My chainstay on my Airborne Valkyrie cracked towards the front end across the recessed bit (chainring clearance).
Enigma quoted me £300 for a repair, adding that I might as well buy a new one.... their equivalent "Etap" is a cool £1200, frame only. Looks nice, but then it should for that much money!
All other Ti frame "manufacturers" in the UK import from afar and couldn't help.
Vernon Barker down in Dronfield has come out of retirement to work 2 days a week. He used to make Pete Dunn and M&B Dronfield frames. For £50 he welded the crack up for me. To be honest the job looks "a bit blobby", but its behind the chainrings so you can't see it. It does look strong though! So, we'll see how it goes!
So the Story with Van Nicholas, so you can make your own minds up:
I bought the frame, new, in 2005 with a "lifetime warranty". A year or so later Airborne became Van Nicholas. My understanding is that VN were a newly registered company, run by the same people, on the same site, sourcing the frames from the same factory in China, in the same geometries, made from the same grade Ti, but with different transfers. They refuse now to honour the Airborne warranty, but offered me 10% off a new frame. Cyclescense where I got the frame from originally offered to do the rebuild for free.
Compare this to say:
Trek, who have given Howard umteen new frames, under their lifetime guarantee, for free after they've not lasted long.
Ribble, who gave me the choice of any frame on their range for half price after my Al frame corroded into a hole after 6 years (it had a 1 year guarantee).
Dawes, who rebuilt our tandem around a new frame for free when we snapped it back in the 90s. They didn't ask for a receipt or anything, we didn't even buy it originally from that shop, but they had us back on the road in 3 days.
Would probably be naive to be overly upset or surprised by VN.... But all worked out OK as it would have been a shame to chuck my Valkyrie in the bin. Carbon footprint and all that.
Anyway, Ti bike back on show in The Square tomorrow at 0900....
