Its a sad day.

EKE_38BPM

After nearly 10 years and a few tens of thousands of miles, I've just cleaned my bike and found a crack on the chainstay, just behind the bottom bracket.
I don't know how long its been there, but the crack goes around two thirds to three quarters of the stay. Its an alumium frame and pretty old, so not worth trying to repair.

The question now is: new frame and swap the parts over or a new bike?
Not much of a question really. New bike wins hands down.

I'll have to commute on my BSO for a little while and maybe buy a Vitamin to tide me over until I choose a new steed.

I am sad.

Tonymufc

My thoughts and sympathies go out to the bikes family.

Sorry dude couldn't resist that one. :oops:

EKE_38BPM

Bloody Man U Fans!

deptfordmarmoset

EKE_38BPM wrote:

After nearly 10 years and a few tens of thousands of miles, I've just cleaned my bike and found a crack on the chainstay, just behind the bottom bracket.
I don't know how long its been there, but the crack goes around two thirds to three quarters of the stay. Its an alumium frame and pretty old, so not worth trying to repair.

The question now is: new frame and swap the parts over or a new bike?
Not much of a question really. New bike wins hands down.

I'll have to commute on my BSO for a little while and maybe buy a Vitamin to tide me over until I choose a new steed.

I am sad.

Sorry about this, but there was a recent thread on here about the Vitamin no longer being marketed - there may be some left-overs at some Decathlon stores but I don't think you'll find them online, so that's probably not going to work as a stopgap.

EKE_38BPM

You're right DM, I can't find them online, but I was in Decathlon a few weeks ago and they had black ones (as opposed to orange) for sale. I'm going to go there tomorrow on the off chance they still have one for me.

deptfordmarmoset

EKE_38BPM wrote:

You're right DM, I can't find them online, but I was in Decathlon a few weeks ago and they had black ones (as opposed to orange) for sale. I'm going to go there tomorrow on the off chance they still have one for me.

Aha, I'd just popped back to give a link to the Vitamin thread. (http://www.bikeradar.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=12735231&start=0&postdays=0&postorder=asc&highlight=) but if you've recently seen one, it's probably helps that they're not promoting them on online, so best of luck.

EKE_38BPM

Ah, I didn't know that they had stopped making them, I thought they had just stopped advertising them and instead made them an instore only deal.

I may give the Surrey Quays store a ring rather than just going down there on the off chance. As you say, as they are not being promoted online, sales may have slowed to a trickle and there may be one for me.

I will have to contend with PT to get there, which is never good.

EKE_38BPM

For about 5 minutes I hoped that the frame and fork warranty was 10 years, but its after looking through the service manual I see its only 5 years.

Gutted, but not wholly unexpected.

dilemna

EKE_38BPM wrote:

For about 5 minutes I hoped that the frame and fork warranty was 10 years, but its after looking through the service manual I see its only 5 years.

Gutted, but not wholly unexpected.

What make and model was your bike? How old?

EKE_38BPM

dilemna wrote:

EKE_38BPM wrote:

For about 5 minutes I hoped that the frame and fork warranty was 10 years, but its after looking through the service manual I see its only 5 years.

Gutted, but not wholly unexpected.

What make and model was your bike? How old?

It is (was) a Giant OCR bought in March 01. A few bits have been replaced (wheels, pedals, all drive components, BB, headset, saddle). It was well maintained but there is nothing you can do about a bit of the frame (driveside chainstay) cracking.

Guess I'm just too damned powerful for an entry level road bike.

pianoleo

I was in Surrey Quays Decathlon on Thursday evening, and they had a rack of black Vitamins on the rack at the front - next to the hybrids IIRC. Can't imagine they'll all have gone by the time you get there...

deptfordmarmoset

Tell you what, EKE - I've got a free day tomorrow, I've been off the bike all weekend, and Surrey Quays is only a couple of miles away. If you see this before tomorrow, give me an idea of your approximate frame size (in cm) and I can pop in, have a look, and PM you about availability. It might save you a wasted PT journey and it's absolutely no skin off my nose.

pianoleo

Or: 020 7394 2000. Option 3 gets you to a person. Ask for cycling. Yusif is the manager, or Gregorz in the workshop seems like a good bloke. Cyril and Shaun are nice too, from what I've heard.

Wappygixer

I've had a look on Surrey Quays online stock checker and its not showing up.I cant access our store network from hone so cant help you out right away.
As pianoleo says its best to call the store as discontinued items are not always showing up on our website due to stock issues.
I do know sizes are limited to medium only now and I think it is only black left.
I'm going to try and find out this week if a replacement is coming as its been a great bike and has been well met by the Bike radar community.

EKE_38BPM

Wow! The Bike Radar community swings into action to help a fellow cyclist.

DM: I'm 6'2". My Giant road bike is a large (55.5 cm) frame, but was perhaps a touch small for me. I guess the biggest they've got would be the one for me. Thanks for doing this for me.

Pianoleo: Do you work there? Is that how you know the staff's names or do you just go there a hell of a lot? Thanks for the info.

Wappy: Thanks for looking into this. It feels like I'm getting insider information.

Can anyone help me with next weeks lottery numbers? If the Bike Radar community can kick in with those in the same manner that it has helped with info on the Vitamin, its carbon bling for everyone. My shout!

pianoleo

Eke,

Nah, a friend in Greenwich recommended Decathlon bikes, and I ended up buying a BSO from them a few months ago, that basically died a death last week. Cue me spending a while in Decathlon on three separate occasions in the last week, ending up with me upgrading to a Riverside 7, with a hefty discount. It positively gulped down yesterday's 20 mile round trip, and I relish tomorrow's 28 miles

EKE_38BPM

You killed a bike in a few months? It must still be under warranty, get your money back/exchange etc. If you haven't already done so.

EKE_38BPM

You killed a bike in a few months? It must still be under warranty, get your money back/exchange etc. If you haven't already done so.

pianoleo

I got my money back in the form of a credit note towards a better bike (plus an extra £100 off the new steed as a goodwill gesture). I'm a happy man, though I must say, for the 72 hours I didn't have a bike, I was Mr Misery Guts!

UndercoverElephant

Have you considered buying some carbon fibre ribbon and some epoxy. You should be able to wrap the carbon around the crack whilst painting on the epoxy. That would be cheaper than a make-do Vitamin, and more fun to ride too.

spasypaddy

go and see Ash at the cycle store, he'll sort you out with a new frame. PM if you want me to put in a good word for you (and hopefully a discount)

fossyant

The answers is, buy a new bike and a new frame (and transfer kit).

deptfordmarmoset

Unfortunately, Decathlon At Surrey Quays seem to have adopted a Ford-T policy for the Vitamin - you can buy it in any size or colour as long as it's Medium and Black. I couldn't get anyone who could tell me about the availability of other sizes.

I'm just under 6'2'' (longish body, shortish legs) and they were too small for me.

Still, I managed to spend some money - just to keep them happy, of course.

Wappygixer

deptfordmarmoset wrote:

Unfortunately, Decathlon At Surrey Quays seem to have adopted a Ford-T policy for the Vitamin - you can buy it in any size or colour as long as it's Medium and Black. I couldn't get anyone who could tell me about the availability of other sizes.

No other sizes are available and will not be any time in the near future.This is because the bike is now end of line.
I'm hoping a new version will be available soon but don't hold me to that.As soon as I hear back from our product desingers in France I'll let you know.

EKE_38BPM

Right, the BSO I've got is a horrid ride. I couldn't face riding it any more than strictly necessary so, even though the medium is too small for me, I've bought it anyway.

There were about 10 in Decathlon Surrey Quays so I spent a few minutes comparing one identical bike with another and evenutally swapped the front wheel from one onto another frame, pinched the lights that were on one and put them on my frame of choice, slapped on some mudguards and made the purchase.

£75 for a bike with mudguard and lights. Bargain!

I rode the 5 miles to Kings Cross and it was OK. I even kept up with a roadie on a Condor. About FCN 5. I would have put myself at FCN 8-9 so, even though I didn't scalp him, I had him doing very regular shoulder checks!

One of my cousins wants a cheap bike so I've told her I'd sell it to her for £50 when I buy a new bike, so, £25 for a bike for new bike for a few months. Double bargain!!

My sister needs a back wheel for her BSO, so I've given her my BSO and when it warms up she will go for rides around the park in a (no doubt vain) effort to lose some weight (she is seriously overweight). Every little helps though.

I think this is a win-win-win for the EKE family.

hatbeard

EKE_38BPM wrote:

Right, the BSO I've got is a horrid ride. I couldn't face riding it any more than strictly necessary so, even though the medium is too small for me, I've bought it anyway.

There were about 10 in Decathlon Surrey Quays so I spent a few minutes comparing one identical bike with another and evenutally swapped the front wheel from one onto another frame, pinched the lights that were on one and put them on my frame of choice, slapped on some mudguards and made the purchase.

£75 for a bike with mudguard and lights. Bargain!

I rode the 5 miles to Kings Cross and it was OK. I even kept up with a roadie on a Condor. About FCN 5. I would have put myself at FCN 8-9 so, even though I didn't scalp him, I had him doing very regular shoulder checks!

One of my cousins wants a cheap bike so I've told her I'd sell it to her for £50 when I buy a new bike, so, £25 for a bike for new bike for a few months. Double bargain!!

My sister needs a back wheel for her BSO, so I've given her my BSO and when it warms up she will go for rides around the park in a (no doubt vain) effort to lose some weight (she is seriously overweight). Every little helps though.

I think this is a win-win-win for the EKE family.

oi i was gonna buy one of those this saturday, stop pinching all the decent parts :P

EKE_38BPM

There are only a few left, so get them while they're hot.

Check the wheels. Some were slightly out of true, not good for a brand new bike.
The lights that came with them are rubbish. Fine to get me home tonight, but I wouldn't trust them on a regular basis. I would say that they are not lights to see by, not even lights to be seen by, just lights to comply with the legal requirement to have lights.

Still good VFM though.

gupta-patel

EKE_38BPM wrote:

After nearly 10 years and a few tens of thousands of miles, I've just cleaned my bike and found a crack on the chainstay, just behind the bottom bracket.
I don't know how long its been there, but the crack goes around two thirds to three quarters of the stay. Its an alumium frame and pretty old, so not worth trying to repair.

The question now is: new frame and swap the parts over or a new bike?
Not much of a question really. New bike wins hands down.

I'll have to commute on my BSO for a little while and maybe buy a Vitamin to tide me over until I choose a new steed.

I am sad.

I think it's broken.

EKE_38BPM

The dickhead troll strikes again. Do not feed.

Wappygixer

EKE_38BPM wrote:

The lights that came with them are rubbish. Fine to get me home tonight, but I wouldn't trust them on a regular basis. I would say that they are not lights to see by, not even lights to be seen by, just lights to comply with the legal requirement to have lights.

Still good VFM though.

I admit the lights are not the best.They are basically to adhere to French law in that all new bikes must be sold with lights.In the UK we only have to sell with reflectors.I always advise to buy decent lights if regular night rides are on the cards.