Sat here feeling fairly disappointed but not nearly as much as my wife (she’s livid). What do you think?

The rear triangle on my wife’s ASR 5 began to make awful creaking noises after 3 and a half years use. On closer inspection it transpires the carbon rear end has cracked. I know there have been issues with these but as she is so light I think it has taken a while to manifest itself.

My LBS have been excellent and I must say Siverfish have been very efficient. It was replaced under warranty within 2 weeks. However what has upset my wife is that the replacement is black. The original was white (it was the blue alloy frame with the white rear). When purchased we upgraded her forks to some nice white Float’s to match. Now the bike looks like two different bikes stuck together.

On contacting Yeti they were not really interested and their attitude was really one of “thats all that is available”. I know that 5 years is a good warranty and that many manufactures would have treated us far worse. However you pay a significant premium for a Yeti and I guess we just expected a bit more. Fair enough, they no longer make the bike but if you offer a 5 year warranty you need to make sure you can service it with replacement parts. They have told us “it’s more important that the bike is rideable” and “the way it looks is less important”. To a degree they may have a point but we come back to having paid a premium for a ’boutique’ brand that market their bikes on aesthetics.

I understand that it may be physically impossible to produce a new white rear end but there was not even any small gesture to remedy the situation. A contribution to the cost of a re-spray of the forks might have been nice (re-spraying the rear end would void the remaining warranty) or even a free T-shirt.

Do you think I’m expecting too much?

You’re expecting too much, sorry

Just move on, life’s too short.

Get white paint and do it yourself.

re-spraying the rear end would void the remaining warranty

Get white paint and do it yourself.

or don’t.

got any pics of the bike?

I think you need to have a wee word with yourself.

Now the bike looks like two different bikes stuck together

well that’s what it is is it not.

You’ve done well out of it accept or repaint.

T shirt in the post

Paint the forks blue.

Yes and No.

I can see where your wife is coming from but Yeti arent a massive company and keeping stock of all the colours they have may be financially prohibitive….you got a new carbon rear triangle from them after 3 1/2 years use so i’d consider that a result, some firms would tell you thats the lifetime of the frame/normal wear and tear etc etc….work out what is cheaper to do: swap to black forks or have the swingarm painted white…or have the fork lowers painted black….perhaps find some black Fox fork decals, there were loads of Rockshox ones in all colours when i looked on Ebay recently.

A contribution to the cost of a re-spray of the forks might have been nice

Seriously?

Do you think I’m expecting too much?

Yes

Ask one of these vehicle vinyl wrap places about wrapping the swing arm.

Your expecting to much. Them replacing after all that time and so quickly seems great to me. If they don’t make the part anymore in white then thats life.

Sorry no pics at the moment, I have just packed it away in a bike bag for a holiday (life’s not that bad)

i’d be annoyed they are selling the same bike for 1/3 of the price…

http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/yeti-575-bike-anniversary-edition-2011/rp-prod115691

I know that it must be annoying but probably on a 3.5 year old bike not too bad a service.
Mine cracked after 6 weeks and I got a very speedy replacement.
In white – sorry 🙂

You could get some HD white adhesive vinyl for the rear end?
Just to cover the stays, not all the fiddly bits, and then frame protection tape over the top if needed.

Or, as above, get a professional wrap job.

i’d be annoyed they are selling the same bike for 1/3 of the price…

That’s what happens with 3 year old stock.

It will crack again soon so next time insist on a white one or new frame.

i’d be annoyed they are selling the same bike for 1/3 of the price…

http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/yeti-575-bike-anniversary-edition-2011/rp-prod115691

For the life of me I can’t see how that’s the same bike jam bo

I like the T-shirt, I think it would suit her.

Shit I hope she doesn’t read this

This comes up periodically – the oft quoted analogy is that if you had a warranty replacement body panel on your car then you’d expect a colour match.

Trouble is they’ve fulfilled their obligation, and my personal thoughts are that black/white are pretty unobjectionable – if they’d given you a turquoise one on a white frame it would be a little more annoying.

Basically… tough it up.

keeping stock of all the colours they have may be financially prohibitive

Right, which is why they should keep stock of unpainted ones, and paint them to order.

That’s what intense do. When I needed a new front end for an older bike, I had to wait a bit, but that was because they were waiting till the next lot of that colour to paint mine to match.

I’d expect/hope Yeti would match Intense in this respect, not sure about the reality but both are in that “boutique US brand” niche…

Where was the crack?

One crack running under the chainsuck protector and also one on the brake mount

Maybe in the minority here, but have some sympathy for the OP – the car body panel analogy above is a fair one. Not up to Yeti to decide the importance of the aesthetics to the OP or his wife.

They’ve offered a five year warranty. If they can’t fulfill that warranty with like-for-like parts, then they haven’t properly honoured it – and if the customer is unhappy as a result of that, then a bit of goodwill wouldn’t have gone astray.

The fault is with Yeti here. The fact that black doesn’t look too bad is neither here nor there – the OP paid for a particular look and colour, and Yeti’s faulty product has deprived him of that.

Maybe in the minority here, but have some sympathy for the OP

I agree, but if they don’t have stock and will not offer any other solution, then the better route is to tell them you are not happy, work out a solution for yourself and move on.

I’d expect/hope Yeti would match Intense in this respect, not sure about the reality but both are in that “boutique US brand” niche…

Sadly you’d be disappointed, IME (from working in an LBS selling Trek/Spesh/Santa Cruz/Yeti, and owning/breaking a ‘pre-Planet X’ Titus) I can assure you that in general warranty service is vastly superior from the big brands than from ’boutique’ brands.

Few years ago I had a blue Gary Fisher, the frame snapped and they replaced it with a bright red one. The blue forks and red frame combined to look like a Spiderman novelty bike…

As they were only basic, I eventually swapped the forks for some black ones which, when the red frame snapped, went beautifully with the black one that replaced it (under warranty again).

Play the long game 🙂

Loads of people are very particular about the appearance of their bikes, especially if it’s a high-end model like this.

It’s good that they’ve honoured the warranty in purely mechanical terms, but I’ve also have some sympathy for the OP.

neilwheel – Member

I agree, but if they don’t have stock and will not offer any other solution, then the better route is to tell them you are not happy, work out a solution for yourself and move on.

Yeah – he’s probably not going to get anywhere – but to hsi question – should be be annoyed t Yeti?

Faulty chainstsy – Yeti’s fault.
No stock – Yeti’s fault
Not willing to do anything – Yeti’s fault.

I’d say yes, I’d be annoyed at Yeti.

Something like an upgraded 12×142 rear end (if that was something the OP liked the sound of) might have been enough to make up the shortfall, instead of presuming to tell their customer what is and isn’t important.

I can’t honestly see how they could be held responsible for the OP choosing white forks, which now don’t match the colour of the rear end.

HG – Again, I agree with you, sorry if it doesn’t seem like it.

WC – Really? That’s just a daft thing to say.

Yes I think deal with it and move on, if the colour is such an important thing for you then get it painted, or change your forks, which you chose anyway.

Warrantee = like for like, or you’d like to think so

real life = yeti getting through rear ends like george michael

Annoyed, yes, for a bit, then despair for a bit, then acceptance.

For a boutique brand – where looks are part of their selling pt I think it’s poor to tell you to lump it – they could at least have said ‘sorry this is all we have’. Yeti’s aren’t cheap and when you pay premium price you expect a premium product and premium service.

If you can get it wrapped cheaply, maybe do that. Alternatively, sell the frame and new rear on and put the money to a new frame – Yeti or otherwise. Or as mentioned above, new black forks, whilst thinking about whether you’ll buy Yeti again.

I don’t think it is though. To be sure, I’d definitely be annoyed had it happened to me, but I can’t actually think of a reason why they’re responsible for what a customer chooses to hang on one of their frames. That must surely go double for something as functionally insignificant as the colour of a particular component. This probably just isn’t a question for me, when quite a lot of my stuff is built up from whatever happened to be cheap/lying in the spares box at the time.

compass81 – Member However you pay a significant premium for a Yeti and I guess we just expected a bit more.

To a degree they may have a point but we come back to having paid a premium for a ’boutique’ brand that market their bikes on aesthetics.

I don’t think they specifically market their bikes on anything – they’re just a mass produced Taiwanese mountain bike like any other.
I think they deliberately leave it up to the customer to justify the additional snob tax exclusivity enhancement.
🙂

brooess – Member

For a boutique brand – where looks are part of their selling pt I think it’s poor to tell you to lump it – they could at least have said ‘sorry this is all we have’. Yeti’s aren’t cheap and when you pay premium price you expect a premium product and premium service.

Do they specify what the extra cost actually buys you?

I’ve always assumed it was just a feeling of colour-coordinated superiority?
😈

White vinyl wrap or that peel off spray on stuff?

Warpcow – Fair enough, (After a re-read of the OP and with the consideration that I’m unlikely to buy a Yeti) if the bike was bought complete from the manufacturers with black forks then fair enough. If any money went to Yeti for the upgrade to white forks, they should be covering the cost of painting the rear end.

I’d make something of it if they could have given me a matching colour but gave me another one, but if you can’t have a white one because, well, there are no white ones, then I think you just need to mutter to yourself and move on really.
I can appreciate it’s a bit annoying though.

Thanks for the replies

To be clear, I have no issues with moving on. I may well get it re-sprayed and take the chance it wont break again in the remaining warranty. I’ll think about it when we get back from our hols.

Have Yeti done enough to keep us as customers? Maybe not. I’m not going to apologise for having high standards. We work hard to be able to afford nice bikes and make sacrifices elsewhere to be able to do so (you should see the car I drive). Had they gone the extra mile as per my experiences with Hope for example they could have counted on future bike purchases. But as it is that SB6 I like the look of will have some stiff competition and has moved a couple of places down the short list.