Hi all I’m new on here, and as the title says I have a warranty question.

I was out on my cannondal habit and the swingarm broke off the bike, there was no impact of any kind. I’ve had the bike a year now and bought it new.
Pics below.
I contacted cannondale and they asked for the bike to be sent to them. The reply I got was

“Having looked at the components we have concluded that the damage is not the result of a warrantable failure. It appears that the pivot has been run loose and stripped the thread which has ultimately caused the swing arm to break. Unfortunately, as it’s a result of a lack of sufficient maintenance, it’s not something covered by the warranty”

Now, I don’t know a lot about bikes though I have regularly checked for any signs of damage and check if anything is loose. As I’ve said I don’t know a lot about bikes so I looked after it as best I could. The reason for posting is to ask if I’m completely in the wrong for expecting such an expensive bike(expensive to me) to not literally fall apart after a year from purchase? As it was also set up by a cannondale dealer in my area.
If I’m wrong I’ll take it on the chin. I just thought I’d ask your opinion
https://www.flickr.com/photos/155475368@N03/37359285676/in/dateposted-public/
https://www.flickr.com/photos/155475368@N03/36697602074/in/dateposted-public/

Photos not showing for me.

I’d probably want to know how much maintenance you have done on it and how much use has it has? A year isn’t long but could easily have done a couple thousand miles in all conditions, so if it’s not been serviced or checked regularly I’d be inclined to agree with cannondale. If you (or someone) has serviced and checked the bits then I’d agree with you that you have a claim.

If it was as they say then surely the bike would have been running rough as fk?
I don’t know the habit, but a pivot bolt loose enough to strip the threads sounds like it would cause major play with the backend of the bike.

I’ve had a few warranties off cannondale no probs at all but it was years ago. Worst case scenario of no warranty then if the pivot housing on the frame is OK then maybe they’d do you the swingarm at a reduced price?

Hard to make out anything from those pics

Thanks for replying I’ve sorted the pics now.
As far as use goes I go with a group of friends to swinley forest once maybe twice a month, usually do about 10-15 miles there, so not a lot though they are hard miles.

I’ve not taken it to be serviced, my friend who has a cannondale scalpel carbon 1 and has serviced and looked after his bike for years does all the bits pieces it needs. Again im not knowledgeable on bikes especially modern ones. Cannondale didn’t ask any questions so they’ve no idea what’s been done to it or how many miles it’s done. They just said no

Yea it is hard to make out. That’s all the pics they asked for. They have the bike now so can’t take anymore

Gary lager, the bike rode fine until it went.

They have offered me a replacement swingarm for 250 quid so I’m assuming the pivot housing and frame are fine, but it’s a different colour
And wouldn’t look right on the bike. I just though I’d see what people though before I paid to have it fixed.

The vast majority of the bike buying public are not mechanics, having said that their get out of jail free card is here on Page 16.

https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=cannondale+habit+manual&oq=cannondale+habit+manual&aqs=chrome..69i57j0.4190j0j7&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8#

Check pivots etc etc every 25 or 50 hours.

It seems that you unfortunately didn’t. If you did run it that loose it only takes a few hours to pop as yours did, there’s a lot of force going through the main pivot.

You could try appealing to Cannondale’s better nature, good luck with that however did your dealer give you the manual? Sometimes they don’t and I suppose you could argue you were not told, maybe even take it to the small claims court. Short term I reckon you’re better off getting the new swingarm and having it sprayed the right colour locally.

Thanks joolsburger for the reply.
Yea you’re right, I never considered owning a bike nowadays would mean so much upkeep. I took the bike to swinley once sometimes twice a month each time we went we were usually cycling for around 2 hours. In a year based on those figures of have done under 50 hours of cycling. Would that put me inside 25-50 hour bracket meaning I have a shout?? Thanks for your reply

Worth a punt I’d say. A small claims court might be sympathetic to the idea that a key component on a 2 grand bike should last more than 50 hours. Might pay for your swingarm and a respray.

You will struggle to prove that a 1 year old bike has been ridden for less than fifty hours I suspect . The £250 replacement may turn out to be your best bet . Good luck and I hope I’m wrong BTW