Bicycle Mechanics - What Do You Make Of This Dent?

This is a Litespeed titanium stem. There is a small dent on the side of it.

Is there any way to fix this? Would you consider it safe to use?

http://i1194.photobucket.com/albums/aa363/kiroskka/IMG_0391.jpg
http://i1194.photobucket.com/albums/aa363/kiroskka/IMG_0389.jpg

With forks, stems, and bars...all critical points for failure to occur and can lead to catastrophic injuries it is best to replace if there is any question about it. So since you are posting a question then it is my recommendation that you should just buy a replacement.

If you are not satisfied with the above response then you can take some automotive bondo to fill the dent and then paint over the entire stem to cover the repair.

-j

Maybe i'm a fool, but I wouldn't give it a second thought for structural soundness.

i would have to consider that a beauty mark.:lol:

After seen zillions of steel , AL and Ti bikes with dents, cracks i really doubt that stem will fail any day soon and probably never. As for how to fix the dent, you cant fix it unless you want to add some plastic putty used for aluminum body work (I imagine that will work because no idea if there is one for Ti) and paint the stem over it, besides that pretty much there is not much to do.

Just in case, how in the world did you manage to get a dent in there?? 1st time i see something like that.

Good luck.

I'm not an expert, but that would not worry me in the least.

It is without a doubt going to fail catastrophically, without warning, causing you to die a horrible, lingering death. It would be best for you to send it to me immediately for proper safe disposal!

Simple test. Install the stem into a test bike (a junker). Slide some old handlebars in and tighten. Lay a piece of plywood over stem and bars. Put a scale under the front fork; load up 200 lbs, and now add extra weight with hands on the bars. Push hard up and down. See if you can max out the scale. If that works and the stem shows no signs of deformation, you're probably good to go. Normal working load is about 40% of body weight on the front wheel. The handlebars get maybe 25%. So if you're max'ing out the scale (and mine goes to 400lbs) and bouncing a little up and down hopefully flexing the bars, you're probably going to be okay with a pretty big safety factor.

I'd make up a terrible lie about how I got it and repeat the story whenever I got drunk.

I agree that the stem is sound. Ti is awfully tough stuff and hard to damage significantly. A light aluminum stem with that dent would bother me but not Ti and particularly not in that spot.

With any question like this, we tend to see 2 groups of replies. One group says if you even suspect a safety issue, replace it without question. The other group says wait a minute, that thing is still plenty strong and there's no way you're going to break in normal riding. No disrespect whatsoever to the first group, but I'm in the second. Certainly you can test it by applying some extreme force by doing something like what gyozadude suggests. Of course I'd watch for any deformation or cracking over time, but it doesn't seem remotely likely to me.

That is so minor I wouldn't have given it a second thought, let alone take the time to photograph & post.

No worries for me.

-G

I wouldn't be concerned at all.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xk98yvozq1g

depends on your level of need for perfection on every part of your bike.

That test is so subjective, you cant fully test using a car.

I hardly have any experience or much knowledge about Ti, so I wasn't really sure where to scale the severity of the dent. It looks like its not a real issue at all. I guess I'll just live with it.

You don't need to worry about the dent. The most likely failure point is in the heat affected zone of the welds.

If it was ally, I might be slightly concerned.

Ti? No worries.

That test is so subjective, you cant fully test using a car.

You're wrong, man.

Figure five years for a carbon or aluminum bike if you ride it hard.

Figure on putting your ti frame in your will.

That's why they cost money kid.


Tom

That's why they cost money kid.

I'm pretty sure Ti costs money cause it's tough to work. If it wasn't expensive to manufacture, somebody would have undercut the big names long ago.

I'm pretty sure Ti costs money cause it's tough to work. If it wasn't expensive to manufacture, somebody would have undercut the big names long ago.
Ti is tough to machine and form and it's demanding and unforgiving of poor welding technique so that's a lot of the reason for it's cost premium. Done right it's very durable and, indeed, can be an heirloom.

Of all the places where you could have a structurally significant dent on a bike (main frame tubes, chain and seat stay tubes, and fork stearing tube and blades), this dent on the bar stem would give me the least worry...I'd think of it as a mere cosmetic blemish.

I'd make up a terrible lie about how I got it and repeat the story whenever I got drunk.

+1 and point at a scar you've had for years from something far more embarrassing.

You're wrong, man.

Figure five years for a carbon or aluminum bike if you ride it hard.

Figure on putting your ti frame in your will.

That's why they cost money kid.


Tom
It is prone to fatigue fractures and requires a skilled weldor and proper gas shielding until the weldment cools below 800F.

It is prone to fatigue fractures and requires a skilled weldor and proper gas shielding until the weldment cools below 800F.
Yes Ti requires a skilled welder and proper inert gas shielding of the welds. It is not prone to fatigue cracking if designed properly so the stresses are below a threshold value. In this regard it is similar to steel in that it's fatigue life can be infinite. Aluminum does not share this characteristic.

One of the major causes of high Ti prices in the U.S. was hoarding by the military-industrial complex. And any that was available was surplus or 2nd from military vendors. Meaning the thing had to go through stringent testing and quality-controls that were absolutely not necessary for a consumer product (but the testing-costs were passed on anyway). That for the most part ended in the '90s and many defence contractors went into building custom high-end bikes. Back then, the cost of Ti bikes and parts were easily 6-20x what steel ones were. Now they're not that extreme.

Heck, in Russia, titanium-ore is so plentiful, I was able to walk into a corner hardware-store and by titanium shovels and hammers!!!

Heck, in Russia, titanium-ore is so plentiful, I was able to walk into a corner hardware-store and by titanium shovels and hammers!!!
Titanium is the 9th most abundant element on earth so scarcity has nothing to do with its high cost. The difficulty (and expense) is in getting the elemental metalic form from the ore and the further difficulty shaping and forming the final metal.

Ti is hard to work with thats why is expensive... I agree...

Ti is hard to work with thats why is expensive... I agree...That's only one portion of the cost. Doesn't explain why the price of Ti consumer-goods have dropped to 1/5th of what it used to be decades ago. Especially with the exponential rise in the oil & electricy that runs the mills and welders. You have to consider all the steps along the way and the final-steps are typically what makes up the majority of the retail-costs, not the initial ones.

Also doesn't explain why Russian Ti has not changed much in pricing in the past 20-years, while the U.S. has dropped by significant amounts.

I worked on a project for Vandenberg once where my company provided them with a 4-legged natural-material picnic table and 2 bench-seats for an observation area overlooking one of the launch-pads. What started out as several $200 sets of tables from OSH was finally delivered for $14,000 with minimal profit-margin.