Snapped Pinnacle FS Team 2008 Frame

kevsolly

Warning be aware THESE and other PINNACLE FULL SUSPENSION FRAMES ARE SERIOUSLY DANGEROUS AND EVANS WONT REPLACE THEM!!!

My frame was bought in August 2008 for £500 (half price as they were £1000) new from Evans in Spitalfields and it snapped on April 2014 nearby the chainrings section on the rear chainstay section.
There are joints welded here and mine snapped whilst cycling home from work.
This frame snapped on a welded joint due to a design or manufacturer error, PERIOD. Nothing else.
The shop manager of Spitalfields branch said that because my bike hasn't been serviced and this is why the frame has snapped. This took a whole month to come to this conclusion.
This is level of communication is NOT acceptable, I am totally appalled and disgusted with their poor level of customer service.
Then after collecting my bike on Saturday morning the shop manager didn't even have the decency to explain what and why the warranty hadn't been granted because he knew the FACT why.
Then to add insult to injury there were email letters printed out and attached to my bike dated the 12th May 19, 2014 saying suspension parts were not serviced and about chainstay scrappings but that they were willing to offer me a new frame or bike at cost price plus VAT.
This bike has been used 99% of the time as a commuter bike to work 14 miles per 4 day per week.
I rang an independent specialist bike shop and they told me their verdict is utter rubbish.
I been riding bike for over 40 years, I purchased new a Kona AA 1996 that I owned for 14 years, I have a Specialized S-Works M5 2002 from new that I'm still riding that has at least 10000 miles on it and it’s immaculate so I don’t buy cheap and this frame wasn’t either especially with the parts I had put on it.
This is all down to a welded design fault on their pinnacle full suspension frames as my S-works doesn't have the same design, it has one piece of flowing framework made so now I'm going to make to known to anyone who has one of these frames and are still using it.
If this happens to you, take every component off it before sending it back as they will try and say it has not been serviced properly. Lifetime limited warranty, it isn’t worth the piece of paper it’s printed on.

97th choice

Feel better now?

Twelly

Lol

rockmonkeysc

Hillarious!
So you're saying it failed because it's not designed in the same way as your S Works frame? There are many ways to design a product correctly.
If there is wear caused by lack of maintenence then that's a fairly reasonable cause of failure.
Why do you use a full suspension bike for commuting on road?

ilovedirt

It might be a fault with the frame, but it's well out of warranty, and that's that. Besides, what were you expecting from a frame branded "Pinnacle"?
If you want decent support when you buy a frame:
A. Don't buy from Evans. Obvious enough.
B. Don't buy a Pinnacle
C. Buy one with a longer warranty or have it insured.

rockmonkeysc

Warranty covers material and manufacturing faults, they tend to show up within a year or reasonably quickly, they don't usually keep going for six years.

Twelly

Over 17,000 road miles on a full sus? Blatant misuse of a product

poah

I take it they provided evidence as to the lack of servicing and how this caused a weld to fail within the warranty period.

http://www.which.co.uk/consumer-rights/ ... can-i-do--

russyh

And I bet you told evans cycles that you were going to post this all over the internet unless they replaced the frame under warranty....

mcnultycop

It doesn't look very well looked after.

step83

It clearly broke because you were using it for the wrong purpose and wise slicks, it's like frame suicide, it had had enough and wanted to end it all.

The Rookie

Is that white corrosion I see inside the frame? I'm sure that won't have had an effect.

Interestingly the Carrera Banshee (also made by Merida who also make Spesh frames......) introduced a welded section to stop the manipulated tube snapping in a similar place.

Angus Young

Another hit and run.

I smell fish.

homers_double

Yeh but there are only two things that smell of fish, and one's fish.

defride

I've seen talk that Pinnacle offer a 'lifetime warranty' for the frames, don't know if it's true.

If they did when it was bought the reason given for rejecting the warranty is a bit of pi## take, surely.

Parts wear sure, it's an older bike, how do they know the bike hadn't been serviced elsewhere? A query with regard to how a lack of service has caused a weld to fail would be very appropriate! I doubt the terms in the Evans warranty include a clause that says the bike must be regularly serviced at Evans. Unless there's been crash damage a fault at the weld suggests a there may be a problem with the design/build. If the frame had a couple of years warranty then fair enough not much come back at this stage, 'lifetime', I think it's reasonable to expect a frame to last more than 6 years, vast majority do. One mans opinion.

Second opinion as to how it's failed would be helpful.

Not sure how trading standards/citizens advice works these days, I think it's changed since I last used them. Worth consulting if the OP wants to pursue Evans.

stubs

Going by the photo it doesnt look like it has been looked after, if the pivots and shock bushings havent been serviced one or more could have seized and bouncing into a big pothole on what has become effectively a rigid frame could have weakened the weld.

A frame at cost if you havent looked after it is a bargain I would take the offer.

The Rookie

defride wrote:

A query with regard to how a lack of service has caused a weld to fail would be very appropriate!.

Do you really need to ask for the whole list? Or perhaps you could think about how it could.

rockmonkeysc

How is the lifetime warranty defined? They are usually very vague and NOT the lifetime of the buyer.

tom_howard

Lifetime warranty's are normally for the expected life of the frame. Normally 5 to 10 years. Check the small print.

You are quite pissed off that Evans have said the bike hasn't been serviced/looked after, well have you serviced it and looked after it? From the look of it in the pic, you've barely bothered to clean it. Reasons this may kill your frame? You ride 56 miles a week on the road. I assume that's in all weathers? So in winter all the grit and salt gets all over your frame from all the spray from wet roads. This salt and grit corrodes metal. That will have contributed. Said detritus will have got at your shock, so if that corrodes (it has) it will not work properly and not fixing/servicing it will putting extra stress on the rear end that is designed to have a shock to fall back on.

You are saying that your kona aa didn't break, I don't imagine it did. Hard tails are great if you can't be arsed to look after the frame, no bearings to die for a start.

If they've offered a frame at cost +vat, bite their arm off. Though I'd recommend you buy a rigid single speed (or even better, a fixed wheel road bike), that way you can neglect it all you like and it will keep on going.

I wager you don't have a car, but pray for you and others that you don't have the same attitude to looking after that.

Angus Young

'Lifetime' warranty? Isn't that redundant by its very definition? It's guaranteed up to the moment it dies. So: worthless.

tom_howard

No, the exact terms can be found in the small print of the warranty, like I say, normally it's 5-10 years.

The Northern Monkey

letters@dailymail.co.uk

So lets see the rest of the bike?

Angus Young

Tom Howard wrote:

No, the exact terms can be found in the small print of the warranty, like I say, normally it's 5-10 years.

As I say, 'lifetime warranty' is a worthless term.

The Rookie

The Gary. Fisher lifetime warranty was truly lifetime......

tom_howard

Angus Young wrote:

Tom Howard wrote:

No, the exact terms can be found in the small print of the warranty, like I say, normally it's 5-10 years.

As I say, 'lifetime warranty' is a worthless term.

It's an ambiguous term, (though it's always clarified, as I said) but not worthless. Just because people assume it's the owners life doesn't make it true. It could be the life of the owner, the life of the manufacturer, the (reasonably expected) life of the bike, the life of the Bue Peter cat...

Check the details of your warranties before you go on the internet slating them boys and girls.

If the op really thinks he had a case (IMO he hasn't) there's always legal action.

Angus Young

Tom Howard wrote:

Angus Young wrote:

Tom Howard wrote:

No, the exact terms can be found in the small print of the warranty, like I say, normally it's 5-10 years.

As I say, 'lifetime warranty' is a worthless term.

It's an ambiguous term, (though it's always clarified, as I said) but not worthless. Just because people assume it's the owners life doesn't make it true. It could be the life of the owner, the life of the manufacturer, the (reasonably expected) life of the bike, the life of the Bue Peter cat...

Check the details of your warranties before you go on the internet slating them boys and girls.

If the op really thinks he had a case (IMO he hasn't) there's always legal action.

As the warranty warrants the frame I think the fairest assumption is that the 'lifetime' in the title refers to the lifetime of the frame (is there anyone who assumes it's the owner's lifetime?). So, as I said, your bike is guaranteed until it dies. Which renders the guarantee worthless because the moment that you need to make a big call on the guarantee is the moment your guarantee ends.

Of course, it's not 'lifetime' at all and what the guarantee really covers is in the small print. In which case they should stop using a meaningless term which suggests something that it isn't and even if it was what it suggested would be worthless anyway.

supersonic

IME most are the lifetime of the original owner.

tom_howard

You are missing my point. The manufacturer will always specify what 'lifetime' means. As I've said twice before now, this is usually between 5 and 10 years. Let's imagine it is 10 years, if it breaks (because of a manufacturing fault, and whilst being used in normal conditions and correctly maintained) after 6, fine have a new one. Breaks after 11. Sorry, they aren't expected to live that long.

Of course, some do say the lifetime of the original owner, just don't assume they all do.

Angus Young

supersonic wrote:

IME most are the lifetime of the original owner.

So if I turn up 65 years later with a snapped frame they can reasonably be expected to replace?

Tom Howard wrote:

You are missing my point. The manufacturer will always specify what 'lifetime' means. As I've said twice before now, this is usually between 5 and 10 years. Let's imagine it is 10 years, if it breaks (because of a manufacturing fault, and whilst being used in normal conditions and correctly maintained) after 6, fine have a new one. Breaks after 11. Sorry, they aren't expected to live that long.

Of course, some do say the lifetime of the original owner, just don't assume they all do.

Just saying that the use of the term 'lifetime' is silly at best, deliberately misleading at worst.

rockmonkeysc

Did the OP just start the thread and feck off? Has this thread been started on other forums as well?
My employer does well with warranties, 95% of our products are out of warranty before a plant ever gets commissioned! I can't remember a single warranty claim.

tom_howard

Angus Young wrote:

supersonic wrote:

IME most are the lifetime of the original owner.

So if I turn up 65 years later with a snapped frame they can reasonably be expected to replace?

Yep. Good luck proving it was a manufacturing defect.

Rockmonkey, oh yes, he's been quite busy.