ive never seen a snapped Sess88. there must be a reason why alot of amature and semi pro riders use this frame.
the number of snapped frames is down to the sheer number of people who just happen to ride and how hard they ride them.
if you think the S88 is as strong as every other bike on the market your terribly wrong. they dent way to easy, they crack, snap, and any other form of breakage you can think of, they will do.
Steve, the 88sare known to be pretty weak- the complete bike is light, yet many of the components are heavy, so it has a light weight frame, with silly thin tubing.
The 88 structurally is equally strong to any other mid to high end DH bikes, what makes this frame 'nice' is that it is out-of-the-box a 38lbs setup (resonably spec'd). The downfall is to sacrifice weight meant thinner sidewalls. There is nothing wrong with the 88, but if you're someone who hucks the heck out of their bike and crashes alot then this clearly isn't the frame for you, go Norco Karpiel Banshee or whatever.
No, don't Trek hasn't changed anything on the Session 88's since there release. which is so stupid. if they would fix the tubing, by adding what, maybe 3/4th of a pound they would have such an awesome bike and sell many. now everyone except super hardcore racers are scared to go near them.
Sorry then what IS different on the second generation frames? Is there even such thing as a 'second generation' frame? even though my buddy just recently let me ride his very newly built 88 a tini bit and he said as we were talking it was '...second generation...tubing is thicker...'