Warranty - valid claim or not

[PhilipV]

Are you sure the crack wasn't there before the cat-eye incident. If a frame breaks because of limbs hitting it, then the manufacturer needs to do some homework. It's not acceptable. 

Please name the frame manufacturer, and keep us updated on any news. 

[Spoke101]

Sorry, short thread hijack here.

 

I have been MTB'ing for a short 2 years now and reading this thread has blown my mind. By hitting a cat-eye at speed can you really expect to end the life of your R50k+ road bike or is this rather an isolated incident combined with the impact of the leg to the toptube?

 

Has this happened to other riders you guys personally know and at what flipping speed are you guys going at for this to happen?

 

As someone with 0% road bike knowledge I am genuinely interested

 

I not think it is the act of hitting the cat eye, rather the act of his leg hitting the frame.

 

To answer your question yes it has happened to me riding in the wet and hitting one of those old school round glass cat eyes at around 50km/h. Tyre slipped off the side at the speed of light but luckily the tyre gripped once on the tar again and I could counter balance to avoid going down.

 

In another indecent my front wheel hit a small pot hole about half a meter before a large speed bump at about 60km/h. This combined with me not paying attention caused both hands to slip off the bars and I have know idea how a managed to keep the rubber side down but ended up coming out the other side sitting on the top tube with one arm wrapped around the bar and the other counter steering on the front tyre. 

[Cat2forLife]

Sorry if any of this has been mentioned, but this thread got kinda long.

 

This is a difficult one. I, for one, am not really sure what you should do. I guess I would've submitted it for warranty first and if it is declined, not have a fit, but just claim from my insurance then.

 

I do kind of lean toward the insurance claim, though. The top tube of a bike, especially a higher end one like yours, there is very little carbon as it actually takes very little stress from normal riding. Most of the stress goes through the down tube. I once had a carbon frame that was perfect for 2 years, but I was then side swiped by a car and crashed it. Of course there was plenty of damage from the crash, but my right knee also hit the top tube and left a massive crack.

 

Anyway, I personally don't feel that you can really kick up a massive fuss if they don't replace the frame under warranty, as it did occur because of an incident, even though it wasn't a crash.

[Edition 507]

Sorry, short thread hijack here.

 

I have been MTB'ing for a short 2 years now and reading this thread has blown my mind. By hitting a cat-eye at speed can you really expect to end the life of your R50k+ road bike or is this rather an isolated incident combined with the impact of the leg to the toptube?

 

Has this happened to other riders you guys personally know and at what flipping speed are you guys going at for this to happen?

 

As someone with 0% road bike knowledge I am genuinely interested

This is what us roadies legs look like so you can unerstand the problem we are facing!

[WR 1.0]

If your bike is insured, under the specified all risk section of your HH policy, the insured peril (events covered) usually only states something in the line of "we will cover you for accidental damage.....". I agree that the frame should not break if your thigh, leg, arm or head hits it following a cat eye, pothole, rumble strip impact, but for all intent and purposes the event that led to the loss was an accident and as such "should" fall under the ambit of accidental damage.

[kk6gan]

This is what us roadies legs look like so you can unerstand the problem we are facing!

????Jeepers

 

Yeah, I can now see the struggle!

 

????????

[mtbDobby]

Thanks for all the comments. I don't want to name the brand as yet. I will do so one way or the other once I have the issue resolved.

[madbradd]

Tough one.

 

Personally I would expect cat-eyes to be classified as "normal road surface". Though we have established that there was a thigh impact involved, you can't tell (without seeing pictures) that the force from the cat-eye didn't damage the top tube (which would undoubtedly be a warranty claim).

 

I think I would do exactly what you are doing. Send it to the manufacturer for assessment and use that as a basis for potential insurance claim - then they can take it up from there.

 

This all reminds me of Contador's crash a few tours back.

[arendoog]

A proper frame should be able to withstand such an impact .Warranty claim 

[mtbDobby]

so my warranty claim was declined by headoffice.

 

The response was that there was external force applied....which I agree with as I have stated my thigh hit the top tube - what has left a bitter after taste is that they seem to keep referring to a clamp or my handle bars hitting the top tube and that's why its not a warranty claim..... as if it couldn't have been my thigh and implying I am being dishonest about what actually happened.

 

In any event I will not go through my insurance.

 

For interest sake to those that asked - the brand is Scott and the bike was the foil 20.

 and attached is a image of the crack.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Skinnyone]

Interesting, and thanks for the feedback, as a person that deals with warranty claims on a daily basis, I too would have declined this due to being an impact - be it a knee/thigh or handlebars or bike rack. Frankly I too would have questioned the "fleshy impact" part as to inflict that type of a crack would have damaged to body badly as well...not to say it didn't of course...

 

I have taken a 4 pound hammer to a frame before and carbon will take a fair pounding before showing a crack like that...maybe that's why they found it hard to fathom...

 

The nature of the break shows jagged edges related to an over-stress of the area - typically a manufacture defect shows as a clean line around a known joint in the frame...

[paarlmtb]

Two things to look at -

 

Terms and conditions of your warranty;

Discretion by the LBS / distributor / manufacturer

 

If you're not covered on the 1st, be clever about how you negotiate the 2nd - no toy throwing.

 

Otherwise the Hub loves these threads so you are onto a winner in terms of responses.

 

A good proportion will spell it "warrantee" but I try not to get suicidal about it or loose my cool.

 

Good luck.

Loose like a goose!   

Spelling karma

[Ispeed_V]

More importantly, how is your thigh??

[mtbDobby]

More importantly, how is your thigh??

 the bruise has almost faded....

[Pure Savage]

Hi,

 

It was damage caused by an incident/event (hitting the cat eye), so should not be a warranty claim, but an insurance claim.

This thread could have been closed 4 pages ago!

[Spoke101]

so my warranty claim was declined by headoffice.

 

The response was that there was external force applied....which I agree with as I have stated my thigh hit the top tube - what has left a bitter after taste is that they seem to keep referring to a clamp or my handle bars hitting the top tube and that's why its not a warranty claim..... as if it couldn't have been my thigh and implying I am being dishonest about what actually happened.

 

In any event I will not go through my insurance.

 

For interest sake to those that asked - the brand is Scott and the bike was the foil 20.

 and attached is a image of the crack.

I have heard this many times they love to use the "It must have been clamped there" to renege on legitimate warranties.

Personally I really like the look of their Foils but over the years I just think their frames are made too soft chasing the weight.