Frame damage

Speckled

Just purchased a new giant tcr advanced sl 3 online, but when it arrived i noticed there was some damage on the frame.

The shop has already asked what i want to do, return or have some money refunded off the price so its up to me.

If its purely cosmetic i'd be interested in keeping the bike, its a good price and would be even better with an extra discount. But with the little cracks you can see on the pictures id be worried its not structurally sound anymore.

Ive e-mailed giant with the same pictures, waiting for a response from them but i was just interested to hear other peoples opinions

Ber Nard

No idea if that's structural damage. I'd guess not but I would wait for Giant to get back to me.

Personally though, that'd be irrelevant as I'd send the bike back. Knocking money off the price is a nice gesture and I'd accept if it was hidden from view or somewhere I'd expect to pick up a scuff fairly soon. But that mark would annoy me every time I looked at the bike. It would annoy me even more knowing I passed on the opportunity to get it replaced.

Rob

rayjay

Looking at the photo it does look as though the carbon is chipped and cracked. If the carbon is compromised it will fail at some point and you could end up having a bad crash.

You need to return it.

ugo.santalucia

My money is on a superficial lacquer damage, but by all means get it checked

Speckled

Thanks for the replies!

If they had another in stock i would return it for another just to be on the safe side, but this was the last one they had as its the 2012 model. Its heavily discounted and i dont think i'd get the same bike for the same price anywhere else, so i am keen to try and keep hold of it. But, if it is a serious problem is doesnt matter how cheap it is if its gonna fail at some point.

I didnt order it direct from giant, but hopefully they'll be able to help.

A friend has just mentioned though that some places are advertising carbon frame repairs, could be worth a look

Nixster

To me that looks like damage from some sort of impact, the carbon seems to have deflected causing the lacquer to crack and pop off. And as there seems to be marks in the lacquer away from the immediate impact point it suggests something chunky rather than just dropping an Allen key.
It's what you can't see inside the tube that would always be a nagging doubt in my mind....
A structural repair would be pretty obvious in that location if it were necessary though as it would probably mean wrapping the tube. Resale would be tricky too.

Of course this is all conjecture based on a few photos, a proper inspection would give you a better answer.

rayjay

Speckled wrote:

Thanks for the replies!

If they had another in stock i would return it for another just to be on the safe side, but this was the last one they had as its the 2012 model. Its heavily discounted and i dont think i'd get the same bike for the same price anywhere else, so i am keen to try and keep hold of it. But, if it is a serious problem is doesnt matter how cheap it is if its gonna fail at some point.

I didnt order it direct from giant, but hopefully they'll be able to help.

A friend has just mentioned though that some places are advertising carbon frame repairs, could be worth a look

Fibre lyte will fix your frame ....
http://www.fibre-lyte.co.uk/fl/bicycle/ ... e2011.html

Flâneur

Frame is covered by lifetime warranty isn't it? It probably is superficial and so the extra money off could be great if you can accept the flaw.

spanner239

sa0u823e wrote:

Frame is covered by lifetime warranty isn't it? It probably is superficial and so the extra money off could be great if you can accept the flaw.

Lifetime warranty will be against manufacturing defects which clearly that isn't.

Send it back, accident waiting to happen!

sloppyschleckonds

Return it. You'll never be happy with it.

ugo.santalucia

Make the shop an offer... 200 pounds for the frame... it is worthless for them anyway... old model, damaged lacquer... that of course if the damage is only superficial as it seems

keef66

Looks like it's had quite a whack in a tiny area. I personally wouldn't risk it, even if the discount was huge. If the top tube were to fail when you're bombing down hill the consequences could be nasty.

Ben6899

How about transferring that offered discount to the 2013 frame? So send this back and get the 2013 frame for the same price you paid for this one?

Just an idea.

rayjay

ugo.santalucia wrote:

Make the shop an offer... 200 pounds for the frame... it is worthless for them anyway... old model, damaged lacquer... that of course if the damage is only superficial as it seems

You can Clearly see in the bottom/last one of the photos that a piece of the carbon has chipped away.

I had the same thing happen on some Zipp bars . They lasted a few rides and completely snapped and I was lucky not to have a serious crash.

Unless he gets the frame repaired by professional's, riding it could end in disaster

ugo.santalucia

rayjay wrote:

ugo.santalucia wrote:

Make the shop an offer... 200 pounds for the frame... it is worthless for them anyway... old model, damaged lacquer... that of course if the damage is only superficial as it seems

You can Clearly see in the bottom/last one of the photos that a piece of the carbon has chipped away.

I had the same thing happen on some Zipp bars . They lasted a few rides and completely snapped and I was lucky not to have a serious crash.

Unless he gets the frame repaired by professional's, riding it could end in disaster

I would agree with you, but that's not what I see... the way I see it is that the lacquer has chipped and cracked... it is quite a thick layer... but yes, if in any doubt then I would not ride it... the question is whether this is cosmetic only... I would expect a bike shop to do the right thing and NOT to sell the frame at all if the damage is anything more than cosmetic

TakeTurns

Looks like it's in the position where the bars have swung round and hit the frame?

rolf_f

ugo.santalucia wrote:

rayjay wrote:

ugo.santalucia wrote:

Make the shop an offer... 200 pounds for the frame... it is worthless for them anyway... old model, damaged lacquer... that of course if the damage is only superficial as it seems

You can Clearly see in the bottom/last one of the photos that a piece of the carbon has chipped away.

I had the same thing happen on some Zipp bars . They lasted a few rides and completely snapped and I was lucky not to have a serious crash.

Unless he gets the frame repaired by professional's, riding it could end in disaster

I would agree with you, but that's not what I see... the way I see it is that the lacquer has chipped and cracked... it is quite a thick layer... but yes, if in any doubt then I would not ride it... the question is whether this is cosmetic only... I would expect a bike shop to do the right thing and NOT to sell the frame at all if the damage is anything more than cosmetic

Yep - I don't see any missing cf - just chipped lacquer. It has to be tested, not at the OPs expense. And if it is determined that the damage is superficial, then is the time to negotiate a discount.

FWIW, I think it would be fairly easy for a frame painter to make that mark disappear. It's just a case of blending new lacquer in to the damaged area after the damaged area has been flatted down. I've managed to deal with scuffs in cf parts pretty easily that way. I think you'd need a bit better than the rattle can I used to sort a top tube but the principle is the same and just as simple.

Speckled

Well ive spoken to giant and they say theres no way of telling if the frames compromised or not by looking at it, it would have to go away for testing which would prove very expensive. Even if the shop agreed to pay for that, i wouldnt want the hassle, i want to ride this bike this year not next....

Ben i did look at asking for a discount on this years model, or even if they could just replace the frame and i'd rebuild it but it seems they arent stocking anymore giant bikes or frames at all. A suspicious person may think the bike was knowingly sent out damaged, just to get rid accepting they'd have to reduce the price even more, worst case it gets sent back to them.

Anyhow ive taken on board some of the comments on here and i think its too risky, its alot of money and i value my safety above all.

Ugo i have still offered to buy the bike, but for the components only so i could source my own advanced sl frame and build it myself. This is depending on the price they want for it, but like you said, it should be worthless to them as they wouldnt be able to re sell it. Just depends how much they want for as a scrap/damaged bike

bigjim

Send it back. You'll never be able to trust it. What's your life worth?