Broken Parts

[MudLark]

Beattbox' Trek broken on Hans Se Kop, W2W Day 1

 

Ally or carbon?

[DJR]

Ally or carbon?

Aluminium

[rudi-h]

If you're the original owner, i'd take it back and claim for some form of warranty / compensation / trade-in benefit.  If you're not the original owner you don't have much to stand on as bike warranty terms are generally only applicable to the first owner by sales agreements.

 

Fatigue cracks starting at welds are typically due to weld defects, material defects or alternatively a marginal design.  In either case you should qualify for a form of warranty compensation from the manufacturer / distributor.  On their end, it's very hard for an bike manufacturer to shift the blame for a MTB frame crack back to the rider.  MTB frames are built to be abused, unless you are above the specified weight limit.

 

See what they're willing to offer, they might give you a new frame, but you might be disappointed if you expect this from the onset.  I'd argue that its not quite reasonable to demand a new frame out of the box.  I personally buy bikes for a ~8 year effective life, so i'd deem it reasonable if the compensation is equal to % used, i.e.:

 

compensation = new frame price * (1- (bike age / 8))

 

 

 

 

General thoughts on this hairline crack being repairable? Anyone?