Warranty help needed!

bigbellyben

I have had an Orbea T105 since mid March. Unfortunately I missed the 6 week service to tighten everything up - I have another one booked for next week. Anyway... yesterday as I was changing to a higher gear my chain came off my 10 speed cassette - sliced through the spokes on my rear wheel which then got caught up in the read derailleur. The whole mess is going to cost me 100 quid as my local bike shop said it won't be covered on my two year warranty of all bike parts, due to the fact that I didn't get a service within 6 weeks - can this be true? Seems harsh to me.
Any advice much appreciated
Ben

challengedavid

if you lbs had adjusted the toplimit screw properly it would not have come off in the first place IMO

redjeepǃ

According to the letter of the law, they're probably correct as you need to maintain the bike according to their guidelines BUT it is a bit harsh and I'd expect them to either cover it, or to make a generous donation towards it. After all, you've just dropped a sizable amount of cash their way and you were only a week late.

Go back and make a big fuss, but remain polite and calm. If they still refuse then find another LBS and appreciate that the lesson only cost you £100.

dbb

i used to work in a bike shop many (25) years ago. we built every bike from the hub up - even for bikes that only cost $300 Aussie.

the purpose of the six week service is normally to just adjust cable that stretch and sometimes to true a wheel because 1-2 spokes had settled down a bit. there is nothing magical about 6 weeks. it could have been 4 or 8. it all has to do with how much use the bike has had.

the only reason that i can see to why your rear mech would go into your back wheel is if it wasn't properly adjusted in the first place. ie the stretched (longer) cable now pulls the mech further and into the wheel because the limit (adjusting) screw isn't stopping the mech in time.

now there is another possibly. has the bike been dropped or fallen over ont ot he gear side? it is possible that the rear mech hanger is bent and thrown your gears out that way?

Monty Dog

I don't think you'd have any warranty claim, whether the bike was serviced or not - warranties only cover things like defective design and manufacture. You may however have a valid claim with the shop who failed to set-up the gears correctly in the first place i.e. the stop screw on the rear mech wasn't set correctly and allowed you to over-shift with the resultant consequences but they could argue that you abused the drivetrain by forcing the gears. A suitable compromise may be that you offer to pay for the parts and they cover the labour as a gesture of goodwill.

tmg

Similar thing happened to me last year some 8 weeks after buying the bike, jockey wheel on my rear mech failed and mashed my rear wheel. I went back to Evans and claimed that the rear mech was faulty, I had to send them the mech which they they sent back to the UK distributor to check, they couldn't determine if it was the mech or not so they sent me a new mech, Evans then also covered all the costs of me getting rear wheel fixed.

So go back to where you got bike from and get them to sort the problem either themselves or by going back to the manufacturer / distributor of the faulty part

nferrar

As has been said, it's not a warranty issue it's a problem with how the LBS set up the bike. Although are you sure the mech didn't get banged during the time you were riding? Seems odd to take over 6 weeks before your chain got thrown into the wheel as the limit screw wasn't set properly.

cj504

Being pedantic here but as the cable has stretched i.e. it's got longer, then over-shifting above your 23/25t would be made more difficult/much less likely because of the reduced pull?

Hard luck though, must be gutting to have that happen.

sungod

contact your local trading standards office, they'll tell you what your rights are - and assuming they think the lbs should sort it, how to go about things

imho it sounds like you'd be protected because the bike wasn't fit for purpose - rear mech shouldn't be so far out

keef66

Tricky to prove though. If they choose to play dirty they could say you'd bashed the rear mech bending the mech hanger. I'm sure if they checked it now it would be bent - as a result of your incident