I had problem with Isaac and Treks so I thought the Colnago EPS was the way forward. I have a custom TI now from Burls, hence the Colnago frame sits in my home office. I’m not prepared to pay £450 for it to be repaired by Colnago.

The crack in the seat tube was on my Trek Top Fuel. I’ve had this since Jan 2008 so to be honest it done well.

The only one of those pics I can figure out is an alu frame, which looks to have broken because you didn’t have enough seatpost in? Relevance? 😕

Wrong! I run 410mm seat Thompson posts. The frame is a 21.5in Trek. There is 270mm of post showing so there is 140mm in the frame. I have a 6ft 8in rowing buddy who rides a EX version. Now that is some seat post. Trek have changed this frame.

Colnago (Yes I am decorating). The break is on the drive side seat stay

On a roll now that I’ve set up a Flickr account. Madone BB break. 6 month old frame.

I get the Giant back on Wednesday so will post some more pictures. Hope you can feel my frustration being vented………….

As I have posted before, I have three carbon frames break during use, a 2006, 2008 and 2009 model year of basically the same FS design. All were replaced under a lifetime warranty. In the first two cases it was a bonding issue- Aluminium/carbon and a carbon/carbon respectively. These were almost certainly manufacturing defects (the second failed after only 35 miles use). The third cracked around the seat tube suspension pivot point. I was told by the LBS who dealt with the claim that I had been ‘unlucky’ to have these failures and they were willing to give me another carbon frame but I was not happy so they essentially gave me the value of the frame against a new complete aluminium bike- can’t fault the warranty.

I now believe that the design was not utilising the material effectively and would be much happier with a modern carbon frame, particularly a hardtail

just about to get my first carbon framed bike.. you haven’t put me off!

Just had the LBS on the phone saying the bike has been inspected and that Giant are not going to support a warranty claim.

so how does that work with the lifetime warranty to original owner ?

warranty doesn’t cover everything – by the sounds of it they’re blaming the components that have been changed and the way it’s been used. Not necessarily reasonable but one of those things that happens a lot…

njee20 – Member

The only one of those pics I can figure out is an alu frame, which looks to have broken because you didn’t have enough seatpost in? Relevance?

Wrong, njee – I’ve broken frames in exactly the same place with loads of post in. It’s a common weak point for big riders.

I don’t know.

The LBS mentioned:

Seat post. Not original. I think the original was 375mm length and I put a 410mm Thompson in. They didn’t think the bike fitted me with the original post. I rode it for 3 months with the “Kore” post. I was not outside the range with this post. They reckon the longer post was a possible cause. Thus the bike has been modified away from OEM as a result of the seatpost change.

Saddle – Outside the scope on the rails. This is grasping at straws.

They have found other cracks which indicate to them that I’ve been jumping / abusing the bike. Considering I have different MTBs for different disciplince this is unfounded. This bike is for lycra only!

I really need to see Giant’s report (happy to post on the forum – I’ve nothing to hide).

You can appreciate the above has been relayed to me via the LBS.

pjm – worth pursuing with the LBS and Giant, not perhaps fully on here ? I sense there are often solutions to these problems which are best not stuck on t’interweb

The colnago is the stay joining bolt its a simple ream and reset 450 quid must be the Italian premium tax but theyre off their Italian black Ferrari rocking horse it’s no where near

How did giant find other cracks?

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I’ve posted details of the the repair before, but for those who haven’t seen it have a look here http://andrewhowett.blogspot.com/2012/01/mending-carbon-frame.html
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Not sure a repair to a hole like that would be as easy on aluminium.
And I wrote off a magnesium frame this weekend (maybe, need to see about getting the BB shell re-threaded)
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The first race on this repaired frame will be the midlands race on 19th. Hopefully no problems.

Colnago want to repaint the whole frame and forks. £450 for one side to be repaired / £550 for both to be done. As a matter of course I would have both sides done. The problem is it’s like for like repair.

I replaced my Trek Madone (5yrs and retire)this time last year with a custom Burls TI frame and very, very x1000 pleased with this. Super stiff , super comfortable. Built for my size / strength. So in a nutshell I would rather buy another custom Burls then have the Colnago repaired considering I will only run carbon for 5years

I don’t know and very interested. I was advised that it was inspected today by 3 “Giant” experts who came to the conclusion above.

The Giant frame still rides very well, super stiff with no creaking at all. Will post pictures when I get the bike back.

I got someone round my head thst mskrd it good. I hutrr yout fasscinatinf hrsd. you good/bsd

ha ha funny. mskrs me look loke foreign bsd perrson

there you go guys I have nothing useful to say

haha that’ds quite funny and makes me interesting!

Update:

Giant first response (dropped the bike didn’t fit me from the report) – extreme forces causing the cracks as a result of a bad landing off a jump and the combination of a Thompson layback seat post.

Giant has now dropped this, not surprising, including the layback seatpost because the OEM post was layback, to:

We have no record of being contacted regarding this issue until last week and from speaking to Mark today the decision to continue to ride this not knowing the extent of any damage was yours and Giant take no responsibility for any further damage to the bike as a result of this.
If there were to be the slightest chance of damage to the frame then this should have been brought to our attention before this time and you should have ceased riding until such time as the bike had been inspected.

From the findings of our inspection due to the alternative seatpost fitment and the nature of the damage to the frame this would not be covered under the terms and conditions of the warranty.

As a gesture of goodwill I can look in to the option of a replacement frame at a reduced cost, if you would like me to look into this further let me know and I’ll speak to your dealer regarding this.

So if you’re riding a Giant and have a paint scratch or chip, it needs to go back to these guys for inspection. I took mine to the local LBS, Mark, and we agreed to monitor it. And don’t change the seat post.

Anyone want to guess what the third response holds?