[Closed] Best Manufacturer for Warranty / Aftersales

Bird Cycleworks, top blokes and lifetime warranty.

Giant have a very good reputation on frame warranties.

From experience, Giant and Oakley.

Hope have excellent after sales service, advice, warranty, spare parts etc.....

Specialized are good in terms of no questions asked frame warranty.

I bought a Lemond road bike in 1997?, it was replaced under warranty in 2007ish and again in 2017. No arguments, no hassle, and in both cases got new forks.

Lemond was a Trek brand, and as they are no longer made I now have a year old Trek ALR.

I'll second Bird - lifetime (transferable) frame warranty, and go out of their way to ensure customers are happy. Top guys.

I'll third Bird (it appears everybody has now, indeed heard about them).

Super, super bunch to deal with. I've lost count the number of times Dan's hauled me out the shat with a last minute posted spare bit (that I've almost always broken myself).

Unless you're set on carbon, they're absolutely deserving of a look in for your next bike purchase.

Turner used to be right up there at the top but managed to drop off a cliff face almost instantaneous a short while back.

I have a couple of Giants and they have been my main go to brand for past decade. I have tested the warranty a few times, all with good results. Also have a Bird and had a dropper warranty dealt with very efficiently by Ben and the team.

Specialized were very good with me

I don't own a Bird, but they top my list in internet wisdom regarding warranty stuff, they seem exceptional at it.

Ibis have a good rep too.... And I know it's very individual but specialized couldn't give a toss about a problem with my Epic frame...

Santa Cruz. I sold a Blur frame through STW a couple of years ago. It would have been 7-8 years old. The buyer found a fault with it and Santa Cruz had no problem replacing it even though they new it had just been bought.

Specialized by reputation and personal experience.

I know they've been knocked on here but I never had any problems with Cube when I was selling those. Well, possibly a bit tardy, but always a result.

Turner used to be right up there at the top but managed to drop off a cliff face almost instantaneous a short while back.

I’ve always had a great response from David turner with any questions and after sales, having said that. None of my past and current turner bikes ever/have required warranty issues.
So perhaps that’s a good sign

From my own experience of a faultless and simple frame warranty replacement it has to be Cannondale.

Specialized were good when my epic cracked. Atb sales have warrantied 3 frames for me without any hassle.

Thanks. Reassuring to read that good aftersales and warranty seems to be the rule rather than the exception.

As a counter to that, 2 friends have had warranty claims denied by Trek claiming it was "crash damage" when I know for a fact they weren't involved in crashes. One friend was riding in our group on her less than 12-month old Madone when the seat clamp failed, resulting in the seat mast collapsing and her falling off as we slowed at a roundabout - Trek claimed it was the 'crash' that caused the damage, not the other way around and denied her claim. I find the whole warranty thing a bit spurious - it's an insurance policy from manufacturers to protect themselves against defective goods and IME the ones who make the "best warranty" claims are often the ones with the poorest product failure record.

Mate of mine had a 700 quid Trek road bike when he was a student, was kept on a balcony under a tarp in Glasgow, so not really a huge surprise when the steerer sheared when he was out on a road ride.

They replaced it with a 1200 quid bike, and as he was in Prague on a secondment paid for his flights hone to get his teeth fixed, and also the dentistry work.

Tbh I thought he had a complete brass neck, but ye can't knock the service he got.

To be open I've had a couple of components fail on my current bike within a couple of months of purchase and the direct sales distributor didn't want to know. They have also stopped bringing the model I ride into the UK which is a niggling worry if the frame fails.

I suppose my priority is to identify and avoid the manufacturers who just leave you blowing in the wind if anything goes wrong. Even on the less than optimal outcomes above, the manufacturer at least engaged with the issue.

Not just direct sales that do that, twice my sb66 rear triangle cracked (and by cracked I mean at least half a dozen of the buggers both times) both times were 4 months to get new rear tri as silverfish didn't hold stock, despite the failures being very common.

Ended up just getting an alloy rear end instead of the carbon, as the warranty end was approaching.

Shame, it was a great bike otherwise.

As a counter to that, 2 friends have had warranty claims denied by Trek claiming it was “crash damage” when I know for a fact they weren’t involved in crashes. One friend was riding in our group on her less than 12-month old Madone when the seat clamp failed, resulting in the seat mast collapsing and her falling off as we slowed at a roundabout

Sounds like it wasn't done up tight enough .

Again, Bird. I've had exceptional experience with them and can confirm their warranty is as good as promised (second hand frame, older Mk1.5 Aeris not the new one).

I’ve heard nothing but good things about Santa Cruz warranty, although it’s clearly built into the price.

Hope warranty has been mixed for me, although recent experiences have been good.

Silverfish were great when my Turbine dropper failed

Leatherman and Oakley warranty is superb.

Ime a lot of a warranty experience depends on the customers initial behaviour (and maybe how the lbs deal with the distro). Go in guns blazing and start social media slagging and it’s no surprise when a company falls back to the legal minimum. Be honest, reasonable and treat the distributor with respect and courtesy and I find they’re all pretty good.

Onzadog...what happened with turner.

I receantly ordered some bushings and it was hard work and expensive, plus two of the shafts had the grease groove unfinished and i got no reply back about thd issue...but in the past they have been great

No uk support now either...get the feeling they are winding down

Cotic were awesome for me- especially considering I bought the bike used and I didn't even have a warranty

Trek and Genesis not that I have ever used the Trek warranty and have owned at least 30 of them past and present.

Trek have been very good with me regarding with the warranty on a wheel issue I had. Replaced the rear with no quibbles. I was expecting to have to pay myself as the wheel was about 18 months old and had had a lot of use. Expensive carbon model (£900rrp for the rear).

On-one they refund you for a frame you sold on as new.

Turner used to be right up there at the top but managed to drop off a cliff face almost instantaneous a short while back.

Had great service from them this year. They are bit slower and not making the frames in the USA has clearly caused headaches but they have supplied me with some fantastic support this year.

Delivering two Cyclosys at a hotel for me in America at a great price and ready to ride. DT also did me a fantastic deal on a new Czar replacement when my 5 year old linkage failed. And I mean an amazing deal.

So yeah, spent a lot with them but a good year for me with lots of personal exchanges of email.

I'm aware their have been issues but equally I sense a lot unreasonable behaviour on the warranty side. But then they were always a premium product.

Drac

Subscriber

On-one they refund you for a frame you sold on as new.

I think they did that with the savings they'd made by lying their way out of my warranty claim.

@shooterman you need to name and shame.

I agree with your approach of "buying the vendor" as much as buying the bike.

My CX is a Santa Cruz and my next MTB will be a Bird for exactly that reason.

Trek have been good for me, I've had two new frames under warranty over the last 10 years, one road, one MTB with no quibbles.

Had great experience with Marin, Hope and Exposure
Would strongly suggest avoiding Pace, Silverfish and Chain Reaction

Hmm. Had a feeling bird would receive some love. A friend of mine was told that 2.5 years was a lifetime as far as an aluminium frame was concerned. Original owner. I wouldn't buy from them.

Thanks for all the responses.

I had been looking at Yeti but have read too many negative comments on their after sales over the years.

@crimsondynamo it was Intense. Left to my own devices really by them when components failed (dropper and brakes). There were a few other things with them non warranty related which didn't impress me. Overall left feeling rinsed.

Another Happy Bird owner here. Dan and Ben always answer e-mails and try to resolve any issues ASAP (not just prior to purchase). I guess that’s why they won the Singletrack award.
From a parts point of view my experiences with MRP have been just as favourable. For such a large company I’m amazed at the response times in answering e-mails and putting you on the right path. Make you feel like you’ve been a long-standing customer on first contact.

Evoc. I had a brand new top of the line backpack have some stitching fail on the inside mesh pockets after a couple of weeks.

The distributor just point blank refused to listen to me and said I must have over loaded the pocket (I used it to hold my multitool). This means that I will take any opportunity I can to highlight his approach to me and the rudeness he displayed.

Evoc direct on the other hand were brilliant after I contacted them and explained what an arse their distributor was and how the bag had failed. They sent me a replacement backpack which is still fine after about 4 years and means I will continue to buy Evoc.

You never forget being treated badly.

Sounds like it wasn’t done up tight enough .

It had just been serviced at a Trek dealer - first ride out - the shop was sympathetic but Trek didn't want to know.

Specialized were great when my 2016 stumperjumper Carbon comp frame seat tube cracked. Had a new frame and shock back within 5 days of reporting the issue through the shop.
Trek were great when my 08 remedy cracked on a weld after just over a years use. I couldn’t find the original receipt but they accepted a copy of the bank statement showing I’d spent £3k at Evans. They even then upgraded the frame from the remedy 8 to a remedy 9

Another vote for Bird here, they do go out of their way to keep their current customers happy. Ben recently helped me with what tune I needed when I was looking at an OE shock on eBay and helped explain the different tunes Rockshox do.

Friend bought a frame from another friend (original purchaser) in the process of building it up a crack was discovered.

Much anguish all round but new purchaser thought he’d speak openly and honestly to the shop. Result was a brand new frame.

Company was Trek via cycle world in Romsey, unfortunately they’ve now closed but we’re always helpful no matter what the enquiry.

I’d be very tempted to purchase a trek if there were more new frame options.

Hmm. Had a feeling bird would receive some love. A friend of mine was told that 2.5 years was a lifetime as far as an aluminium frame was concerned. Original owner. I wouldn’t buy from them.

Bird's disclaimer:

IMPORTANT NOTE: All aluminium frames will accumulate fatigue over its lifetime and this will vary the depending on the alloy, frame type and amount of use the frame is subject to. Use in competitive events, jumping, riding with heavy loads, commercial activities and other types of non standard use can dramatically shorten the useful life of the frame and we reserve the right to take this into consideration when assessing a warranty claim.

Is fair to be honest and I suspect most manufacturers with lifetime warranty also have similar disclaimers.

Doesn't mean it won't last longer than 2.5 years though. Plenty of ali frame bikes out there going strong much longer (have a Santa Cruz ali frame at 8 years or so no problems, and it didn't have lifetime warranty back then either).

Burden of proof. If you can prove it was a manufacturer defect, then no worries. Regardless, you've got 6 years under statutory rights in UK also, burden on proof on yourself of course after 6 months.

Good.
Marin/Whyte:
Replaced several broken frames, including crashed ones, without issue. They even gave me the bits that were different standards when the model of frame changed.
Chain Reaction Cycles:
Replaced several broken frames without issue.
TFTuned:
Without a doubt the best service of any company I’ve ever dealt with.

Bad.
Bike-discount.de:
See my recent thread about a short hose.
Hope:
I asked for a steel axle when I snapped my my 2nd or 3rd pro2 axle....nope.

Use in competitive events, jumping, riding with heavy loads, commercial activities and other types of non standard use

None of which apply in this case.

cycle world in Romsey, unfortunately they’ve now closed

didn't know that 🙁

To be fair I’ve not physically seen a closed shop but have been told it is and a quick google doesn’t list it anymore.

Was a good little shop that

That’s interesting regarding the Bird warranty. To me lifetime means as long as you own a frame. I don’t own one, but I’d say Santa Cruz have the best warranty as it’s true lifetime and you get free frame bearings if they wear out. They’re also unlikely to go out of business based on the number you see, so you’ve got no worries with warranty claims long term anyway.

E*thirteen were very good with me. I had a bolt round on my dropper lever that came on my Capra, I went straight to them and the posted me a new one no questions asked.

Giant did me a rear triangle out of goodwill when a rear axle snapped.

Superstar components customer service always leaves a bad taste.

surely the best company never gets reviews on their warranty as their stuff hardly ever breaks? i want a bike etc from them, their stuff doesn't fail so their warranty dept looks like the carlsburg complaints dept. which bike company is that is the right question to ask.

My Bird has been faultless and they are great to deal with.
A mate has Mk1 or 1.5 and had a chainstay go and that was replaced without fuss. He has just been offered a big discount to trade in his old Aerus for a new Aeris 145. I think that is a really nice touch.

Aye rocketdog, seems that Birds warranty dept is busier than it should be, going by this thread....

Santa Cruz were great, going back 5/6 years ago when I used their warranty.

More recently, Giant & Trek have been amazing. Super fast turnaround, based on pictures only.

Yeti on the other hand, were (and by all accounts, still are), a joke.

Most of the bird comments are in regards to service rather than a warranty service aren't they?

I've got a bird, and it's not broken yet, but I have had cause to ask a few questions (shock tune for a shock i bought off flea bay that kind of thing) and the guys have been nothing but helpful.

Evoc were excellent for me also, sent me free bits when I broek my through my own stupidity. Worth knowing that they've moved distribbutr recently too.