Eric F 

Trek still offers a lifetime warranty on their frames.

eduskator

Unrelated to the topic, but I'm always surprised to see how some sellers (LBS or owners) are trying to use that ''lifetime warranty'' as a lever when they sell products. I see that with Giant bicycles all the time.

First, the warranty covers defects in workmanship and materials. It does not cover normal use, including material fatigue. In other words, good luck getting a warranty claim for a 10+ year old frameset. Secondly, the warranty for most manufacturers is only valid for the good's first owner.

JohnDThompson 

Yes. I was Trek's warranty claim inspector in Waterloo in the mid-80s; [MENTION=503597]eduskator[/MENTION]'s comment is spot-on. If you raced on the frame, that would also exclude warranty coverage. But warranty claims are as much public relations as anything else, and we would try to be generous in offering repairs or replacement at a discount in all but the most egregious abuse cases. IOW, it can't hurt to ask.

Eric F 

Why does racing negate the warranty? In my experience as a former racer, my bikes got ridden just as hard on non-race days.

eduskator

Use of bicycles for competition is normally included in the warranty exclusion list.

Can't say why, but I can say that it's excluded for a lot if not all of them.

Eric F 

Trek literally markets multiple bikes as "race bikes". I'm not seeing anywhere in the warranty language on Trek's website where using a bike in competition voids the warranty.

eduskator

Limited Warranty (trekbikes.com)

Bikes used for commercial activities, including those in rental, demo, or security fleets.

Is racing a commercial activity?

alcjphil

Anyone who is a competitive racer will put a lot more strain on the frame even on non race days

Eric F 

Interesting...that language was under the 2012-2019 heading but not in the language for current models. It seems to me that is racing was an issue, they would specifically include that language. I'm not a lawyer, and have never played one on TV, so I'm just guessing here.

Eric F 

I've always known non-racer folks who were stronger riders than me, even when I was at the peak of my racing fitness.

How can Trek exclude warranty coverage for someone who raced on a Madone, marketed by Trek as "The Ultimate Race Bike"?

bampilot06

there is a 50cm US postal, Ultegra 5800? For sale in my area pretty good condition.

Just throwing that out there.

eduskator

I completely agree with you. It would be paradoxical to market a product as an ''ultimate race bike'' while excluding race usage from its warranty, but with capitalism, I learned that anything was possible.

JohnDThompson 

That's a question for the lawyers, which I am not.

Carbonfiberboy 

My 2000 5200 has been my every-day bike (except for rain) since I bought it. It's still somewhat stock, having been able to replace tired drivetrain parts with new equivalents, though not the same tooth counts. I wore out the rims of course and the other thing I changed out is the stem, which broke at the single bolt to the bars. Looks like everyone else has done the same. That thing was dangerous! Back then the 5200 came with a12-25 Ultegra, whereas the 5500, for ~$1000 more came with a 12-23 Dura-Ace. See, if you have more money, you're a stronger rider, obviously.

The stupid aluminum cable stops corroded and fell off, as did the paint. I had it repainted twice but it fell off again both times. I finally hand sanded all the paint off down to bare epoxy and epoxied on new cable stops, which have been fine. Aluminum cannot be allowed to contact carbon as it's way too far away on the galvanic scale. An epoxy barrier works fine. The bike probably has around 90K miles, no problems other than as described. Looks more like a Calfee or something now. The frame is just beautiful. I spray it with 303 Protectant to keep the UV off it.

Yeah, not the classic look, but for sure the best purchase I ever made. It absorbs vibration wonderfully and goes where it's pointed.

rr99

What a wonderful desription of your 5200. Can you post a photo of the bike?

seypat

I'd guess a bike/frame used for racing is more likely to be crashed. That might be the reason for the warranty issues.

Carbonfiberboy 

Here it is, just an ordinary long distance bike. Note the spare tire.

Eric F 

That's already excluded..."Damage or failure due to accident, misuse, abuse, or neglect"

Personally, I've crashed a lot more times not racing than when I was actually racing.

rr99

Great setup. Love the TT bar.

Despite having a great bike, I respect people that actually ride their bike to the max, and not stair at it all day long, which unfortunatelly is a disease for every bike enthusiast.

tempocyclist

georges1

very nice trek

OldBlueTrek

I have an Aluminum Trek 1200 purchased during the fame and before the shame. I always considered it a US Postal bike because it is Blue white and red and I bought it during those years, but mine doesn't say US Postal on it anywhere like most of the bikes in this thread do. It is all original except for aerobars, but its a bit worse for the wear, though it is still my #1 bike and I ride it most days during the warm months. I find it a bit stiff on expansion cracks but otherwise love it and have no intention of ever buying another road bike as long as I can still ride this one.

vane171

Sorry to digress, I don't have postal bike to show. Just these pics reminded me of days gone. Beautiful bikes with frame geometries that I like (sloping down top tube and rear stays you see on modern bikes will never cut it for me, never mind its functionality, it is plug ugly)

Pro racing used to be a joy to watch. Candy for the eyes, you could admire bicycles, each one was different, even dresses were more interesting. You had color on tires, on saddles, shoes, there was variety in rim brakes and rims weren't deep, so they couldn't serve as well as advertising billboards.
And hold your hats gentlemen, no helmets (wow !!), rider recognition was easier even for those who didn't follow pro racing scene too much. Socks in those days were socks as normal folks would understand it, nowadays those are compression socks that still look like socks only because of regulations, otherwise we would see socks of the size feet to head, like condoms riding on bicycles...

Nowadays everything looks the same, unification everywhere, those disk brakes look all the same, group sets are what, two kinds only? There used to be a variety in cabling, braze ons, now all that is gone.
It is similar to buildings, those built hundred or more years ago are full of features, nowadays you get glass cubes, all alike.

Trakhak

Yes, none of us can avoid imprinting on what was around when we were young. Musical tastes work the same as tastes in bicycles, for instance. Nothing wrong with that. (Although the preference for helmetless racing seems a little cold-blooded. Still, the rule makers at the UCI must have felt the same, since they held off mandating helmet use until a couple of racers died of head injuries in the modern era of live race coverage on TV.)

Funny to claim that bikes all looked different in previous decades. People are constantly posting in the C&V forum with requests for help to identify a repainted bike, leading in many cases to lengthy threads where even experts can't agree on which company built the bike.

By the way, bikes with level top tubes were preceded by bikes with sloping tubes. Level top tubes became the standard when lugs began being used as a cost-cutting measure (because they cut down on production time and enabled the use of semi-skilled workers).

vane171

I guess the frame, I suppose it can be subtle, but you also had those chain rings and cranks and hubs and shift levers and virtually everything, those were works of art, of love, like Campagnolo and others, these days there is much less to admire the same way. Not saying I don't like to look at unboxing new groupset, but there is just a few big brands (or so it seems to be) and they are all pushed into the same shape by testing in wind tunnels and only differ in labels they put on it.

I accept that top tubes don't need to be fully horizontal, some slope to them also looks OK but mountain bikes especially carry it to extreme. It seems that in the past, bike makers were driven both by functionality and by looks, while today it is just functionality. You probably have seen velodrome bikes that have front forks looking like a bar stool.
I suppose this is unisex frame, compromise btw man's and ladies bicycles of the past?