Heart break

The run of the Ti road frame might have come to an end. I rode with Aaron yesterday morningup to the Sassafras for a coffee and a catch up. It was a nice clear, sunny and warm summer morning with heaps of other like minded people out enjoying the lack of traffic and fine weather.
The bike the last couple of days has been making a couple of squeaking noises which I had put down to a drivetrain or pedal noise. I had heard other such noises many years ago when riding aluminium frames. This was normally the death groan prior to the frame snapping. I had thought that after 6 years this was going to be lifetime frame and had only been commenting on Christmas day the the bike had been a dream to own.
Well once returning home and finding the boss washing the cars I proceeded to get off the bike and look down at the chain stay. I had thought I had collected a piece of road grime or a deposit of dirt mixed with sweat. I proceeded to rub it off with my fingers realising that it was indeed a crack on the chain stay just behind the chain stay bridge. I am heart broken to find that this frame has cracked, not to mention I had only just received my 29er custom a few days ago after replacing a series of failures of my Specialized 29er.
The question is what to do now? I have contacted US about warranty but understand that sending a frame back to the US will be cost prohibitive. I have contacted BAUM in Geelong on the off chance they can drop in a new chain stay. Time will tell, but I soon might be searching for a replacement. The questions is what will it be?

Happy trails!