2013 Zesty 514 cracked frame...

julesreece17

Hi guys, looking for some advice.

Bought a Zesty 514 in November 2012, (carbon fibre) used mainly up Afan Valley. Bike had its first service at six weeks in tredz Swansea, where I bought it. All good, no issues.

About a month ago, I whacked the left pedal on a rock quite hard, bent the pedal, and ripped out the thread. I put it into Wheelies Uplands in Swansea, had them fit a new left crank arm, and a gear service.

Last ride up Afan about 3 weeks ago, still felt a little play in the crank but put it down to the cleats on my shoes.

Got home, realised the lock out on the forks no longer worked. I removed the forks myself, took them to Mojo in Cardiff, had them replaced under warranty, re-fitted them no issues.

Then today I used it for the first time since, again up Afan, and the play from the crank was still there.

The pivot just above the crank was moving forward a lot and the whole bike was bending to the left, pivoting at the crank. At this point I got off and walked back to the car.

Once home I have cleaned it, and can see there is a big crack above the pivot, and a further crack just below the pivot forking off in three directions, so the whole frame is ruined.

(im coming to the point, I promise)

Now, the bike is 6 to 7 months old. It has a one year frame warranty I believe?

I have never touched the pivots, as there is no torques setting listed on the frame, so I wouldn't know how tight it ought to be, and of course im conscious that's its under warranty.

Question comes, where do I stand here?

Its under warranty yes, but will my weight come into it? Will the use of the bike come into it, almost every ride has been up Afan?

Am I responsible for checking the pivot tension?

Sorry for the long post, just wanted you to have all the facts.

Any help lads would be much appreciated, as I may be about to cry.

Jules.

supersonic

Warranty is pretty much irrelevant, your rights under the SOGA come into play.

First step is to have a word with the shop. They may examine it and find fault. But there are many things you could have done to have caused this. Firstly it is up to you to check pivot tightness, and the torque of the bolts. it really does sound like the looseness has caused exessive stress on the frame and the area to crack. And you carried on riding when you noticed the play!!! You should have stopped there and then as riding with a known issue is going to give up much of your rights.

But lets not jump the gun, take it to the shop.

julesreece17

ok, thanks for the response.

Looking at it mind, im not sure the pivot is actually loose. I assumed it was, as it was moving forward, however, the two cracks are both coming from that pivot so I think its more the frame is opening up at that point and hence the pivot is moving forward. (I think)

So is it my responsibility to search for the correct torque setting and then keeping checking them then? I've always assumed they would have been correctly tighten to the required torque, and then tampering with this would void the warranty...

Cant win either way!

I'll be taking it in to Tredz in the morning and go from there. Any ideas what Lapierre are like when it comes to frame replacements?

Any tips on things I should and maybe shouldn't say when im there?

supersonic

You should have got a manual with all the torques and service regime. Bolts always ened checking over, I check mine weekly, or often before every ride!

Don't tell them you rode it knowing it was knackered!

julesreece17

Well you learn everyday...

I'll look up the 'SOGA' thing now, never heard of that.

Ironically I was warned by a few mates not to get the carbon as it will crack. Hope and prey they sort me out.

I'll let you know how I get on.

Thanks for the advice mate.

mattv

Chances are, if you had tried tightening that pivot you would have seen a crack there. Which would have had exactly the same outcome as now. Any decent company would honor the warranty. Are Lappierre really only 12 months warranty? I see a warranty as how long a company expects their product to last.

julesreece17

Think is mate, to tighten this pivot, id have to remove the crank, as its directly behind it. Starting to think it may have happened when I hit the pedal on the rock a month or so ago, but the LBS never picked it up?

Not sure really...

Tom Barton

Take it to Tredz - A guy called James is their warranty chap.

My experience has been slow. Intitially I put my bike in for a frame bearing service and they were building up some new wheels for me too. So it was in a couple of weeks whilst we waited for them to do all that then when they took the crankset off they spotted a crack on my Bottom bracket tube (haven't taken the crankset off since October so hadn't spotted it myself!)

From the point of dealing with the warranty though, they've had a new frame to the shop within about 10 days (I did keep on the phone fairly often just to be a pest mind - but whether this actually made it any faster I don't know...)

I'd probably have it back all rebuilt by now but I'm waiting for some new kit to arrive to tart it all out in new components and I couldn't order them till they confirmed what year frame I was getting.

As for the pedal strike - it may or may not have been the culprit, zesty's have unfortunately a higher frame failure rate than average - may have been a dodgy frame. I'd expect a trail bike to be able to handle even a firm pedal strike being delivered through the crank arm without breaking.

Hope your warranty claim is straightforward for you!

rapid_donkey

I cant find it official anywhere, but if you google it all the same results come back, Lapierre frames seem to have a 100kg rider + gear limit. Possibly less for carbon.
17 stone = 108 kg. Even though the bike shop sold you the bike, Im not sure if it could be a problem...

julesreece17

Cheers Tom, hope I get it sorted ok.

Its a 5 year warranty on the frame too, just checked so they better have a damn good reason to refuse.

But all that said mind, you never know, they may just change it no issues, i'll try not to pre-judge.....yet!

nicklouse

SOGA info viewtopic.php?f=40074&t=12877456

Tom Barton

My bike was 4 years old and fairly well abused - no questions were asked.

TBH - the less information you give them regarding the nature of the break the better. i.e. 'something feels loose - on inspection I've found a crack'. Don't even mention your weight, pedal strikes etc. Just tell them its been used for regular trail riding, no silly huge jumps or drops (can always mention it hasn't been crashed) and express your bemusement and disappointment at the frame failure - don't volunteer any reasons for them to question your claim

My bike handbook incidentally states the warranty only covers use with riders upto 100kg - but like I said, don't volunteer this information and if they don't ask you can play dumb - its their warranty limits to enforce, not yours... Besides its in their interests to keep customers loyal with good service anyway.

stubs

Not sure I would like to buy a frame that had a rider weight limit. If you were close to the weight limit does one clumsy high speed high G landing mean your picking your teeth out of the stem and the cross bar out of your nutsack.

ncn

Usually with weight limits the safe working load is a lot lower than what the device can handle. It's definitely not advisable to exceed it but close to or even at and you will still be well within what it can handle.

For example a lifting strap/rope's swl is half of what it can actually lift, so a 1000kg rated rope is actually capable of lifting 2000kg but for safety it's classed as a 1000kg rope.

As has been said though don't give them too much info, take it back and just say you noticed it didn't feel right so stopped riding and brought it into them.

ThanksBye

Tom Barton wrote:

(I did keep on the phone fairly often just to be a pest mind - but whether this actually made it any faster I don't know...)

I doubt this would have done anything except P off the warranty staff at the shop TBH.

Tom Barton

ThanksBye wrote:

Tom Barton wrote:

(I did keep on the phone fairly often just to be a pest mind - but whether this actually made it any faster I don't know...)

I doubt this would have done anything except P off the warranty staff at the shop TBH.

Not entirely true. By the second day of having been informed of the crack by the shop the guy had not sent the paperwork off to hotlines but seemed to do so soon after I'd pressured him a bit. Besides I don't really give a rats bumhole if I annoy someone for making enquires about my stuff which I spent a lot of money on, which is their responsibility to fix under the warranty!

lugsey2k5

Just gone through the warranty process with my 2010 zesty. I did it through Evans as they are the only place close.
The service from Evans, Hotlines and Lapierre was terrible. Took 13 weeks in total all for them to asses a picture of the crack they were sent and to get a frame out to the shop. The frame then arrived with the wrong sized Headset.

Good luck

julesreece17

lugsey, sorry to hear that pal. hope my experience is better than that!

Well today I heard something for the first time. Shop rung me, Lapierre received the photos of the frame and wanted further info. What was I doing with the bike at the time? How long had I noticed it?

Explained I was just up afan, and pushed back as soon as I noticed....

Wait and see now....

cooldad

Just hope they don't read Bikeradar and that isn't your real name.

julesreece17

noted....

julesreece17

New frame on its way!!!! Took a call to Hotlines, but all good, delighted. Needless to say since I snapped it, I've bought a treadmill in order to shift a few stones and pounds lol

Tom Barton

Horray!

JMcP92

Glad to hear it mate, good it's all sorted

mat-ster

Nice to see you have a new frame "even if you did buy a demo with 6 months warranty"... :-)

rockmonkeysc

I have never heard of a carbon Lapierre breaking before. I have heard of plenty of aluminium Lapierres failing, even seen a couple break spectacularly.

julesreece17

mat-ster wrote:

Nice to see you have a new frame "even if you did buy a demo with 6 months warranty"... :-)

?? Confused, what are you talking about?

Cakebike

Not impressed with Lapierre Frame warranty: 4 years old Zesty 514 with cracked chain stay and hairline crack on headset. The answer from Lapierre: different colour chain replaced! Didn't realise chain stays were NOT part of frame, hairline fracture is just "cosmetic"!!!!
Not buying Lapierre again!

supersonic

Did you read the terms of the warranty?