Hairline crack in carbon frame

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fastpedaller
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Re: Hairline crack in carbon frame

Post by fastpedaller »

Wow! That does look bad in the photo - I'd certainly not even ride 100 yards down the road on that just in case. :shock:
pwa
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Re: Hairline crack in carbon frame

Post by pwa »

Paradiddle wrote: 11 May 2022, 1:29pm I've started taking off my saddle, pedals and bottle cages and I thought to check the damage further.

In case anyone is interested, I took a 500 lumen torch and put it against the part of the damaged chainstay. Lo and behold the light comes out of the other side through the crack. I might not have an x-ray machine but to me this looks quite bad.IMG_20220511_131842.jpg
A bit more than a minor paint defect! :lol:
Jamesh
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Joined: 2 Jan 2017, 5:56pm

Re: Hairline crack in carbon frame

Post by Jamesh »

Last resort threaten to go full Tonto on SM!

Worse still threaten to send frame to Hambini!!


If they have any sense of product quality standards or customer service they should sort asap.
Psamathe
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Re: Hairline crack in carbon frame

Post by Psamathe »

Jamesh wrote: 11 May 2022, 4:21pm Last resort threaten to go full Tonto on SM!

Worse still threaten to send frame to Hambini!!


If they have any sense of product quality standards or customer service they should sort asap.
I thought OP had already been offered a full refund
Paradiddle wrote: 11 May 2022, 12:07pm .... I've just had another chat with Sonder and the only options they go with are a full refund or swapping the frame out. They wouldn't do a partial refund just for the frame or replace with a non-road model. If I choose to swap the frame then the labour fee of transferring the components would be covered by them.

If I go for the Aluminium Colibri frame, they would refund me for the cost difference. For the Ti frame, I'll have to pay extra for the cost. They will confirm with me how much that would be. Depending on the cost of the Ti upgrade, I may consider a full refund and getting a non-Sonder bike so I never have to deal with Alpkit again.

As predicted, they also insist on getting the bike sent back to them. Collection will be arranged and covered although I have to find a suitable box to pack it myself.
Ian
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Paradiddle
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Location: London

Re: Hairline crack in carbon frame

Post by Paradiddle »

fastpedaller wrote: 11 May 2022, 2:37pm Wow! That does look bad in the photo - I'd certainly not even ride 100 yards down the road on that just in case. :shock:
When I was at the bike shop, I asked the mechanic if I could even ride it 5 mins home. He said that should be fine but just don't continue on to Epping forest or up some hills :lol:

Now that I've seen that fracture lit up, I might not have ridden it home. Just glad that the bike didn't fall apart while I was on a descent or in traffic when I did my 60 mile ride.
pwa
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Re: Hairline crack in carbon frame

Post by pwa »

On the plus side, if I were to have a bike fall apart under me I would prefer that it were the the rear of the bike rather than the front.
fivebikes
Posts: 233
Joined: 9 Mar 2008, 12:46pm
Location: West Yorks

Re: Hairline crack in carbon frame

Post by fivebikes »

Re the eBay clearance frames….because I looked they must think there’s a chance of shifting it so the smaller one is reduced to £200. Probably not a bargain judging by your experiences!!
I won’t be buying!
peetee
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Re: Hairline crack in carbon frame

Post by peetee »

Paradiddle wrote: 11 May 2022, 1:29pm I took a 500 lumen torch and put it against the part of the damaged chainstay. Lo and behold the light comes out of the other side through the crack.
Genius idea. I shall remember that.
Thanks. :D
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Dingdong
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Joined: 22 Apr 2022, 4:59pm

Re: Hairline crack in carbon frame

Post by Dingdong »

Have you got a resolution to this yet?
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Paradiddle
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Location: London

Re: Hairline crack in carbon frame

Post by Paradiddle »

Dingdong wrote: 13 May 2022, 5:36am Have you got a resolution to this yet?
They've arranged to collect the bike from me today. Once they confirm the damage we've agreed to swap the frame to the titanium Colibri. There will be a fee only for the frame upgrade but this is already discounted, probably at their stock cost. Labour and delivery are included with their warranty. They've considered that I've got RideLondon in 2 weeks and they'll try to get all the work done and send it back within a week.

Took a bit of back and forth but I think we're getting there.
Nearholmer
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Re: Hairline crack in carbon frame

Post by Nearholmer »

So they are going to do all the work of building the components onto a new frame?

If so, this sounds as if it’s coming to the right/fair/legal conclusion, although an upgraded frame at no cost, to compensate you for all the hassle might not go amiss.
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Paradiddle
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Re: Hairline crack in carbon frame

Post by Paradiddle »

Nearholmer wrote: 13 May 2022, 11:41am So they are going to do all the work of building the components onto a new frame?

If so, this sounds as if it’s coming to the right/fair/legal conclusion, although an upgraded frame at no cost, to compensate you for all the hassle might not go amiss.
They say they will do all the work to transfer the components free of charge. The cost is to cover the frame upgrade which comes with a longer, 10 year warranty.

That is if they will actually do anything properly...

The courier didn't show up today and I called Alpkit to see what was going on and to rearrange to Monday if they weren't going to come. 10 minutes later the courier called me saying that Alpkit didn't provide the complete details which prevented them from making the collection today :evil:

I've written yet another email to Sonder to tell them of their incompetence, to prioritise this work, and asked whoever is heading their customer service to write me an explanation on why I've only had poor experience from them.

I've had enough of dealing with Sonder. If they manage to screw this up even further I'm going to go to town all over their social media.
Milfred Cubicle
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Location: Co. Durham

Re: Hairline crack in carbon frame

Post by Milfred Cubicle »

Out of interest, if you get no resolution with Alpkit, Fibrelyte in the north east offer a frame repair service.
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Paradiddle
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Re: Hairline crack in carbon frame

Post by Paradiddle »

I've had the bike back with an upgraded titanium frame. It has been difficult and there were lots of unnecessary hassles but now I can work on getting used to the bike and try to do what I can to catch up on my training before RideLondon next Sunday.

After my last post the courier did show up on Monday morning and picked up the bike on with I assumed was an overnight service. I was so fed up by Alpkit at this point and was busy at work that I didn't call them up until Wednesday afternoon. The same customer service rep had the audacity to say that they had not received the bike before even checking with the returns department. I also reminded him at this point that I had sent a few complaints over email and I would like it to be escalated with an explanation of their poor service made to me. He said he took down some notes and his managers are aware of the issues I raised.

He did check with returns and called me back an hour later saying they received the bike and confirmed the frame fracture but will have to wait until the following morning to transfer the components. I was invoiced for the agreed amount for the frame upgrade which also mentions the upgrade in warranty terms. By Thursday, I was sent an email with a photo of the new frame with the components installed and got a call confirming that they would dispatch the bike that day by overnight service. The bike arrived on Friday morning and I got another call to confirm the receipt.

I still have not received any acknowledgement from Alpkit's management of my complaints. I don't want to chase them as I'm so tired of dealing with them and I'm still an angry customer. I'll see how I feel in a couple of weeks time and if they still don't reply I may share my experience with them on Trustpilot.


Since this started off as a thread about carbon frames, I thought I'd also share my thoughts on the new Ti frame so far (67km in the past couple of days). With pretty much every component transferred over, the whole bike weighs exactly 1kg more than the carbon bike. However I don't feel this additional weight when riding it. It does feel much stiffer now and when I ride out of the saddle to accelerate or climb, there is more power transfer. With this additional efficiency it feels like I can maintain speed for longer on the flats and climbing feels a little bit easier. I think this shows how much more compliant the carbon frame of the Colibri was.

The Ti version also has more attachment points which gives me an option to fit a rack or mudguards in the future. The metal finish looks like it's easier to clean than painted carbon. I don't know where the frame was made but from my layman's observation the welds look tidy. I really hope there is no fault on the frame and fork this time.

The only thing I noticed was that the etched Sonder logo on the headtube is missing from my frame. This is present on the frame on the website and in photos of other people's Ti Colibri. Perhaps my new frame is a prototype or store model. Or maybe they know that I'm so sick of Sonder that they gave me a frame without their badge.
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Paulatic
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Re: Hairline crack in carbon frame

Post by Paulatic »

Good to hear it’s finally been resolved. I’m sure you will enjoy riding Titanium.
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