji gave me a hand built replacement! (In a race. Rode it to the finish.)

Cheap hi-ten Sekine - fork blade midway, just above the LowRider U-bolt clamp. No clue why. I rode it home.

TiCycles ti fix gear (my avatar photo) - fork blades (both) cracked at the crown. (A combination of decisions adding up to a metallurgy no-no. A minimal, very light fork crown with no scalloping - my call. Nickle plating a Columbus SL fork and not heat treating it after. (Dave Levy happened on the SL and used it without a cost upgrade. I was thinking 531 but hardly complained! Plater knew you HAD to heat treat nickle plated hi-strength steels and said nothing. It would have been an additional $60 which I would have coughed up with no hesitation. Cracks showed up at 8000 miles. I had an angel that day.)

Sport Reynolds 501 Peugeot - had been hit hard by a car. Week 3 I saw cracks in both chainstays behind the bridge. Did a CF wrap that stiffened the BB beyond anything Peugeot ever made. Retired the bike at 8000 miles because I don't know what other damage it might have.

base2 

Thanks all. In reading here, it seems that the unfortunate end of a frame (and other components) is a lot more common than I thought!

I don't feel so bad now. On the bright side, I now have room in my stable for fancy new rides

MinnMan

If for no other reason than that he remembers each one.

Camilo

I didn't intend to imply that crashing caused most frame breaks or any breaks being discussed. I was saying that I have nowhere near the strength to break a frame, and although it is unlikely in my case to crash because I'm old and cautious/chicken, that would be the only possible way I could break a frame. I guess one could break one under normal use, but I would have to assume it was a defect, not my strength

randallr

1974 Raleigh Grand Sports, 531 double butted main tubes. Down tube fatigue crack originating in the brazed joint between the down tube and head tube. There was an area of the interface between the lug and tubes which was not filled fully with braze metal, it looked like the crack originated there. Cracked in 1990 after quite a few miles; safe, slow failure mode with creaking sound and slow growing crack long before it got near wanting to fail fully.

big john

You're not going to break them with that attitude. Time to be more positive, be a "can do" type of rider.

flangehead

I had an aluminum Trek 7.3FX in daily commuter service for about 12 years that developed a crack in the seat tube near the bottom bracket. The way I found it was my rear rim brake was rubbing but only when I was applying higher power. I spent a couple of sessions straightening the rim but the rub-on-power wouldn’t go away. Careful inspection of the frame revealed the crack.

daviddavieboy

I have a Mercier Formule in 971 that has cracked at the top/seat tube junction. I still have it and cannot bring myself to part with it. The only other bike that has cracked was a chopper in the late 70's I used to take over jumps. Not bad considering I have had 50+ bikes in 45 years of riding.

LeeG

1984 Bottecchia, down tube below lug. They were known to fail because of poor chroming methods. Bike Friday “dropout” at the seatstay cluster. So manufacturers and design defects. When I had my shop I saw some heinous failures mostly from abuse.

JanMM

1979 Schwinn Super LeTour - seat tube cracked about 1984. This was a hi ten steel frame that had taken me on self supported Atlanta to New Hampshire to Milwaukee trip with spouse in 1981. Schwinn gave me a double butted cro mo frame.
2007 RANS titanium V3 long wheelbase recumbent. I had ridden it since 2016 when I bought the the frame from a fellow who had got it from RANS as NOS not long before. In 2020 noticed both ‘seat stays’ cracked near where they connected to main tube. Not fixable. The frame became wall art.

Trsnrtr

Pretty sure that I may have forgotten a couple.

mercator

My first Miyata 1000 (1987 I think?) had to be retired due to a cracked chainstay. It was a great bike and had served me well, but I think my decision to ride it through the winter was the cause of its doom.
It has since been replaced by a 1985 model, and my winter bike is now aluminium. Live and learn I guess.

big john

You're spreading the load to multiple bikes.

JohnDThompson 

I've never broken a frame myself, but I've fixed a few that others have broken.

IcySwan1 

Trek Domane. Not a crash. Operator error. I failed to properly seat it on a turbo. I mounted up, clipped in, and put power down. Right chain stay snapped just before the dropout. As I toppled over it also snapped the left chain stay. It was a negative experience.

Mike

Trakhak

Did exactly the same thing to a carbon frame bike, the first time I used my new smart trainer. Right seat stay cracked just above the dropout. The bike still works on the trainer, but it's unusable on the road.

rsbob 

Which goes to show that steel is real, but aluminum is a close second!

daviddavieboy

HAHA I need to these days !

PeteHski

Were these wheel-on trainers? If not I’m just wondering how you could do this on a direct drive trainer.

jadmt

that is why I only ride rollers indoors...no chance of doing any damage.