I have a 3 month old Trek EX with the carbon frame. It has been used perhaps 20 to 30 times.
The rear gear cable has rubbed into the carbon and caused a hollow of about 4mm. I had not spotted this till today as it is directly underneath the cable (so the cable fits snugly within the groove it has worn.) This has happened right next to the bracket that holds the cable in place.

I have told (and shown) the lbs that sold the bike, who said it is nothing to be concerned about and gave me some patches that are supposed to stop the problem.

I feel as if I have been fobbed off.
Should I be concerned about this wear?
Has the frame been significantly weakened?

The lbs also stated it doesn’t matter anyway as the frame has a lifetime trek warranty

Any feedback would be welcome.
Thanks

Andy

Your frame does have a lifetime warranty so you should be good. Added to which you have contacted your lbs about this so any failure, however unlikely, that results will not come out of the blue to them. Get those patches on sharpish though to prevent any further deterioration.

4mm deep or 0.4mm deep – if it's the former then I'd be worried!

Had the same thing happen to my EX8, rear mech cable at junction of top and seat tube? (Not as deep as yours, just a flat rub).

Cut cables and sorted routing out, put on heli tape and contacted bike shop i got it from. No problems since. You should be fine with what you've done regarding contacting local shop and the Trek warranty. Just note the date and name of shop you contacted just in case you do need to send it back.

If 4mm go back to LBS and demand they discuss with Trek.

If 0.4mm add patches and make a mental note to check all the frame for rubs.

Its hard to measure it exactly but definately between 2.5 and 4mm (not .4)

I have regularly checked the frame for rubs – and placed tape where cables are rubbing up and down (which seems to be largely cosmetic – removing the gloss paintwork.) I missed this though cos it is directly underneath the cable and has been caused by rubbing in the direction of the cable, not up and down – so the groove has been covered by the cable
Take a look here for photo of damage http://www.sheffieldaccommodation.co.uk/page18.html

Certainly doesn't look like anything like 4mm (gear outer has an OD of 4mm and you couldn't 'bury' the gear cable in that groove).

I wouldn't be worried about that, just put a patch on it. It's a heavily reinforced area not under than much stress anyway.

My mate has a carbon GT full suss and the bike shop guy saw the surface had been broken and let in dirt on the top tube he got the GT rep to examine and they replaced it. My mate later realised that his brake levers had been knocking it when they swung around!

I would say the cable sits about a third of it into the groove (looks like it was designed to fit there!)

So if as you say the cable is 4mm the groove is less than 2mm (but sure looks and feels deeper than that.

Looks to be about 1mm deep at most, so cosmetic currently. However IMO that's a spot that should have been immediately obvious on checking for rubs and personally I'd have patched that when I built it up as it's a classic wear spot on a full sus. You can moan to the shop/trek but they'll probably point out that it's wear and tear and due to you not placing the appropriate patches and refuse to warranty it.

You can moan to the shop/trek but they'll probably point out that it's wear and tear and due to you not placing the appropriate patches and refuse to warranty it.

Eh? Surely IF the bike was supplied built, then it should have come with the protection attached if its needed. Your not suggesting that you need to patch or helitape a new bike to prevent structural failure are you?

Ah, I thought he'd built it up from a frame, sorry 🙂 However if the frame was supplied with patches you might still get arguments.

coffeeking

I am fairly new to mbiking and wouldn't know where to start in building a bike!
The bike was factory built and as such I feel they should have at least made me aware it was likely to rub in that position.

geofj
It would seem exactly that:
I am now in email correspondence with TREK – their initial responce is, it is my fault, not a design error and I must patch it. They also reckon it will not have 'significantly' weakened the frame.

Will add patches and hope it doesn't prove to be a problem in the future.

Not really the best responce from the manufacturer of a 10 weeks old £4500 bike (even though I paid less as it is last years model

Let me see,

Purchased a new car recently
Turning corner and changing gear has caused the chassis to wear after only a few miles.

Never mind says the retailer – probably be ok.

Manufacturer agrees and says its my own fault for not putting tape over the chassis – as I should have known it would wear – it’s what happens when you drive.

It won't matter, it's cosmetic. Agree it's a bit lame.

andyxxx – I'm sure TJ will be along soon, but remember, that your contract is with the shop you bought it from, not Trek*. They are the ones who should sort it – even if they do need to work with Trek for that to happen.

Of course, take pictures, record all conversations etc., and good luck.

* And yes it may be quicker/easier to deal with Trek directly in the long run, but don't forget about your legal position.

Eh? Surely IF the bike was supplied built, then it should have come with the protection attached if its needed. Your not suggesting that you need to patch or helitape a new bike to prevent structural failure are you?

This is what happened with me when I bought my XTC Alliance, I was told to cover the carbon from cable rub before rideing it and given a sheet of patches by the lbs.
Took me 5 mins and I've had no problems.

Colin from Trek warranty crops up from time to time, he may have sommat to say…

geoffj

Yep – thanks. I realize my contract is with my lbs – but had heard good things about TREK and their warranty – so thought it was worth letting them know.

Incidentally. If as seems to be the general concensus it is not a problem, I do not give tuppence. The nature of the sport and my general ability mean the bike will not look brill by the end of the year anyway.

I guess i am slightly paranoid because of the horror stories I hear regarding carbon.

By the way – apart from this (hopefully tiny issue) I really like the bike. A decision made partly due to this forum and njee20.

C'dale have specifically told me cable rub is not covered by warrenty, and even though i have the original reciept clearly marked with "lifetime warrenty", it's no longer under warrenty (03 frame).

I'd ask you LBS for something in writing from Trek

Hi all,
difficult area this one, as we do not fit the patches from standard- after all some people runs brakes different ways, some people fit narrow/wide bars, shorter/longer stems and

n

their position on the bike before taking it from the bike store. One of my colleagues has been in touch with andyxxx with some advice and the images we have seen are purely cosmetic at this stage. We have advised to cover up this and all other areas where friction from cable rub could be experienced to prolong the good looks of the frame. We are also going to issue a

m

service bulletin to all stores that these areas should be discussed prior to the bike being taken away from the store.
Thanks
Colin from Trek

Hi all,
difficult area this one, as we do not fit the patches from standard- after all some people runs brakes different ways, some people fit narrow/wide bars, shorter/longer stems and

n

their position on the bike before taking it from the bike store. One of my colleagues has been in touch with andyxxx with some advice and the images we have seen are purely cosmetic at this stage. We have advised to cover up this and all other areas where friction from cable rub could be experienced to prolong the good looks of the frame. We are also going to issue a

m

service bulletin to all stores that these areas should be discussed prior to the bike being taken away from the store.

Thanks
Colin from Trek

trekcol. Colin from Trek

Your colleague has been in email correspondece with me this morning and promptly answered my questions, but I do not agree that a factory built bike, without modification should have suffered any damage in such a short period.

However, I am releived to hear that this is cosmetic. I have now 'patched' this area so it will not get any worse.

Thanks everybody for your input.

Andy

This is crap…sorry guys you can't use a bike without the cable in place, TREK have to design the bike so it doesn't wear through the frame or provide the owner with patches and a great big warning about the consequences of not fitting them!..TREKs response is bollox , where that cable has exited the frame has worn…irrespective of whether he fits a 150mm stem and drop bars to it it won't affect where that cable guide is!

Cracked my E5 frame last year and when stripping it realized one the rear Goodrich hose had worn 5mm through the frame where the links mount…I'd never noticed it and wonder where I'd have stood on warrantee if the frame hadn't cracked elsewhere first

Now, forgive me for saying this, but I thouth THE reason that Trek won't let their dealers sell mail order was to avoid set-up problems caused by a 3rd party work on their bikes. i.e – To conrtol the quality of their bikes and the assembly of them!

Personally, I think this is a shonky attitude. The OP has no clue that this can happen, and why should he? That's why he goes to a dealers and buys an expensive bike.

Agree it's crap, but at the end of the day, it's cosmetic. If it fails there in the future (which it blatantly won't!) he's logged his complaint with Trek, who know about it, and there's another bridge to cross.

Edit: why do people call it 'TREK' it's not an acronym!?

If you built the frame yourself you wouldnt have a leg to stand on.
If it was factory built BUT you those arent the original outers then its not their fault.

If they are the original outers though- its their fault. Design/finishing/build- whatever- their fault.

All IMO of course.

Now, forgive me for saying this, but I thought THE reason that Trek won't let their dealers sell mail order was to avoid set-up problems caused by a 3rd party work on their bikes

The man makes a good point.

I personally think this is a poor attitude from Trek. I know it is only cosmetic damage, but if i paid a big chunk of change on a bike only for it to start to wear BECAUSE of how it had been set-up/built by Trek then i would be pissed.

Bikes are shipped 90% finished from the factory and then finished off in the shop. Mechanics usually pop on frame protection.
To be fair it's not Trek's fault if you dont see cable rub – you need to be inspecting your bike every ride as per the warranty details.

I would understand a manufacturer not covering this as the frame has not failed. If it were to fail through a cable cutting through you would have to question the use of the frame being correct and per the warranty terms.

Great – so someone has made this problem aware to Trek & they have now updated their service bulletins to take this into account.
Doesn't really help the OP though does it.

I'd have thought the bike shop should have at least mentioned that cable rub might be an issue, or even better added some protection.
And as someone mentioned above (coffeeking?), that is an area that is prone to rub on FS bikes as the sus compresses. My Stumpy has similar wear marks, but not as bad (and that's 9yrs old now)!

It does look like mainly cosmetic damage, but I'd still be mighty peeved if it was my bike.
PP makes a good point about Trek not selling mail order to control quality & the cables are clearly in their original paths.

To be honest, once it's covered up/protected & the bike has a few more dings it will be forgotten. But, that isn't really the point on a £4k bike.

FFS cables rub frames. Any make, any model.

Unless Lizzard Skins only make these for Carbon Treks…

My alloy '09 EX9 started to rub in exactly the same position on the first ride, as did that a mate of mine who also has an EX9. Luckiy I noticed after the first ride and put helicopter tape which has stopped it, so perhaps it is an issue with the EX series?

I would like to say again that Colin was extremely helpful and very fair with my carbon frame warranty claims (all three of them)in 2008 and 2009 and I would hope that if it did cause a problem long term that they would honour their Lifetime warranty as they did with me.

this is a problem with cannondale rush frames with the cable for the rear mech which runs throught the swing arm and one of the things that put me off buying one this summer. have a look at any carbon rush frame and you will see what i mean. basically cannondale refer the owner to page x in the owners manual and say goodbye.

I had a similar but different issue with an iron horse. But instead it was with the chain rubbing a groove on the chainstay when in 3 of the gears! Was told it was my fault, I shouldn't have been using those gears. I argued then why did they sell it as a 27 speed bike? but to no avail. Apparantly I was the only one with this issue, but since i've heard of tothers being told the same thing, plus its funny that the next year they completely changed the design to avoid this. I threatened to take them to court, but it didnt change anything….

FFS cables rub frames. Any make, any model.

Unless Lizzard Skins only make these for Carbon Treks…

Whats your point caller? Why is it the OP's fault?

*makes a note to check my Trek later*

I'm not aware of any manufacturer, including Trek, that offers a warranty on their frames that covers cable rub. If a manufacturer does offer a warranty that covers cable rub I'd be pleased to know about it.

Anyhow, the only way an outer cable could do that much damage in 3 months is if there was dirt between the cable and the frame to act as a sort of grinding paste. I'm not saying the OP is to blame for anything other than a bit of naivety, but dirt wears stuff out.

Imagine if the OP had said that he had ridden the bike for 3months and he hadn't used any lube on the chain and it's now rusted and snapped, would you also be saying that Trek should replace the drivetrain under warranty?

Its his fault because he didn't apply the provided frame protectors

Irrespective of whether the damage is cosmetic or not, this will affect the resale value, and ease of resale of the frame/bike.

For all the reasons detailed above by various people imo Trek and or the shop have some culpability for the damage, by not educating the customer on the need for patches and should accept some responsibility.

i have used clear nail varnish on a similar rub on a carbon frame before as that is similar to the lacquer used, then patched over it.

i thought carbon bikes normally came with the owners manual ?

cheers