Warranty on bicycles?

youcancallmeal

I had never really thought about warranty/guarantee on bicycles until today when I discovered a fairly significant crack on the frame of my two year old Ridgeback Cyclone. Its right where the frame meets the seatpost holder. I'd say the only reason it hasn't fallen apart is because the seatpost is pretty long and is holding it in place. I checked the ridgeback website and there is no mention of warranty. Should I bring it back to the shop I got it in, surely the frame hasn't got a lifetime of two years?

penexpers

It depends on the company. Some I know of will only offer two years on the frame. You could try the shop you bought it in, they should be aware of the Ridgeback warranty.

youcancallmeal

Yeah I suppose I'll give the shop a ring tomorrow. If they won't send it back to the manufacturers then I'll need to look for someone who can throw a few spot welds on it

kona

is it steel or aluminium???

usually steel is 15+ years while bog standar aluminium is about the 5 year mark, good aluminium frames are 10+ years.

if its aluminium you cant spot weld.

is it where the weld is or is it in the actual tube?? and how high do you raise your seatpost??

youcancallmeal

Its an aluminum frame, fairly light stuff. I paid €500 for the bike two years ago, I didnt expect it to break that easily

I generally do have my seatpost fairly high(I'm tall) and I sit down for most of the time I'm on the bike so I can see why the crack would form because of the strain on that area in particular. The crack is right above the weld which is probably the weakest part

kona

youcancallme>al wrote: »

Its an aluminum frame, fairly light stuff. I paid €500 for the bike two years ago, I didnt expect it to break that easily

I generally do have my seatpost fairly high(I'm tall) and I sit down for most of the time I'm on the bike so I can see why the crack would form because of the strain on that area in particular. The crack is right above the weld which is probably the weakest part

if your post is up alot, id say the bike is too small for you:o
what size are you and what size is the bike??

you could probably brace the crack or somthing since its not on the weld, if its was the weld the frame would be 100% ****ed:o:(

your weight on the seat post will apply significant leverage to the frame, the more its extended the more leverage(there is a minimum insertion poin marked, is this in the frame or outside?), and since aluminium is softer than steel this will cause the damage.
thats my guess as to what happened:o

when you bring it back make sure you lower the seat right down, and if they ask say you ride it in that position!

also what type of seat clamp do you use?? is it the standard one?? is it over tightened??

make sure you give the shop nothing to question the crack on because, they will try everything not to give you the warranty...and be prepared to wait about a month or so while they deal with ridgeback....:o

Morgan

According to their catalogue

Ridgeback means quality. Constructed to the
highest standard, Ridgeback frames are built
to last, so they’re guaranteed for life.

Whatever that means. As Kona says - as long as you haven't been riding with the seatpost above it's minimum insertion mark than you should be fine.

E@gle.

warranty on bikes is a bit of a grey area, my bike (Look) comes with a 1 year warranty on the paint and a 3 year warranty on the frame.

Most bike manfacturers dont offer warranty for wear and tear which they may diagnois as the problem

seamus

Yeah, it varies largely from maker to maker. Scott (afaik) offer a lifetime warranty on their frames - if you break it, they'll replace it.

penexpers

kona wrote: »

is it steel or aluminium???

usually steel is 15+ years while bog standar aluminium is about the 5 year mark, good aluminium frames are 10+ years.

if its aluminium you cant spot weld.

is it where the weld is or is it in the actual tube?? and how high do you raise your seatpost??

Who offers 15 year warranties on steel frames?

seamus

penexpers wrote: »

Who offers 15 year warranties on steel frames?

I think he's talking more in terms of the expected lifetime of the frame.

youcancallmeal

I'm 6'4" and my bike frame size is the second largest one you can get from Ridgeback, 23". I don't think my seatpost is overly extended for the size of the frame. As you can see from the pictures it is only out about 5/6 inches. Anyway I rang the shop and told them it was over two years old and they said no worries just bring it in and they'll have a look.

Morgan

Hopefully they'll sort you out. If you take out the seatpost - does the end of the post go far below the crack?

youcancallmeal

I havent taken out the seatpost since I noticed the crack. I'm afraid to because it might break of altogether then! I'd say it is fairly long though otherwise the the whole lot would of snapped off ages ago

Morgan

That's a good point - it's probably all that's holding the bike together.

seamus

Speaking purely with my amateur scientists hat on here - if that's a steel seatpost (do they even make them) in an alu frame, the seatpost would be more likely to flex than the frame, which is more brittle than steel and doesn't stand up well to repeated stress. Over time, a big guy on a rigid back end would easily cause the seat post to flex (even by fractions of mm's) thousands of times, which would eventually result in the kind of crack you see there.

youcancallmeal

Just an update on this, I'm still waiting to get my bike fixed 8 weeks on
Every time I call the shop they tell me they are still waiting on the new frame to be delivered. I'm getting very tired of cycling my crappy old mountain bike to work everyday.