Originally Posted by gecho (Post 18793243)

That is impressive to have the welds fail in 3 places.

Originally Posted by SkyDog75 (Post 18793275)

Sorry to hear about your bike. More importantly, I'm glad to hear you're OK.

I hope you've contacted Jamis to make them aware of the problem. If you're the original owner, they'll likely take care of you under their lifetime frame warranty.

As for "Jamis owners beware"... Jamis doesn't actually make their own bikes. They contract production out to companies like Kinesis in Taiwan and China. If there was a design problem and the design was unique to Jamis models, then yeah, Jamis owners beware. But if your problem was due to a problem with the manufacturer's processes, materials, or equipment, it can happen to any brand made by that supplier. If you don't trust Jamis anymore and replace your bike with a Felt or a Trek, the frame could've been made by the same people in the same factory, with the same materials and equipment.

Originally Posted by 10 Wheels (Post 18793369)

Four Years Old...How many miles on it?

Originally Posted by corrado33 (Post 18793292)

Are you sure the "pop" wasn't just a single weld breaking/cracking, then the subsequent curb interaction broke the rest of the welds? You'd have to hit it pretty hard to bend the top tube like that.

Originally Posted by ChineyMan (Post 18793391)

I did contact Jamis but they just sent a generic reply saying to contact the retailer. Retail manager looked at the frame and was in shock and offered to refund me in full, even though I purchased it a couple of years ago.
I am aware that almost all bike frames from the major manufacturers can be traced to the same 2 or 3 factories but I have scoured the internet to see if there were any failures like this one but came up short. I found hairline cracks in welds but not complete weld failures. Maybe it was a design issue, maybe they were trying to make the aluminum as thin as possible to make the bike lighter which therefore caused a weaker structure.... I'm not sure, but I'm just trying to warn others that may be riding this frame.

Originally Posted by gecho (Post 18793243)

That is impressive to have the welds fail in 3 places.

Originally Posted by FrozenK (Post 18793577)

No, that is just not true. And I think it is time to put that myth to rest. While it is true that most brands don't own the factories that produce their bikes, it is not "two or three" factories. Nor does the fact that two frames are produced at the same factory mean they are of the same quality.

Also the design of the frame is done by the brand (I. e. Jamis, Trek, etc...) not the factory producing it. Big brands aren't just picking generic frames out of a catalogue and slapping a sticker on it.

I'm glad you weren't hurt, and that looks like a warranty issue to me. Most likely the down tube weld failed and the the bike folded. Jamis website says they give a lifetime warranty.

Originally Posted by CliffordK (Post 18793651)

A little too impressive.

Originally Posted by CliffordK (Post 18793651)

Every one of the cracks failed through the middle of the weld.
What I can't tell from your photos is whether you had a fully mitered joint with good weld penetration through the thickness of the material, vs the weld material being just laid on top with large gaps between tubes.

One thing to keep in mind, when you get down to it, most bikes are still being hand built. So it could have been an inexperienced welder, or perhaps bad processing (wrong alloys, or not properly post weld heat treated) which could be one bike, or all bikes.



A little too impressive.
HT to DT
DT to BB
ST to TT
Plus bend in the TT.

All at 15 KPH (less than 10 MPH). And a total of 500 km ridden on the bicycle.

All we have to go by is the OP's claim to be "just riding along" when it happened. But, it is almost too much to be true. Is there more to the story? Previous crash? Previous Head-On incident? Garage door incident?

If it did just happen, I would have to think that he could have noticed cracks earlier, and perhaps heard some creaking and popping sounds while riding, and felt a change in handling as the failure became imminent.

Originally Posted by PepeM (Post 18793667)

He said he hit the curb didn't he?

Originally Posted by Paul Barnard (Post 18793684)

I'd like to think that the wheel would be more sacrificial than the frame. For the wheel to be fine, but the frame to be slaughtered is an oddity.

Originally Posted by CliffordK (Post 18793651)

Every one of the cracks failed through the middle of the weld.
What I can't tell from your photos is whether you had a fully mitered joint with good weld penetration through the thickness of the material, vs the weld material being just laid on top with large gaps between tubes.

One thing to keep in mind, when you get down to it, most bikes are still being hand built. So it could have been an inexperienced welder, or perhaps bad processing (wrong alloys, or not properly post weld heat treated) which could be one bike, or all bikes.



A little too impressive.
HT to DT
DT to BB
ST to TT
Plus bend in the TT.

All at 15 KPH (less than 10 MPH). And a total of 500 km ridden on the bicycle.

All we have to go by is the OP's claim to be "just riding along" when it happened. But, it is almost too much to be true. Is there more to the story? Previous crash? Previous Head-On incident? Garage door incident?

If it did just happen, I would have to think that he could have noticed cracks earlier, and perhaps heard some creaking and popping sounds while riding, and felt a change in handling as the failure became imminent.

Originally Posted by indyfabz (Post 18793683)

While I could be wrong, the combination of the OP's user name, join date, post count (he found this forum and joined and this is his first post) and the catastrophic nature of the claimed failure has left me skeptical.