….less than a month after you bought it, and with less than half a dozen rides on it, by snapping clean through at a weld:

what would you do?
what are your rights?

The question I’m pondering is: is a replacement to be trusted and can you simply ask for your money back?

😕

Definitely a warranty replacement but it’s purely up to you as to whether you would trust it again. Personally, I would give it the benefit of the doubt and see how it went and go from there.

Depends if it snapped ‘clean through a weld’ when you cased a 50ft gap jump or not I suppose……. 😉

They won’t sue you just for mentioning their name on the internet.
Go on, what was it ?

Oh dear…

my trek fuel did three times over as many years, trek replaced each time, the last time with a different model, a HT and no issues.

With proof of purchase you should have no issue.

lol leku

Just riding along, well, not far off. I’m very much a wheels on the ground man.

Pretty sure you can’t demand a refund anyway – they have two or three shots to repair or replace the original product before a refund is on the table IIRC.

up to six months is full refund territory I think . I wish TJ were here…

Snapping at a joint is obviously ‘not fit for purpose’. Wouldn’t that be grounds for a refund?

Is it well-known that these frames break?

Is it fit for purpose.
What were the reasonable expectations of the consumer when purchasing the product.
In both cases I would say that the bike fell below what is normal and required.
I agree totally with daveh and really wouldn’t want another. I suggest researching the Sale of Goods Act 1979.
My opinion is that you would not be unreasonable and should succeed in obtaining a full refund; at the very least you should be able to choose a different manufacturers product – one that isn’t going to break.

Hold your horses, a faulty weld, does not make a bike “unfit for porpoise”
It’s manufacturing fault, not a design issue shirely?

It’s manufacturing fault, not a design issue shirely?

This^^^

I’d be thinking the company involved would be falling over themselves to get this sorted.

I’ve broken quite a few frames over the years and all manufacturers were excellent once contacted through the shop I bought from… in many cases I worked with the shop and ended up speaking to someone at the bike company to discuss options. I did all this before posting comments or pictures of broken bikes on’t’net 😯 😉

in fairness the op hedidn’t post the pics – it was a STW’ sleuth that did that..

I said comments.

Give the bike shop and manufacturer time to deal with the problem before getting vocal on websites is my advice.

I asked for consumer advice, I’ve not mentioned any manufacturer, bike or shop. My previous posts may or may not have anything to do with this post, biking is my hobby and I have a range of different bike types from a range of different manufacturers. I may even have posted the question on behalf of someone else, albeit in the first person.

My Cannondale failed at the weld about 8 or 9 months after i bought it, but they have a lifetime warrently on the frame, so i took it back to the bikeshop from where i bought it.

the frame was replaced under warrenty, and so far no further snappage has occured and i have a newer frame to sell on 🙂

so take it to the shop and see what they can do – it will mean you’ll be without a bike for ages, but it will be replaced at no cost to you.

the shop will strip the bike, send it to the manufacturer, who will scan the bike, look at the welds, provided there was a weakness there (which sounds likley)they’ll replace the frame and return to the shop.

(Edit; replace ‘will’ with ‘should’)

If it is the one we’re all guessing at…. I’m sure the manufacturer will sort you out sharp ish, from my angle that its a new model and a respected make
All IMO of course

Can you guys back off the op please. Methinks he asked a valid and innocent question.

Sorry if you thought I was being harsh OP. It wasn’t meant to come across that way… just advice to see what the shop and manufacturer offer before reacting as it seems like an untypical early life failure.

I know there’s a tendancy to think “It’s practically new and it broke, therefore it can’t be trusted”. But that’s often just your classic bathtub failure curve at work, stuff is likely to break when brand new, then once it’s been “tested” it’s likely to last for a very long time, til it wears out whereupon it becomes likely to break again.

So breaking when nearly new isn’t a problem in itself.

If its the Genesis that has snapped I’m pretty certain they will sort you out properly and fairly.

And I think it is likely a one off fault and you’d be safe to try another – no other stories of Grapils failing kicking around.

Where did you buy it from out of interest?

Cheers

Danny B

If it’s not the Grapil and it was a custom built frame then it may be a tad different.

I managed to snap 3 kona frames, one of them an Explosif before I realised that it was the stoopid flexy USE Alien seatpost that was at fault. Each lasted a year.

OK, so the issue was handled very well by shop and manufacturer and the bike was back with me in around a week with the broken bit (only) replaced. 2 months later and SNAP, bang goes the drive side chainstay, again at the weld.

Now what would you do?

Take it back and get them to replace the whole frame under warranty?

Cheers

Danny B

Sorry I’d be quiet firm now. We work fulltime. Ridetime is precious and any future failure could mean a long walk back and/or leading to you falling off.

A full refund and a different brand.

Sounds like new idea/model early design-issues. Wait until grapil mk2 is released.

Right now I’d take it as rude/poor show if they tried arm-twisting you into another try. I just wouldnt feel confident on anymore.

I would want a refund now as you have spent loads and dont want it breaking when out of warranty in a year or so .I keep bikes and ride them for over 10 years and would be narked at a failure out of warranty

I’ve not seen a grapil in the flesh so to speak and when you mention chainstay weld failure i guess you mean the weld directly behind the big ring/BB area going by the pics of the frame online. I can only speak from a welding perspective but if a weld fails and develops a crack through the actual weld on aluminium then it is usually an issue with the filler rod choice and/or too slow a weld pass/contamination, if it happens twice in the same area on two separate swingarms then i’d have to lay my suspicions on poor FAE analysis/filler rod choice/design therefore i’d consider it not fit for purpose and want my money back.

Of course the above is dependant on you running the correct shock pressure and not riding like a dick 😉

Thanks for the thoughts guys, I’ve pinged some emails off to commence the process. I’m heavier than the average bear (15.5 stone) and like to ride quickly but I’m no big air specialist. It happened on the red trail at Cannock Chase, that should give you a good idea. Shock pressure was 185psi, the frame states a max of 275psi iirc.