The aerospace and nuclear industries produce reliable welded Ti by complete exclusion of atmosphere, often by taping clear plastic bags together, purging with argon, and welding with the torch inside the bag and the welder outside.
That must be difficult with things like planes and submarines.
What are our secrets doing on YouTube?!?"Нам понадобятся сумки побольше, товарищи." (Translation: "We're going to need bigger bags, comrades.")
Steel does seem to cause far fewer headaches all around. I curse the titanium itch.
Within weeks of the Edsel's* crack of doom, my Litespeed had followed suit. (May 2021 =
mensis horribilis.) There was a very important difference: the latter was my own fault. Years ago I got someone to drill through its downtube to fit lovely Dura Ace shifters. Rest assured, this is on my list.
Not long afterwards I went completely singlespeed. As you do. I then taped over the holes and forgot about them. Four prime ministers came and went. (Wait a minute, Boris is still there.) Eventually a creak started making its way into the proceedings. That one had me scratching my head for a while, until it occurred to me to remove the bandage and check on the wound.
What was beneath was both horrifying and a relief: horrifying because a crack encircled much more of the tube than seemed possible without a guardian angel involved; a relief because finding the source of a creak is a cause for celebration. Yay.
At that point I wrote off the frame
and put it in the shed as the senior knackered retiree. It seems there aren't many in the UK who can weld a ti frame, and the most convenient provider of that service definitely wasn't getting a call. But it nagged at me for a few weeks – I wanted that bike back on the road, damnit. So I made enquiries.
The guy I found myself talking to sounded as glum as me, as covid had kicked his company into idle. I sent him pics and he said no problem. Turnaround was days.
I happily rebuilt it, adding a cheery band to cover the scar, which like all scars serves as a reminder.
* A little googling tells me the Edsel may not have deserved its lemon status, but the rebadging of my Esprit is fair use.
† PM if you want more details. I'm not entirely certain I wish to be enlightened as to the quality of the weld. If it's not all that, it may be preferable to enjoy our final sweet miles together in blissful ignorance.
