Originally Posted by
Picchio Special
There have been a number of folks who have pointed out Benotto frame failure here and elsewhere. The prime singer of that song here is MrRabbit, who definitely has (extensive) first hand knowledge. I think your powers of being able to detect structural soundness from photos is quite remarkable. My personal conclusion is that maybe at least some of those bikes are unsound and just haven't failed yet - it doesn't happen the first time they're ridden. Perhaps some of the survivors we see here escaped the overheating problems. Still, I would personally avoid Mexican Benottos, as the evidence of potential problems is, IMO, very strong and should not be blithly consigned to urban myth status.
You seemed to have jumped to the wrong conclusion re my power to see frame failure from photos. What I was getting at was the frame ID questions and related enquiries regarding Benotto frames that we (the forum) have discussed recently (over the past couple of years) haven't had frame failures. The people asking the questions have had the opportunity to read the forum responses and check their frames. None have come back to their thread to say their frames were, indeed, cracked.
I have no doubt that MrRabbit has had extensive experience regarding Benotto frame failure; Iwas just wondering if other forum members had Benotto's with cracks. Personally, my Benotto is still holding on and that's after 25 years since it was built.
I have taken note about the potential for frame failure and do check mine when I give it a good clean.