Does anyone have experience of Ti warranty repairs by American Bicycle Group?

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Does anyone have experience of Ti warranty repairs by American Bicycle Group?

15 posts & 7 voices | Started 2 years ago by Sanny | Latest reply from glynP

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Sanny - Member

Hi folks

Looking for a bit of advice and hopefully can call on your own experiences?

I currently have a Cove Hummer which is about to be returned to ABG (Litespeed) under warranty. The head tube has a glued in sleeve insert in the frame which came out still attached to my Chris King headset when I was moving the headset onto another frame. ABG who manufactured the frame have said that if they can salvage the sleeve insert, they will reinstall it. However, if they are unable to do that, their solution is to cut off the old head tube and attach a new one while charging me for the privilege.

Silverfish who have been dealing with this for me have been brilliant and I cannot praise them enough for their support in trying to resolve this problem.

However, I’m obviously concerned at the thought that if ABG decide to cut the head tube off and replace it, will I be left with a frame with a shortened top tube? As it is, the top tube is at the lower limit of what I like to ride. Being over 6 foot tall, I run a 120mm stem on a large frame. I experimented with a 100mm and a 110mm stem previously and both made the bike feel too light on steep climbs and a bit cramped on the flat.

So the question is does anyone have any experience of ABG replacing head tubes on frames? I make no claims of being an engineer but cannot see how a head tube can be removed without cutting away part of the top and down tubes.

Any thoughts or similar experiences? Interested to know how other folk may have got on in a similar situation.

Cheers

Sanny

Posted 2 years ago #
singlespeedstu - Member

I've had a frame made by them repaired.

They put in a new downtube for me.

I'd stop worrying as they know how to do this kind of thing and you won't be able to tell the difference.

It'll come back with exactly the same length toptube as it started with.

I know a few folks who've sent Merlins back and had complete new back ends put and and you cant tell.

Posted 2 years ago #
Sanny - Member

Hmmmm. Hopefully you are right but it would be good to hear from folk who have had a head tube replaced. I can see cutting out a top tube or a down tube would have no impact on top tube length but I struggle to see how they can do this when replacing a head tube?

Cheers

Sanny

Posted 2 years ago #
singlespeedstu - Member

A downtube is harder to replace than a headtube.

Email them direct and I'm sure they'll explain how they're going to do it.

The guy you'll need to speak to's called Jason Bryant.

Posted 2 years ago #
TandemJeremy - Member

How old is the frame? Are you exercising your rights under the sale of goods act or relying on the manufacturers warranty?

On the surface it would appear to be a manufacturing fault thus you have rights under the sale of goods act that are stronger than your manufacturers warranty rights.

Posted 2 years ago #
brant - Member

Get 'em to put a 1.5in head tube on it for you.

Will get you some extra length.

What SC did to get Peaty a bit of extra reach on his V10.

Can't imagine why it needs to go back to the USA though. Surely any bloke with a lathe can make a shim to get the headset to fit in it?

Posted 2 years ago #
Sanny - Member

Hi Brant

Yes I did wonder about that. The cutting the headtube option seems pretty extreme to me when all that has happened is a glued in shim has come away from the headtube.

TJ - Just looking at it as a warranty issue at the moment. The frame was just past it's second birthday when it happened. The warranty is for five years. I'm not keen to have to take legal recourse unless it is really necessary and I've exhausted all other avenues. I fully appreciate that it must be difficult for Silverfish as they are trying really hard to sort things out for me but have to manage my expectations with those of ABG. I'm not looking for a new frame but a simple fix if it's possible.

But back to my original point. Has anyone else had a similar experience and was the outcome good or bad for you?

Cheers

Sanny

Posted 2 years ago #
TandemJeremy - Member

Fair enough sanny. 2 years old it would be hard to show that it was a manufacturing fault and you have had use from it so only a partial refund

Posted 2 years ago #
brant - Member

a simple fix if it's possible.

Posted 2 years ago #
Sideways Tim - Member

Why are they p@ssing about - just bosh in a new insert and get back out there. Let's face it, you knocked the insert out with the headset cup didn't you, go on admit it

Posted 2 years ago #
brant - Member

I honestly do not understand why you're buggering about trying to send things back to America.

I'm also a big staggered that a KING headset has got stuck in a shim, as in my experience they are woefully undersized according to the JIS/industry standard (ie: they have a very LOOSE fit in most frames).

I would guess there has been an alloy/alloy reaction - perhaps caused by not enough copperslip being used when fitting the headset initially (you did do that didn't you?).

I guess bonded in shims always have a tendency to do this - I used a similar design on the early Smart Tart frames. You could easily get it apart if you were prepared to kill your King headset I'd have thought.

Or glue the whole thing back in place - surely the King doesn't need changing/fixing??

Posted 2 years ago #
brant - Member

On the bright side Sanny, at least your dropouts haven't fallen off, eh?

Posted 2 years ago #
Sanny - Member

Brant

LOL! I'm sure it's only a matter of time before the drop out fails as well judging by the brake judder I've gotten from the frame from new. Re sending the frame back. Like I said, I'm willing to give ABG the opportunity to put things right but wearing my bean counter hat, if I were them, I'd source a shim locally and get an approved dealer to fit it to save everyones time.

As for killing the King headset?...you having a laugh? You can still see the copperslip protruding from the top of the headset where it fits in the shim. I'm still baffled by why ABG would even consider cutting the head tube off as a possible solution. If they were able to source a shim in the first place, how hard can it be to get another one?

Tim

A new insert and the ability to remove my old headset without the worry of part of the frame coming away is all I really would like! The headset is destined for another frame hence why I was removing it in the first place. The headset came away attached to the insert. When it was being removed down at my local bikeshop, I could feel the Park tool catching on the shim before we took the headset out of the top of the head tube. We were careful to do the same with the lower section in case we knocked out the shim by applying pressure to it instead of the headset. I'm afraid user error wasn't to blame this time which makes a pleasnat change!

Posted 2 years ago #
oldfart - Member

Sent my Hummer back to Litespeed to have a new driveside chainstay fitted .They were concerned that the back end might not line up properly so replaced both chainstays .Mind you it cost me £300 plus as i caused the chainsuck damage apparently (according to Cove ) .
But i digress they made an excellent job of it .But as everyone else says it's a bit of an OTT solution .

Posted 2 years ago #
glynP - Member

Brants Quote

"I would guess there has been an alloy/alloy reaction - perhaps caused by not enough copperslip being used when fitting the headset initially (you did do that didn't you?)."

Does copper and aluminium not react in a nasty way?

Posted 2 years ago #

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