Wheel warranty claim or not?

[User33236]

Yesterday Mrs SG popped a spoke on the front wheel of her commuter.

Inspection showed the end of the spoke nipple has sheered. The wheels in question are sold as CX wheels and the rims eyeleted.

She took a couple of photos (note David Bailey has nothing to fear from her) and sent them of to the company she bought them from just over two months ago. Her commute is short (6 miles) and alway on paved roads. The supplier says 'not covered by warranty'.

Are they right? (note these are new photos lol)

 

[Milkfloat]

2 months old. I would be asking the supplier why they think they are not covered. You could also try the manufacturer, but the onus is on the supplier to fix.

 

[screenman]

Warranty job, if only for customer good will. Big Chain or LBS?

 

[User33236]

Its and online store. I did call them and asked why and their attitude was absolutely dreadfull. Finally they said that spokes etc are wear and tear items!!

Manufacturer may sadly be the way to go.

 

[PK99]

That is the sort of reason i choose to use an LBS rather than on-line for hardware. I had a problem with a series of broken spokes on an MTB in the first year of owning it (whyte 901) - all replaced free of charge by the LBS I bought it from - clearly a friday afternoon wheel.

Another recent example - Mrs PK bought SPDS, they happily swapped my old ones (easier to clip in and out) onto her bike, put the new ones on mine and swapped the standard cleats into stock and fitted multi release cleats for for no charge.

 

[Milkfloat]

Wear and tear after 2 months. I would quote 'sales of goods act' and 'fit for purpose' to them. Unless they can prove damage they are 100% obligated to fix this.

 

[mythste]

Its and online store. I did call them and asked why and their attitude was absolutely dreadfull. Finally they said that spokes etc are wear and tear items!!

Manufacturer may sadly be the way to go.

Hmm, its a difficult one. My understanding (rightly or wrongly) is that in the first few months you're to expect a little movement from the spokes as they bed in from being "roughly set" at the factory. If you bought locally most shops wouldnt mind doing a quick once over to make sure everything is straight and true.

If you bought online and no such service has been carried out it is more difficult to say, @Yellow Saddle would probably be able to say if this would be expected if not serviced within the first few months.

 

[Smokin Joe]

This isn't "Wear and tear" by any means. A component has broken after a short spell of use and in my view it should be a warranty job. Wear and tear means just that, tyres wearing through or brake blocks wearing out.

Having said that, it would probably be cheaper and certainly less hassle to get your LBS to pop a new spoke and nipple in than to post the wheel back.

 

[fossyant]

That's a snapped nipple and possibly a small part of the spoke.. Depends upon how handy you are, but it's a quick fix if you have a spare nipple. You might get away without changing the spoke. A bike shop could fix for a few quid, but that shouldn't happen. Might be more of a pain trying to get a claim sorted against the on line supplier.

 

[PK99]

That's a snapped nipple and possibly a small part of the spoke.. Depends upon how handy you are, but it's a quick fix if you have a spare nipple. You might get away without changing the spoke. A bike shop could fix for a few quid, but that shouldn't happen. Might be more of a pain trying to get a claim sorted against the on line supplier.

!!!!!!!

 

[shumidrivesaferrari]

lets look at it from another point of view the nipple could have broken from hitting a pot hole and breaking which is not a manufacturing fault (not that im condoning there actions or accusing anyone) you would deffo expect them to atleast fix it due to something so miner.

also looking at the photos imo the nipple looks like its been over tightened as its down to the last thread on the spoke? therefore it would weakened the head and no wonder it has exploded off?

 

[Yellow Saddle]

The nipple cracked and broke off at the flange, where all the stress is concentrated. It is an aluminium nipple and they do that rather quickly. Brass nipples outlast the bike or wheels.
Wheel companies use aluminum nipples on their wheels because the weight weenie brigade weighs wheels and make decisions in favour of the lightest wheel. This is stupid, because brass nipples only weigh 60g more per 36 and last a lifetime.
However, the one in the picture suffered some form of corrosion that brought on the premature cracking. Salt roads could cause that but I can't say because the crucial second photo wasn't focused well enough by Mr Bailey. It could be that some stress riser was caused by some damage to the nipple (although I cannot see how this can happen) during installation. The little half-moon recess at the 6 o' clock position of the nipple flange makes me think like that.

Is the fluffy white stuff on the nipple salty - in texture, not taste?

My view is that a 2 month old wheel should not do that. The problem with aluminium nipples which have cracked from fatigue is that the first one simply tells you that it was the weakest of the 32 on there and that the others will soon crack as well. That's because all nipples receive the same number of stress cycles as the wheel rolls.

There is nothing wrong with the spoke.

The sensible course of action would be to fight the supplier to an extent and then either get him to rebuild the wheel with brass nipples or, to have someone else do it.

There is no good reason for putting aluminium nipples on general purpose bicycles. The fact that they come in pretty colours and brass nipples on in silver or black, is not a good enough reason.


BTW, wheels do not need to bed in. A properly built wheel will be true from day 1 and only occasionally require a tweak here and there due to potholes that bend the rim slightly. A properly built wheel that never hits obstacles but nevertheless rides a lot (lie on a track), will never require tweaks.

 

[numbnuts]

Big fish ignores little fish name and shame

 

[raleighnut]

Aluminium nipples are not only weaker but they can corrode onto the spokes (similar to seatposts) I'd buy a bag of chromed brass ones and replace them. If you do them one at a time its quite easy to keep the wheel true.

 

[User33236]

Wear and tear after 2 months. I would quote 'sales of goods act' and 'fit for purpose' to them. Unless they can prove damage they are 100% obligated to fix this.

I did try that line and was basically told they didn't care. As I said their manner on the phone was that they simply didn't care. One thing for sure is I wont be buying from them again.