How cross should I be?

Breathless Commuter Man

I pulled away from some traffic lights yesterday and heard a huge crunch.

I looked down and the frame on my Boardman has snapped (yes snapped). The fracture is where the pedal arms are joined to the axle that drives the front cogs (apologies for using the wrong terms). The crack runs from the upperside half way round to the bottom of the frame where the frame goes diagonally up to the handlebars.

My LBS man, with a "told you so" smile said that this is a really bad failure for a bike, but he has a vested interest.

I have been into Halfords and they need to get an engineer to "look at it" and don't seem that fussed by it. I had problems with another key component that broke not long after I got it. I am not sure that the bike is safe any more. Am I overreacting? Should I be really cross and make all sorts of demands for jestures of goodwill from Halfords/Boardman? Is this just one of those things that happens from time to time?

The bike was new in December and was one of the first 2009 edition bikes.

Please no lectures about Halfords etc I have to buy from them as I bought the bike on CTW etc etc etc.

Any thoughts/comments gratefully received.

mudcovered

Breathless Commuter Man wrote:

My LBS man, with a "told you so" smile said that this is a really bad failure for a bike, but he has a vested interest.

I have been into Halfords and they need to get an engineer to "look at it" and don't seem that fussed by it. I had problems with another key component that broke not long after I got it. I am not sure that the bike is safe any more. Am I overreacting? Should I be really cross and make all sorts of demands for jestures of goodwill from Halfords/Boardman? Is this just one of those things that happens from time to time?

LBS man shouldn't be so smug. I can't believe he has never had to replace a frame he has sold under waranty.

Frames do break from time to time. I've been through 2 complete Trek Fuel frames. After the second one my LBS did get Trek to upgrade the frame to the Top Fuel one which is a little more robust. Basically as long as Halfords get either a replacement frame built up with your components (or a replacement bike) promptly then all should be well. You only need to kick up a stink if they refuse to replace the frame or do a poor rebuild job.

Mike

Aguila

Sounds like the bottom bracket area that has failed. Is the frame carbon fibre or metal??

In either case the bike is certainly not fit to ride and not repairable, it needs a completely new frame.

If Carbon it suggests that the frame was damaged prior to sale assuming that that area of the frame hasn't suffered any kind of impact since you got it. carbon can be irreversibly damaged by fairly trivial impacts without any immediately obvious visible damage.

If you haven't damaged the bike I would be cross, if this had occured at speed/in heavy traffic you could have been seriuosly injured.

Breathless Commuter Man

Thanks for the comments. It is a metal frame.

DonDaddyD

If the frame is still under warranty, 1 yr warranty perhaps, it should be a straight swap. With a lot of arguing and perhaps a letter to Halfords/Boardman you could get a refund or be compensated... it's not a given that that would happen but it is worth a try.

always_tyred

Breathless Commuter Man wrote:

Thanks for the comments. It is a metal frame.

Afraid its just one of those things. I imagine that Halfwits will replace the frame having verified that there is no evidence of crash damage. Its annoying but understandable that you have to wait while they do this - the disadvantage of buying from a chain rather than a LBS. The kid in the shop doesn't know how to react to you because he didn't buy his own bike and therefore doesn't realise how irritating all of this is - his dad bought it for him and would be irritated on his behalf in similar circumstances.

As for LBS man - the frame you bought it probably made from the same materials in the same factory as half the stuff in his shop. I think that Boarman bikes have a bit of a "Skoda" image, but an off the peg frame was under a cyclist who won an Olympic gold medal, so they can't be too bad.

wgwarburton

Hi,
You should be quite cross, but showing forbearance as the failure wasn't the bike shops fault.

However, it is their responsibility to resolve the problem (they sold you an item that appears not to be Fit for Purpose)- and they should be doing so promptly. If the bike's your main mode of transport then having it off the road may be a major inconvenience. If your new car had failed so dramatically, you'd be expecting a loan vehicle while the problem's resolved, you might want to make this clear to the manager at your Halfords.

They will almost certainly be assuming that your bike is a recreational toy, so there's no big rush to sort out the problem. If you bought it under C2W, and it's your normal/only/preferred way of getting to work, then they should be made aware of this, and you should make your expectations clear (preferably by agreeing that they are realistic with the manager).
It probably wouldn't hurt to point out that they wouldn't have been your first choice of retailer, and they now have the opportunity to impress you!

Obviously being polite, realistic and firm is important... hopefully, it won't be necessary to get cross with them... after all, they've been let down by their supplier.

Cheers,
W.

moonio

Are boardmans not so great then? I was going to look at one under the CTW scheme..

Headhuunter

It's very unusual for a frame to break within the 1st year without some kind of crash or extreme riding! This speaks volumes about the Boardman quality control process. If you are seriously saying that all you have every done is commuted on it and never run into anything, I find it shocking that the bike should collapse like that! It could have been nasty if you have been in heavy traffic with something behind you! Perhaps Halfords is in such a hurry to cover the huge demand for Boardman bikes that they are cutting corners?

ride_whenever

oh ffs, the frame failed, halfords will replace it.

Stuff like this happens, it's not like its a really common problem. You don't need to go in demanding stuff, just return to halfords, speak to a manager and get it sorted. Claiming that halfords are cutting corners is ridiculous off the back of one frame. If the bike was a specialised or a trek or bianchi it would just be one of those things.

I'm sorry to say OP that you've had some awfully bad luck.

Headhuunter

Well I think this is more than bad luck. I have never, ever heard of a frame breaking within its first year in many years of riding. To me it sounds like quality control is not good.

mudcovered

Headhuunter wrote:

Well I think this is more than bad luck. I have never, ever heard of a frame breaking within its first year in many years of riding. To me it sounds like quality control is not good.

Its unlucky. To say its a QC issue is unrealistic unless the percentage failure rate is high.
If there were a lot of people all reporting the same thing you might have a point but a few failures in the 1000s of frames sold could not be called a QC issue.

Mike

Headhuunter

mudcovered wrote:

Headhuunter wrote:

Well I think this is more than bad luck. I have never, ever heard of a frame breaking within its first year in many years of riding. To me it sounds like quality control is not good.

Its unlucky. To say its a QC issue is unrealistic unless the percentage failure rate is high.
If there were a lot of people all reporting the same thing you might have a point but a few failures in the 1000s of frames sold could not be called a QC issue.

Mike

Perhaps but it's a pretty fundamental failure. If you bought a car and one of the wings or the bonnet or something dropped off whilst you were riding within the 1st year, you'd probably be less dismissive....

mudcovered

Headhuunter wrote:

Perhaps but it's a pretty fundamental failure. If you bought a car and one of the wings or the bonnet or something dropped off whilst you were riding within the 1st year, you'd probably be less dismissive....

I'm not saying I wouldn't be upset if I experienced a failure of any kind especially when something isn't that old. I wasn't exactly happy when my frames broke and I know I'd have been even less happy if they had put my life at risk in the process.

However my rational mind accepts that all products (including both cars and bikes) are built to a price that people are willing to pay. If you want a 0 defect rate then you would need to pay much more than we currently do for both products. 0 defects in any form of manufacturing is essentially impossible as its far to expensive.

I'm not saying that we should buy something expecting it to fail. But if 1 frame in 10000
fails is that really poor QA? In reality I think both car and bike manufacturers would be happy with that as a failure rate.

Mike

Breathless Commuter Man

Thanks all for the advice. Sounds like I should not be too upset unless they start to mess me around. I will let you know how it ends up.

Thanks Again

BCM