My cracked Spec Roubaix bike frame - the resolution
#51
pan y agua
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I’ve hit tons of sticks and never thought anything of them. OP could have easily hit some debris, thought nothing of it, and not noticed the crack for sometime. You could ride that bike for a long time in the condition pictured without feeling anything wrong.
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You could fall off a cliff and die.
You could get lost and die.
You could hit a tree and die.
OR YOU COULD STAY HOME AND FALL OFF THE COUCH AND DIE.
You could fall off a cliff and die.
You could get lost and die.
You could hit a tree and die.
OR YOU COULD STAY HOME AND FALL OFF THE COUCH AND DIE.
#52
Senior Member
However...a company that had to honor their warranty 3 times would make me question their quality control.
#53
Senior Member
#54
Gee, thanks.
I think I'd have noticed if I hit a branch hard enough to break a carbon fiber frame. I'd guess that would have taken out a few spokes, too, but apparently not.
But, as I'm learning in this thread, so many Internet experts who weren't there and haven't seen the bike (or seen me, or talked to the LBS managers) have better knowledge of what must have happened.
--The OP
I think I'd have noticed if I hit a branch hard enough to break a carbon fiber frame. I'd guess that would have taken out a few spokes, too, but apparently not.
But, as I'm learning in this thread, so many Internet experts who weren't there and haven't seen the bike (or seen me, or talked to the LBS managers) have better knowledge of what must have happened.
--The OP
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#55
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But yeah, when given the choice between a) spontaneous failure in *that* mode and in *that* location vs b) a rider that hit something and didn't think anything of it... yeah, Occam's hitting the "Easy" button on that one.
#56
Senior Member
Gee, thanks.
I think I'd have noticed if I hit a branch hard enough to break a carbon fiber frame. I'd guess that would have taken out a few spokes, too, but apparently not.
But, as I'm learning in this thread, so many Internet experts who weren't there and haven't seen the bike (or seen me, or talked to the LBS managers) have better knowledge of what must have happened.
--The OP
I think I'd have noticed if I hit a branch hard enough to break a carbon fiber frame. I'd guess that would have taken out a few spokes, too, but apparently not.
But, as I'm learning in this thread, so many Internet experts who weren't there and haven't seen the bike (or seen me, or talked to the LBS managers) have better knowledge of what must have happened.
--The OP
Likes For Koyote:
#58
Senior Member
Gee, thanks.
I think I'd have noticed if I hit a branch hard enough to break a carbon fiber frame. I'd guess that would have taken out a few spokes, too, but apparently not.
But, as I'm learning in this thread, so many Internet experts who weren't there and haven't seen the bike (or seen me, or talked to the LBS managers) have better knowledge of what must have happened.
--The OP
I think I'd have noticed if I hit a branch hard enough to break a carbon fiber frame. I'd guess that would have taken out a few spokes, too, but apparently not.
But, as I'm learning in this thread, so many Internet experts who weren't there and haven't seen the bike (or seen me, or talked to the LBS managers) have better knowledge of what must have happened.
--The OP
#59
Zoom zoom zoom zoom bonk
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Manufacturers are able to make such thin seat stays because they're not doing a lot of the heavy lifting. See Steven Kruijswijk's Cervelo: he crashed and then finished a TdF stage without noticing that he'd completely lost one of his seatstays -
Just riding around isn't going to stress that area enough to cause that kind of damage. An impact, like from a branch swept in to the wheel, is more likely to cause the type of damage seen on your 'stays. Knowing this explains why Spec "dragged their feet."
Just riding around isn't going to stress that area enough to cause that kind of damage. An impact, like from a branch swept in to the wheel, is more likely to cause the type of damage seen on your 'stays. Knowing this explains why Spec "dragged their feet."
#60
The truth is none of us, including the OP, know what happened in this case. We can make guesses, like the family dog jumped on the bike while it was on its side in the SUV. But it is pure speculation.
The main point is that Specialized (for all their sins) reasonably assumed that the stay didn't simply crack while just riding along. It may have, but if so, it is clearly a total fluke.
#61
The main takeaway here is that lightweight carbon frames do have some pretty delicate parts (especially pencil-thin compliant seat-stays) and you have to be ultra-careful about transportation, storage etc and you have to be extremely careful when using bike carriers. For example there was a picture of a pro racer's bike that "spontaneously" snapped halfway down the seat-tube while JRA. After several pages of speculation, someone simply posted a picture of their team car with half a dozen of those bikes on the roof. Guess were they were clamped to the bike carrier?