Tourist in MSN

Earlier I posted a photo, same photo here:



You can see a little bump in the seat tube. I thought that was just a drip of dried paint and thought nothing of it. But when I looked at it from a different angle a few days ago it did not look right, so I pulled the seatpost out and inside the seattube the tubing is not smooth at that spot.

I see it as minor, but if it qualifies for a replacement frame I want that to be done while Raleigh still has frames made under the Ritchey license.

jefnvk

Ah yeah, I see it now. Bummer, hopefully it gets resolved favorably! Probably wouldn't let it bother me if it doesn't though.

ryoanji

Was the bike in question purchased through Amazon? If so, Raleigh most likely will decline warranty coverage. They did it for me, as they deem Amazon as reseller and not licensed dealer (I guess that is part of the reason why Amazon can sell it for such a low price, as most dealer agreements provide for some minimum price below that one cannot go, not sure if that is the case with Raleigh.)

Another update, Amazon Warehouse deals has(had) 54cm Grand Prix for about 1K, someone was looking for one?

Tourist in MSN

Looking at their warranty page on their website, I did not see any specification for that. It was clear they want proof of the date of purchase.

They asked me for more than the PDF I made of the e-mail I got from Amazon saying that I had ordered it. But the Raleigh website says that a credit card receipt is enough for that. I think I better pull my credit card bill out of my to-shred bin in case I need proof that I actually paid for it.

Doing a word search for dealer on their warranty page did not say that I had to buy from a dealer. I sent them a photo of the label on the Raleigh shipping box, that label also listed the serial number, thus I received the bike in the Raleigh box. If I was not the original owner, it is unlikely I would have that.

But thanks for the warning that I might have a fight on my hands.

Quite frankly, I do not think that defect is a big deal. I see the probability that the frame could fail as being quite small, but not zero. The only reason I am pursuing this is because I bought the bike for one reason, it is a Ritchey Breakaway type of frame. If Raleigh stops licensing with Ritchey and offered me a non-take-apart frame later, I would be really upset. Thus, I want this resolved while they still have a frame that they can swap out.

jefnvk

Not to mention if it came from Amazon proper, they'd have to have some sort of resale agreement, if not, there is every possiblity the shop who sold it is a dealer.

ryoanji

I do hope it gets resolved in your favor. In my case, I quickly chatted with them using their online tohat tol and they immediately told me they can't help me. Luckly, I was still within 30 days of purchase, so Amazon took the bike no question asked. It was just a hassle all the way, get the bike, realize it has a huge dent, ship it back.

Tourist in MSN

I really think that the defect will not cause a frame failure, I think it is that minor. But, since the probability of a frame problem is not zero, I would like to get another frame if I can. If I can't I will accept it.

I had a first year of production LHT. The bottom bracket shell was defective, Surly refused the warranty claim. I had a bike shop re-thread it. But the bike had a terrible shimmy, I eventually put the frame in the metal recycling bin, it was that bad. Later I described that to a frame builder I met at a campground while on a bike tour, from my description she described how the welder had messed up their heat settings while welding the bottom bracket shell to cause that problem. I have done a little welding myself, but not the high end stuff like bike frames, but I knew enough about welding that I could grasp what she was describing. She thought that the bad welding on the bottom bracket shell could have caused my shimmy problem.

So, I do get a bit nervous about a frame defect. So, it would be nice to have a defect free frame.