WNG

My inquiry returned nothing in the MTB forum, so I thought the folks here may have broader experience.

I need help identifying an unknown Ti MTB frame my wife spotted and picked up for me. I have no access to it yet. And the pics she took are not the greatest. It shows the frame has been either repaired, or suffered some weld contamination during initial fab. (note the weld of the monostay and seat tube, and left chainstay) I read that it's oxygen/nitrogen contamination, but the weld could still be safe enough. True?

It's very dusty and dirty, and doesn't appear to have a brushed/polished finish. I'm assuming it's burnished.


The following was seller's description:
"I have a Titanium Bike Frame for sale it is one of the lightest I have felt. It is Russian Grade Titanium and was welded in New York by Wizard welding. It is from 1995 I was always going to make a bike out of it but never did, I think it is a 20 inch frame but I could be wrong."

A google search yielded nothing for Wizard Welding and NY. I've not found any references to a frame resembling this in my net searches.

So, it's claimed to be circa '95. Does anyone recognize this to be a Ti frame from that era?

Unfortunately, my wife knows nothing of metallurgy/welding and didn't recognize contamination.
She got the frame for $80, plus had the seller throw in a set of Deore/Araya double-walled wheels.
Deal? Or no deal? Try to get our money back?
TIA!

RobbieTunes

Mongoose.
My best guess.
They had some.

luker

i got nuttin'. Good deal, though. The wheels are worth that, more than likely. The break is unfortunate, as is the repair. I think you could ride it and see if you get cracks forming. I don't think that this failure is quite like a fork or stem failure, and should let you know with time to get off.

Just don't bomb any rough stuff!

nateintokyo

the double rear eyelets throw me off. most older ti mtb's wouldn't have had those.

neat find though!

jtarver

If the sellers description is accurate(sounds kind of rich to me), I'd assume it's a one off from Wizard Welding. I ran into some issues IDing some custom jobs as frame builders come and go and from the mid 90's back, the internet is pretty spotty

Chris_in_Miami

Try asking the crew at the MTBR.com forums, they're pretty knowledgeable about esoteric gear. If they point you in the right direction, please be sure to update this thread.

WNG

Good idea, I'll try mtbr.com.

For $80, it wasn't too big a risk/loss if the frame turns out to be toast. At least I have the wheels as compensation. If it gets built up, it won't be seeing any jumps anyhow. This old guy's 'frame' isn't up to it.

GV27

Well, to narrow things down oh-so-much, it's NOT a Dean......I got nothin' else.