Cube Customer service

largedonkey

I just want to put out my situation and see what general consensus is.
I have a 2011 Cube Ltd Team. I LOVE the bike and couldn't speak highly enough of it, until a few weeks ago.

Whilst out on a trail ride my foot slipped off a pedal whilst cornering hard on a steep berm so I subsequently came down quite hard on the saddle at a funny angle and bent the seat post. I was a bit dissmayed that the seat post bent because I've never seen a post bend in 20 years of mountain biking but however, when the post bent it has caused the paintwork to crack around the top of the frame where the post comes out .

The bike was 1 year and 1 week old and when I questioned my dealer they said that the seat post wouldn't be covered by warranty because it's load bearing?! What part of the bike isn't load bearing? I reluctantly accept that, but what I struggle to accept it that whilst there is no damage to the frame, the paint is flaking off quite badly. Surely if the frame flexed slightly when the seat post bent the paint should flex too? If you push a panel on a car an it flexes, the paint doesn't flake off, and we must be talking an absolute minimal amount of flex because the frame is fine. The bike shop has approached Cube about it and they have not accepted this as an issue. I have tried to contact Cube direct and so far been ignored.

I'm not after anything more than my bike to have the paintwork in tact, I'm not even moaning about the fact that I find it poor to say the least that seat post bent in the 1st place.

I would appreciate your polite views.

The Northern Monkey

Not again.

You bike will be warranted against manufacturing defects - you crashed, something broke. Therefore, you would be the defect, not the bike.

Paint is sacrificial, especially a year down the line.

Anyways, popcorn time.
Om Nom.

Huckfinn

You have my sympathy (ive just spent the weekend patching up my rubbish paint work on my canyon and then helitaping it), but the damage was caused by you using the bike, you fell off and any resulting damage is, in the eyes of cube is your fault. Clearly the frame at the point where the seat post enters it must have bent or flexed to make the paint crack and come off. Paint only has limited flexibility, if the frame was anoidised then maybe you could have a grievance but even then a defect could be put down to frame distortion. I'd get some paint to match the flake area and patch it up.

largedonkey

Just to clarify, I did not fall off or crash the bike. The seat post bent when my foot came off the pedal but I appreciate the input.

heez29

Sounds like the post is too far out the frame to cause the frame to flake.

I agree with The Northern Monkey, you caused the issue. It's been fine for a year until you done something "odd" to it.

Huckfinn

Sorry misread your post, really sounds like your seat post was out too far could you post a pic of where the seat post bent?

largedonkey

Seat post was bent at about half way point and was in about 3inches above minimum insert line (it's quite a long post)

largedonkey

I've just checked and to be precise;
Seat post is/was 14 inches long, the post bent with 7 inches inserted into the frame and that's 2 inches above the minimum insert line.

heez29

Holy shit! Massive impact on that! Any pictures of the post out the tube?

largedonkey

I still have it but after taking it out I tried to straighten it a little by beating it with a rock and it snapped. So I don't have any pictures that show the bend out of the frame. It was an 8 mile ride back to the car with no seat (thigh's burning)

cat_with_no_tail

You've landed on that post VERY hard to bend it like that.
So the paint chipped away a bit, big deal, it's a mtb. Should cube also sort you out with a new frame for stone chips and scratches?

MTFU, stick a bit of clear nail varnish or something over where it's started flaking, buy a new seatpost, be more careful next time.

Oh, and your comparison of MTB paint to Car paint is lame.

The Rookie

Bend a car body panel and the paint frequantly flakes - your point was.....(and car bodies are steel which gives inherently better paint adherance than ally)

b45her

some peoples idea of what a warranty should cover on an MTB is rather odd to say the least.

i was in my LBS just before xmas and a bloke was in there claiming his drive train should be replaced under warranty because it had worn out after a mere 2000 miles, i was amazed at how patient the shop owner was with the idiot.

largedonkey

I get the message guys, thanks. This was merely posed as a question for your views. I haven't gone into my bike shop screaming and shouting and nor have I suggested that CUBE should be giving me a new frame. There was not a huge impact on the seat post, otherwise I would surely have been hurt. That is really what bugged me, it was just maybe the angle I came down on to the seat?
The suggestion that I am comparing this to the paint being chipped is ludicrous, I'm not an idiot. However I take the verdict and will put it down to experience.
Cheers to those with viable input.

PS would be nice if CUBE returned emails or phone calls though.

Vinnyc19

Was the seat clamp way over tightened?

My rfr seatpost is going in the bin lol

Ghostt

Cube only have a handful of people working for them in the UK, so sorry but good luck getting a reply soon. My concern would be if the paint has cracked, what's the frame like underneath? Just looks like an awkward/heavy landing on the post. Replace it with a Thomson and you'll never have to buy another post!

largedonkey

That's exactly what I plan to do actually, cheers.