Carbon repair: what would you do..?

[400bhp]

I took the trouble to find a similar problem so that the OP could see that just because it's out of warranty, doesn't mean that the manufacturers have no liability.
I was going to provide a link if he was interested but it seems to be resolved now.
Yet you still see fit to snipe from the sidelines.

Changed tact

 

[Mattonsea]

@Mattonsea had a similar problem recently. I think he found someone to repair it. But I'm not sure how much it cost or how successful it was.

It looks exactly like the issue I had , It does look like a paint crack but the carbon has fractured . I took my pride and joy to Spire Cycles in Dorset and Its taken a week and £100 to fix by Matt there. Life in the old dog yet!!

 

[Monsieur Remings]

It looks exactly like the issue I had , It does look like a paint crack but the carbon has fractured . I took my pride and joy to Spire Cycles in Dorset and Its taken a week and £100 to fix by Matt there. Life in the old dog yet!!

Okay, difference of opinion then; will check out Spire cycles. Thanks.

 

[gbb]

No you wouldn't. You'd only need an expert report stating that it isn't damage that you have caused and it's a defect of manufacture. I'd be expecting a bike frame to last a minimum of 10 years, particularly a carbon frame that doesn't rust or fatigue. If it is a defective frame, Ribble should be paying to get it sorted regardless what the warranty length is.

If the frame was 6 years old, then you no longer have that route, and you would just have to pay for repair or replace it.

If I understand the process correctly, the dropouts are an aluminium piece that is glued into the ends of the seatstays and chainstays. Sometimes there will be a filler applied to smooth the join, then it is painted. The filler may have cracked (not structural, frame is OK) or it may just be a paint crack (also OK), or the glue has let go (not something that should happen, but it's serious).

I suspect the statement 'only need an expert report statement the the damage hadn't been caused by you and was defective manufacture (sp)'...would be impossible to obtain, with any credibility anyway.
Yes, you MAY be able to prove defecrive manufacture, but you could never get someone else to prove it wasnt your fault...why, because no one but the rider knows what conditions you've rode in, what potholes, bumps, drops, hits the bike has been exposed to.

It is a difficult choice to make. I brought my Ribble knowing it only had a two year guarantee. It bugged me, shall I, shall I not take the risk. The alternative is simple...buy a bike with a lifetime guarantee. BUT, you'll probably pay more for it in the frist place.
You pay your money, you take your chance sadly.
Edited to say...TBF, I re read your first line and you are stating it correctly, just from a different angle.

 

[Globalti]

Carbon fibre bike building is still a new technology even though it's moving fast (unlike metal frame technology) and different manufacturers are learning from their mistakes. Carbon fibre can't yet make good dropouts (or if it can, they would cost too much) and to make a carbon dropout that is an integral part of the frame would be horrendously difficult so for the moment frame manufacturers are forced to join old technology forged alloy fork ends and dropouts with new technology bladder-moulded carbon frame tubes. And there's the problem - carbon chain stays and seat stays are flexy, which is why carbon frames have that magical smooth riding quality, so to join a flexy tube to a rigid forged dropout in a way that transfers the stresses smoothly from flexy to rigid is something they haven't quite got right yet. But they will.

That's why they won't give more than a two-year warranty. We only give two years on our products because experience tells us that after two years the stuff has begun to deteriorate to the point where laymen will be able to tell the difference between old and freshly-made. It doesn't mean the products expire after two years; merely that they will have begun to deteriorate.