How did I crack my carbon frame?

[screenman]

I would put money on it being compression from the top, causing what we in the dent business call a crown. Think of when you push the side of a coke can in and what happens to the left and right of the dent.

 

[uclown2002]

What a ridiculous thing to say. Given 'what' circumstances? If you want to avoid it happening to your CR1, then simply refrain from clamping it too tightly when it's on the stand.

+1

 

[Cuchilo]

I would put money on it being compression from the top, causing what we in the dent business call a crown. Think of when you push the side of a coke can in and what happens to the left and right of the dent.

Oh Oh I know this one

 

[User16625]

What a ridiculous thing to say. Given 'what' circumstances? If you want to avoid it happening to your CR1, then simply refrain from clamping it too tightly when it's on the stand.

As OP stated, he never clamped it. If its true that he never did anything beyond typical use expected of a cyclist, then I believe he is entitled to have this fault rectified under warranty. I dont see anything ridiculous about this. Planet X has been very arsey with the way they handled this complaint. I have had to deal with arsieness once before with a Carrera bike I purchased at Halfords. Fortunately I did eventually get a full refund but it was very frustrating nonetheless. Im with OP on this one.

 

[Smokin Joe]

As OP stated, he never clamped it. If its true that he never did anything beyond typical use expected of a cyclist, then I believe he is entitled to have this fault rectified under warranty. I dont see anything ridiculous about this. Planet X has been very arsey with the way they handled this complaint. I have had to deal with arsieness once before with a Carrera bike I purchased at Halfords. Fortunately I did eventually get a full refund but it was very frustrating nonetheless. Im with OP on this one.

But he put it into his LBS and they probably did.

 

[screenman]

You can say the OP did not clamp it, you cannot say the bike shops he put it into did not, you could say Eurostar did not damage it but you would not know that either.

PlanetX can see what I can see from here and that is compression damage.

 

[ayceejay]

"had something heavy drop on it in transit." is a strong suspect for the damage shown. I would take their offer.

 

[craigwend]

Is it worth taking it to trading standards for advice?

even though reputable source - planet-x &no other complaints of the same description, does not lead to it not being a one-off' manufacturing fault..

or it could be a clamping issues ...

 

[screenman]

Around here to get through to trading standards you have to call Citizens advice and they will let Trading Substandards know and of course they will not bother to contact you.


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[Globalti]

From those pictures I would agree that that's certainly crush damage although without examining close up it's hard to say whether from a clamp or something dropped on it.

The frame has been damaged accidentally; so I reckon the offer to rebuild the bike with a new frame for £150 is an excellent one and Planet X will certainly not be making any money out of that. I would pay the money with good grace then learn to do my own servicing, so as to be sure the bike never got abused.

If the OP says Planet X were "arsey" in the way they handled this, has he ever stopped to think how often they must get customers bringing back damaged kit and trying to blame it on Planet X? Even in industrial raw material sales we get customers who screw up and then try to blame us; we investigate complaints almost forensically under ISO then present the evidence and they always go quiet. Sometimes we offer them something ex-gratia like goods at cost in the interest of goodwill because we value their business.

 

[vickster]

Like anything in life, the reaction of a company to an issue or complaint very much depends on how said complaint or issue is presented by the protagonist

It does sound like Px are being reasonable. However, if unhappy and you think you have a strong claim that the goods were defective, get an independent report from an expert (presenting them with all the facts about the case, LBS work, Eurostar transit etc) and if you and they are still convinced it's down to a poor frame, take Px to the small claims court

Bearing in mind, it could well cost you more than £150 and if you lose, you still have a broken bike

 

[w00hoo_kent]

As I've read that, you're paying the £150 to get the bike back sorted. Decide where to go from there. I presume the new frame will have 12 months warranty again?

 

[User6179]

As I've read that, you're paying the £150 to get the bike back sorted. Decide where to go from there. I presume the new frame will have 12 months warranty again?

Warranty is from original purchase date usually.

 

[e-rider]

Hello, I'm a road cycling newbie with a question for the cyclechat hivemind:

The top tube of my Planet X Pro Carbon cracked in 3 places in the middle.

It was only 10 months old and still under warranty, but Planet X has refused to honour the warranty because they claim they have never seen such a break and it must have been caused by being improperly "clamped" or misused. I don't own a bike stand and have never clamped it to anything. It has been serviced by 2 reputable local bike shops that handle carbon frames every day. Planet X then said that the damage could have occurred from sitting on the top tube. I've never done that. I then thought it might be the Saris Bones 2 bike rack I used. I called the manufacturer and they assured me it was safe for carbon bikes. I have never crashed (on this bike).

Can anyone help me diagnose what, if anything, I might have done to cause the fracture on my top tube?

Thanks in advance for your help.

this is simple - one of the bike shops has clamped this in a stand too hard and in the wrong place! The bike shop is to blame IMO

 

[e-rider]

also, £150 sounds like a good deal for a new frame, and bike completely rebuilt - go for it NOW