Ibis, Santa Cruz, Transition and Pivot.

Looking for a new frame and while I hope I’ll not need the warranty, I’ve recently been reminded of how important this is. Even more so when there’s a distributor/importer also in the mix.

Besides, what else could you use to separate brands like that?

Pivot is distributed by Upgrade, who also DMR and Kinesis. I’ve always had superb customer service from them.

I’ve only dealt with parts/spares issues with SC and Jungle have been pretty good. Happy to send odd bits for free in the post. Plus they’re always good on the free bearings. Frame warranty, don’t know, but they’re hard to kill anyway. Newer models now have lifetime warranty though. Original owner only of course.

Had a cross threaded frame bolt in 2014 frame. SC sent a Complete new frame to the LBS within three weeks. They didn’t even have the old frame. Was still in the LBS when the new 2015 frame arrived. No quibble. Life time warranty.

After the service my mate had from Intense I’d put them up there. Dropped his brand new frame onto a step, literally on the way down to his shed to start the build. Big crack in the down tube. You can imagine how gutted he was.
Rang the dealer for a price for a new front triangle. When Intense heard they replaced it FOC for his honesty & loyalty to the brand.

Mugdock.

Mugdock?

Generally hear good stories about Ibis.

Santa Cruz from personal experience went well above & beyond for me. I cracked a 26″ Nomad C, I wasn’t the original owner & I called them up to ask about buying a replacement back end. They replaced it for free. I even explained it wasn’t warranty, it was a rock strike. I haven’t had to try it since – my wife has my original Mk3 Nomad C & it’s what, coming up to 3 years old now & it’s still fine.

It’s not just the brand – half the time it’s the distributor being useless as well. Pick wisely.

Nicolai…5 years OUT of warranty,snapped back end replaced foc with new bearings and levers and all assembled.

Hope Hub 5 years out of warranty…replaced foc when shell cracked.

Hob Nob, I couldn’t agree more, that’s the very reason for this thread. I don’t think any bike from my shortlist would be a bad one so customer service is the criterion I’m using to separate them.

can’t comment on the list in the original post, although i have just bought a Transition, so lets see.

However, Ventana are very, very good for aftersales service

Same as Pawsy, thread for the top axle pivot was knackered and they sent me a new frame FOC. I was even picky as They didn’t have the colour I wanted so they send me their new model with the colour I wanted .

Can I be cheeky and add Specialized into the mix. I’m trying to decide between Ibis, SC and Spesh for my next frame. As with the OP warranty length and service will probably be the deciding factor.

Jungle have been incredible for me, bearings sent out very easily for free and then 2014 solo wore away the carbon around the bottom link, they sent me a brand new 2017 5010cc for free…amazed and still having to pinch myself.

Bird – transferable lifetime warranty.

No personal experiences but one mate didn’t get much support from Transition when he cracked his (heavily used) Covert and another struggled his (lightly used) Yeti cracked just outside the warranty period. But Santa Cruz have been very good with faults.

I haven’t needed to warranty my Bird but based on their service to me and everything I’ve heard I’d be surprised if they weren’t outstanding.

Mugdock?

Check the thread about Mugdock (comes up in search) it’s STWHilarity all the way. 3 days it lasted too.

I didn’t have warranty issues with either of the Ibis frames I owned, but when I emailed Ibis for help I got replies of Scot Nichol himself.

Drac, I think I’m with you now, and yes.

Transition only have 2 years warranty I believe. Which doesn’t seem much when their frames are around the same price point as Santa Cruz. Even so, my past 3 bikes have all been Transition.

Another vote for SantaCruz here.
I’ve been buying their bikes right from the very first Heckler (per Superlight) up to the Hightower and the very few problems I’ve had have been dealt with quickly and without charge. (mainly bearings and a few pivot bolts)I even bought a pivot bolt as I’d kind of damaged it myself but then spoke to Jungle who told me to take it back to the LBS and sent me one FOC.
A mate also broke his very well used TRC and they sent him a new style Nomad.

Liteville do a 10 yr, transferable warranty too. Racing included.

My mate had issues with his Ibis Ripley where the back wheel was rubbing away the seat tube under full compression. Took a very long time to get anywhere with them and, in the end, they sent him a new, modified, linkage.
Not interested in the damage done to the frame.

I’ve had 3 Santa Cruz frames now, previous 2 were replaced under warranty (the earlier Blur TRc which had a problem that has been resolved since the new Nomad), SC replaced them with new ones no questions asked. Jungle have also sent me a pivot kit free of charge after I broke a bolt following SC’s (wildly optimistic) torque settings, they’ve also sent me other bits and pieces for free.

Stevelol – Member 
after I broke a bolt following SC’s (wildly optimistic) torque settings

Yeah, I’ve been there. Was informed the torques specified are a bit on the high side 😀 . Anyway, free bolt (no kit as got the bolt out myself but maybe I should have just left it and got a kit too!).

I hand tighten those bolts now to what feels a sensible torque, not trust the torque wrench.

Have to admit my Mate’s experiences with SC have been very good, destroyed lower linkage bearings on his Nomad and Bronson 1 more than a few times. I’d perhaps prefer a bike with bearings that didn’t collapse, or if they did I don’t think I would think that the LBS charging to fit them was fair – you didn’t buy in a kit form, but that’s partly a bit of mate v mate needle 😉

Whilst we’re on the subject of warranty, I wouldn’t trust Spesh again, although the LBS didn’t help (same one as above) Buy a Bike “this bike comes with a lifetime warranty” Great, 2 years later “our bikes come with a lifetime warranty *FS bikes only front triangle covered 2 years later “our bikes come with a 5 year warranty for front triangle, 2 for rear.”

So my frame cracks on a weld, “sorry our warranty doesn’t cover that, it’s on the rear” I reply “well when I bought it, it was whole frame, lifetime” “oh yeah, we changed it retrospectively – here’s a rear at ‘cost’ oh, but sorry, it’s the wrong colour, it’s the only ones we have”.

Evil…oh hang on…

Drac, I think I’m with you now, and yes.

Yeah a crap cross thread joke sorry. 😀

Spooky that you know what I was riding previously.

Urgh, beaten to the joke by andyl…

Litespeed?

On a more serious note, while I haven’t tested the ‘my frame broke’ side of their customer service, jungle/stif have been ace.

I’ve got a SC TallBoy. I bought a TB1, which had the carbon dis-bonding issue so that was replaced under warranty with a TB2.

My bike got broken by DHL. The seat stay was broken on 3 sides. I contacted Jungle about a crash replacement, but they didn’t have any left as the TB3 was just released, so they offered me a TB3 for the cost of the shock. I decided to stay with the TB2 due to all the other changes I would have to make, plus it suits my riding more than the TB3, so they provided me with a new TB2 frame for no cost.

I would love to stick with SC into the future, but they don’t do a real XC/XCM bike anymore.

TBH I think a lot of it depends on the dealer, your relationship with them, and their relationship with the distributor. Most tales of rubbish warranty often come down to the bike shop rather than the distributor.

Specialized wanted £400 off me to replace a damaged (rock strike) front triangle for a Pitch, that was cost apparently but seemed steep to me. They wanted upwards of £200 for a new chainstay for an enduro and refused to entertain a warranty claim on my mates cracked carbon stumpy due to age and an assessment that it was caused by accidental damage. None of these examples are unfair but its not a patch on the tales of free stuff in the examples above

andyl – Member
Evil…oh hang on…

Hohoho! aye, I asked them where I could buy a replacement set of dog-bone links as mine had a bit of cable rub and I wanted a new set as spares, the contact sent me some F.O.C. the bastard.

I’d second SC, they’ve just given me a brand new frame after my 2009 (5 year warranty) frame cracked.

Santa Cruz do have a damn good reputation don’t they.

Until recently I worked for a SC dealer and I had no issues getting any warranty parts from them, would hapily recomend they dont break much either and have one of the best finish quality of any brands.

didnt deal with ibis and pivot but knew people with transitions one of which had to have several replacements of his frame and they all took a minimum of a month sometimes 8-10 weeks.

Okay, so Santa Cruz wins. What order do the others place?

Just seen this – I’ll add Pivot are awesome. I got a crack in a Mach 5.7c about 2 months outside warranty – so just over 3 years old.

I sent them a note/pics asking if there was anything they could do (hoping for a discount on a crash replacement policy etc)- and ended up with a brand new front triangle arriving by DPD about a fortnight later. Awesome service and I wouldn’t hesitate to spend my money with them again.

Here was my original post: http://singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/upgrade-bikes-and-pivot-what-a-bunch-of

Okay, so Santa Cruz wins. What order do the others place?

Marin – 10 years ago used to send a set of pivot bearings out FOC if you asked & they replaced a frame for me after my nine years old one broke.
Turner – great service sent me a whole DW link with bushes & shafts from USA worth over $100 in 2014, all I did was ask if there was a knack to reassembling the lower suspension without getting a creak – result is I bought another Turner frame direct from them recently (I wouldn’t deal with their UK distributor though)
Trek – sent me a whole new shock rather than insisting I sent the defective one back for repair.
On one – were good a few years back but I get the impression they’ve gone downhill recently going by threads on forums.