In Feb i bought myself a Merlin Malt-R road bike, it’s fantastic and i love it. I know with cheaper bikes the compromise is usually in the wheelset, however i have had a lot of woes with the Carbotech K30 Wheels it came with.

After about a month a spoke snapped in the front wheel, was not too annoyed after all they’re cheapo wheels. £15 for a new spoke and a true up at Infinity Cycles.

4-6 weeks later, snapped spoke on the rear wheel – new spoke and a true up. £10 off a mate who runs a cycle repair business. Getting a bit annoyed now.

Tonight 9 miles into a ride 2 more spokes snapped on my rear wheel. Quite annoyed now.

In defense of the wheels, they have done a lot of miles since Feb (over 2K miles now) and they are a low end model. Would i stand a prayer of Merlin replacing, any thoughts/experiences?

I’m going to give it a shot anyway but just thought I would ask the STW collective mind.

Give them a call, explain what has happened and that you don’t think they’ve been built properly and aren’t quite fit for purpose.Be polite but firm in your expectations.

Worst they can say is no so worth a try.

Merlin have damn good customer service, so I would be surprised if they don’t do something for you.

Yup, I’d start that way. Unacceptable even for the cheapest wheels IMO, I got more trouble free miles than that out of the wheels on my £300 carrera, offroad to boot.

just talk to Merlin, spokes shouldn’t be snapping at 2k miles regardless. at 20,000miles you might start expecting the odd issue.

merlin have good customer service ime. why dont you give them a chance to sort it first

They left a rubber seal of a rear wheel they built me but when I rang them all they were interested in was telling me how much experience their guy has and how improbable it was that he left a seal off.. So good luck.