NABRXX

First off, let me say this; I have been a Raleigh customer since childhood, so it made sense to me to purchase 2 Raleigh LOREs, one for me and one for my wife. I have commuted on my Raleigh for over 3 years and over 17,000 miles in all kinds of weather year round. The original battery stills functions perfectly and all of my expectations have been surpassed with this purchase…but then the frame cracked.



For an American distributor representative to nit-pick on a cracked frame warrantee has surprised/disappointed me to no end. The discussions are still open with them via my vendor, but Raleigh/America is hedging and hawing due to an aftermarket shock absorber seat being installed. Has Raleigh become one of the **** brands or is it still the legendary brand it once was?



Inquiring minds want to know—Please comment about your experiences with this company.








I'm riding this very carefully as a commuter.

The seat stem is not installed in any warrantee challenging manner and is in fact all that is holding it together at this point

2old

I think Raleigh US is a separate company from the legendary British marque. The way the crack seems to initiate at the weld suggests to me that something was amiss in welding or heat treating.

NABRXX

Negotiations are still taking place, but if what you suggest is true; the American iteration of Raleigh is dragging the English original through the mudd...'a lifetime frame guarantee' is not a difficult concept to understand--I hope my vendor can talk some sense into them because I love riding the bike.

Warbird21

During pandemic, I was looking for a flat-bar gravel bike to upgrade from my hyrbrid. I found this Redux3 and found it to be very well built. The 1x drive city drive train wasn't well suited to my road/canal rides, so I sought out and bought a drop bar gravel (Salsa). I sold the Raleigh in a heartbeat and was a bit nostalgic giving it to the new owner. It was a cool bike, but I had no need to keep two. I had no mechanical issues with it in 1,000 miles. My neighbors always got a kick out of the orange forks (we're in Baltimore Orioles country).

2old

According to WIKI (and I know it's not always 100% accurate), the rights to the Raleigh name were sold to Huffy for US production in 1982, but the companies have been bought and sold since then. Read if you're interested. If there's a metallurgist in the crowd,they might be able to state definitively why the frame fractured at the weld.

veganbikes

Raleigh has been bought and sold a bunch they are owned by Alta Cycling group now and their support has kind of gone a bit down hill as they downsized that department and swapped people around. As others have said certainly not Raleigh of Nottingham England.

cat0020

Part of the reason manufacturers ask users to inspect their frame regularly is to detect these stress fractures before catastrophic failure.
I would not ride that bike any more.

If you already have 17k miles ridden on this particular aluminum frame, consider that just wear & tear from regular usage over time.
From the picture, I can see the seatpost shim is not aligned to the open slit down the seat tube, not a big deal, but from the dirt gathered at the location, it may have been that way over long period of time.
Is the seatpost mounted in frame with its minimum insertion?
how much do you weigh?
These are the first few questions that comes to mind when I see the pictures.

NABRXX

The seat post is properly mounted, I weigh 220 lbs--well within the specs for the large frame of this model. I tend to agree with you that the high mileage contributed to the stress crack, but Raleigh has a lifetime frame warrantee and they should abide by it.

cat0020

What is the measurement of seatpost insertion is below the seat clamp?

How much seatpost is below the crack?

klevin

Raleigh has unfortunately gone the way of many heritage and legacy brand names, sold into the hands of private equity who usually milk what's called "brand equity" for as long as they can. In this case, they have a distribution deal. You can read more here: https://www.bicycleretailer.com/indu...s#.YTIhEI5Kjic

chas58

I used to chat with the designer of their gravel bikes - but yeah they took a major left turn a couple of years ago (not for the best). (he runs his own bike company now).

NABRXX

I didn't measure how much, but it is significant and well within requirements for the warrantee--there are guide numbers on the side of the post that indicate its level of insertion

cat0020

Regardless of warranty, it would be interesting to know where the seatpost insertion ended so you can prevent such frame failure in the future.

unterhausen

Did the seat post come with the bike? It may be properly inserted, but the crack happened because the shim is short enough that all your weight is supported above the weld.

And as others have stated, the Raleigh you knew as a child disappeared back in the early '80s.

Darth Lefty 

We've seen how vintage Raleigh brazing is...

How was US customer support of Raleighs from England? Just honestly curious. My impression is that during the bike boom cheap bikes flooded into the USA from everywhere and everyone expected the local shop to handle it because from Raleigh or Motobecane there was nothing.

Darth Lefty 

Looking at the warranty, if it's the same as it was when you bought the bike, I think you would be counting on their generosity to cover it, because you have several strikes. Fatigue failure really ought to be in their court, you'd think, but installing a wrong size seat post with a shim is surely going to hit the "not originally intended" line item.

KPREN

I am a metallurgist and will I will state that I do not have a definitive answer.
That said and looking at the pictures, plus the description of use, I would say the failure is crevice crack corrosion around the weld with the seat post insertion a contributing factor. All it takes during manufacture is a brief loss of shielding gas during welding. Welding is not prefect and my guess is that this weld would have passed inspection. . The brief loss would introduce small defects of slag. The constant exposure to weathering causes corrosion, especially in the presence if water and the absence of oxygen around the seat post. That is why seat posts are always greased The pictures show corrosion around the seat post. I would be surprised if they honor the warranty. A lifetime warranty is considered by the US courts to be 10 years.

sykerocker 

About a month ago, I got to visit Erie, PA for the first time since I moved from there in 1977. Of course, one of my first stops was A.R. Adams Cycle, my employer during that decade. It's still in business, now owned by the head mechanic who replaced me when I left, the son of the founder having died in 2007. It was a Schwinn/Raleigh (primarily) dealership, and while still carrying Schwinn, I found out that Merle (my boss) had dropped the Raleigh line immediately upon it's sale in the 80's, his attitude being that if it wasn't being made in England, he wasn't carrying it. And this shop had taken on the line immediately after WWII.

sykerocker 

During the Seventies Bike Boom, Raleigh support was magnificent. It was the only company that competed with Schwinn for customer service, support, and quality of product. I have very few memories of warranty claims for either of those brands back then, and what few came through were settled immediately, and always in the customer's favor, unless there was very obvious evidence of customer fault (aka, wrecks - you'd be amazed how many customers expected a free frame/fork after they'd hit something).

Now, the other brands we carried (Columbia, Astra, Roger Riviere, Concord), were essentially distributors marques, and their total interest was in moving product. Period. And we were almost down to taking whatever we could get because Schwinn's and Raleigh's were sold out 6-8 weeks ahead of time.

Calsun

Stress crack where the top tube joined with the seat tube and this is from a short cut taken in production to reduce labor costs. Lucky in a way as often cracks like this arise with the head tube or the forks and this can result in a nasty injury for the rider. I would try to get the company to provide you with a new replacement frame and let you cover the cost to move everything from your current bike to the new frame.

NABRXX

They have refused to honer their warrantee. I looked into small claims, but the state where they reside requires my presence in court and the airfare would cost more than the frame--with no guarantee that I would win. I am trying to locate a replacement frame but I'm not holding my breath. I would never purchase from this brand again and will discourage anyone else from doing so as well. Thanks for all of your insights on this issue.

2old

Thanks for the update, but not surprising in this day and age. OTOH, I've had excellent CS from Trek, but possibly there are others that haven't fared as well with them.

speedy25

Plenty of misinformation here.

Raleigh is NOT owned by Alta group. They are owned by a Dutch consortium, but I'm forgetting the name. Raleigh was always priced a bit higher since Altas agreement meant the bikes were sold to them at a premium price, but to me at least, the bikes had better components so I sold a LOT of their e-bikes, including the Lore. The contract expired for the 2021 model year, and no Raleighs made it to the US market. It could come back some day, but it doesnt look likely.

Typically these bikes have a 1 year warranty. I'm guessing this bike is older than that. Unless you can produce a warrant card that states the terms and that they are enforceable for this problem, then you are stuck. I dont think it should have cracked either and whining about a suspension seatpost is just plain wimping out.

I have found Alta to be responsive to warranty requests. Slow response, but still way more responsive than say Rad . Work it by the letter of the law. You might want to consult an attorney just to get the lingo down. I hope you can get somewhere because the Lore is JUST TOO MUCH FUN!!

-SP

unterhausen

I'm still curious if the bike came with that seatpost and shim. If so, it's their fault. Not sure about warranty though, you get the warranty that you pay for.