CoogansBluff

I suffered a broken (cracked) wheel yesterday. Was going to order a new set, but my Specialized dealer felt confident that I could get some warranty discount on the new purchase. That requires waiting for Specialized to make a ruling, which delays getting it fixed. I accept that, but just curious whether this is a drawn=out process, or whether they make a decision quickly on these things. I had to send a photo of the wheel damage.

Iride01 

If you are wanting to ride today or in the next few days, then yes this will be a long drawn out process.

Polaris OBark

Get a new wheel-set, and if the warranty comes though, you will have two wheel-sets, which is always a good thing.

I have no experience with Specialized, but in general there is little incentive for them to expedite the process.

CoogansBluff

That sounds both realistic and practical.

veganbikes

Specialized is usually reasonably quick with warranty. Typically they respond in 5 business days and sometimes sooner. It can take time for stuff to come in and sometimes it takes a little time but it is warranty as long as you are relaxed it will go by fairly quickly I find the people who freak out tend to have a slower time and not that anything is delayed but that you worry too much and feel like it is slower even if the same time.

Get a different wheelset maybe something in aluminum or something handbuilt to your specs.

Trakhak

If it works the way it did when I managed a Specialized dealership, you might have to wait for the Specialized regional sales rep to show up for the next scheduled visit. Dealers in big cities and dealers who move a lot of Specialized products might see the rep more frequently. Those dealers sometimes also get gray-area warranty claims approved that might not have been approved for dealers with less clout.

I hope the shop person who encouraged you to try going the warranty route is the manager or owner and not, e.g., a fairly new hire. Some shop employees can be prone to excessive enthusiasm about warranties, which can lead to awkward situations if the warranty claim is refused.

datlas 

Didn’t you ask the dealer? Presumably this is not their first warranty claim.

mschwett 

just ask your dealer. the only warranty issue I ever had with a specialized bike took a few days for them to agree it was a warranty repair, but the part wasn’t in stock (pandemic) so it took a couple weeks.

stevel610 

No back up bike to hold you over?

calamarichris

A ruling? So now these mfers have non-public courts to determine the culpability of their disposabikes?
I guess if you guys are willing to keep buying plastic-fantastic, there's no point in them doing other than they do.
GTFO my lawn.

znomit

Don't forget the back up for the back up!

choddo

You never bought anything with a limited warranty? Sorry sir, I threw my bike off a cliff in a fit of pique and now I’d like a new frame plz.

calamarichris

Because throwing bikes off cliffs is what riders do?
I once snapped a Felt CF frame sprinting across lanes to make a left-turn in traffic. They honored the warranty, but I never trusted the replacement for anything other than rollers duty. After a few years of sweating on it, the bottle-cage bosses started to bubble and swell. Disposabike.
I've also lost a lot of skin in multiple USCF criterium pile-ups on a steel bike. (86 Schwinn Peloton). Picked pieces of gravel out of my wounds, sometimes my body would eject the little pieces of rock a week later.
A lot of lost skin and a lot of lost paint off that Columbus frame, but the word "warranty" never entered the conversation.

Trakhak

Interesting. I've rarely seen bubbling like that on a carbon frame. I've seen plenty of steel frames with rust forming under the paint at top tube brazeons and other locations, though. If you don't take care of it, any bike can turn into a disposabike.

eduskator

Yep, that's the unfortunate truth about warranty claims. When you're buying a brand new product, they always bragg about how strong their warranty is. What they don't tell you is how long the claim process can be.

Same thing goes for extended warranties when you purchase goods with your credit card. The claim process takes forever. It's a real joke.

choddo

I’ve sweated on my carbon frame on the trainer enough to completely rust the cage bolts (I added a towel over the top tube when I noticed) but the frame shrugged it off.

Thanks for reminding me why I’m way too old to race

p.s. I heard this guy warrantied his frame
https://youtu.be/

Trakhak

Confining the topic to warranties in the bike market:

There have been many threads on bike frame warranties over the years. Most have reported very good experiences, where the claim was processed within a few weeks and the bike owner received a new frame. In many cases, the frame received is a newer, upgraded frame because the original frame was long since out of production. Often, the bike owner was offered a choice between a new frame and a credit toward a new bike purchase.

By the way, during the years I worked in bike shops, if you had, say, a Bianchi bike that, e.g., cracked at the seat tube/top tube/seat stay lug because the guy in the factory had overheated the joint, your frame would have been replaced under warranty.

If you bought the bike in the U.S., that is. Not if you bought it in Europe.

Things have probably changed in the last few decades, but there was a long stretch of time where no European bike manufacturers offered frame warranties.

indyfabz

The WHEEL cracked. R.C.I.F.

datlas 

RCIF means "Reading Comprehension Is Fundamental?"

asking for a friend

CoogansBluff

Unfortunately I'm out of town for 3 weeks. Backup bike is 6 hours away.

eduskator

Or Rational Capital Investment Fund according to Google!

That's unfortunate. A 2nd / backup bike is only useful when it's near.

tomato coupe

Whether or not he ever bought anything with a limited warranty is irrelevant -- the only purpose of his post is to provoke reactions.

CoogansBluff

Well, the good news is that I got a very quick answer from Specialized.

Bad news is that it was a no. I knew it was past warranty, but dealer made it sound like I had a good chance of getting at least a discount on the new ones.

But that's fine. Means I could go ahead and order a new wheelset that could have me up and running by the weekend. And I ordered nicer wheels than I had, so I look forward to trying them out.