Trek Domane Frame Break

G_mcd65

Trying to canvass some opinion on what seems to be a fairly common topic of Trek carbon bike frames (particularly Trek) breaking and the manufacturer declining on the 'lifetime warranty'.

Last year I invested in a pretty expensive Trek Domane 5.2 frame - 13 months on I'm not left with a redundant carbon frame snapped at the chain stay. My initial reaction was surprise as I had no idea why the frame had broken but I was reassured at the time that Trek would come good on the warranty.

2 weeks on they are refusing on the grounds that the rear derailleur reared up and hit the frame thus causing the frame to break - they concluded this was the result of an accident which is a wring assumption. I can't say with confidence that the rear derailleur has ever made contact with the chain stay but accept this is may be the best root cause conclusion.

I'm now looking at taking Trek to the small claims court on the basis the bike is not fit for purpose - my arguement is based on the expectation of a road worthy bike - I would expect a more robust product to cope with the stresses and strains of every day riding - knowing what I know now I would never consider carbon again. I was lucky the frame snapped at low speed, had that happened on a descent then I'm not even sure I'd be here to write this post.

I've read some of the other hard luck stories - seems the majority have all been fobbed off by Trek.

svetty

I feel for you but at the end of the day the frame is warranteed against failure not accidental damage. If the hanger breaks it's generally the result of some form of impact - perhaps someone knocked it when it was resting against something. Alternatively if the chain gets stuck e.g. due to chainsuck then this could cause the hanger to snap. Either way it's an unfortunate event not a manufacturing defect so not Trek's fault I'm afraid.

cougie

Why would a frame break there without some external influence?

I've been riding carbon for over 10 years now and never snapped anything.

What happened in the incident? Rear mech break off? Ride over something? You're making it sound like it just broke for no reason.


You can get it repaired very easily. I would just do that rather than waste my efforts on a claim that I don't think would pay off.

debeli

I'm inclined to agree with Trek on the basis of the information offered by the OP.

Bad things do happen, even to carbon.

This situation may not be what the Small Claims system was put in place for.

I'd counsel the OP not to be hasty in his/her judgement of carbon as a material. I ride steel and alloy bikes, but I find nothing wrong with carbon. There are horses and there are courses. And there are riders.

The OP bought a fairly complex piece of equipment (one which a not so many years ago was unimaginably advanced) of a type now being knocked out by the tens of thousands by mass-market manufacturers. It broke in a way that suggests the cause was not down to poor workmanship at the factory, poor materials or poor design

Good luck arguing that a Trek Domane 5.2 is not fit for purpose. I and many others are of the view that it is. Be careful that the bike does not sue you for riding it while in possession of less of a clue than seems appropriate*.

*I'm just kidding; bicycles don't sue people.

fenix

Also (taken from the Which website) -
"Beyond six months, it's up to you to prove that the problem was there when you received the goods even if it has taken until now to come to light."

You'd be better off just looking for the recent threads on carbon repair and getting it fixed. It'll be as strong as ever.

janwal

It's interesting that Trek won't replace it.Friend of mine had same new bike and on a trip back from Chester last year the same thing happened to him.Just pedalling up a short rise at about 10 mph and he ground to a sudden halt.The rear derailleur had more or less come apart,we found one jockey wheel back down the road. When we looked it had broken rear chain stay.Luck would have it we were near a local train station!
Anyway he took it into his LBS where he bought it and they got Trek rep to inspect it and they DID replace it.Took quite some time as they said that none were in the country as they don't normally just sell framesets.When it did arrive it was a Matt black and white one and his damaged one was orange! But he didn't push the point and shop rebuilt it him for free aswell.
To this day he doesn't know why derailleur broke.It was new as he had the Longer one fitted to take an 11-32 cassette before delivery.
If it helps the LBS was wheelspin in Huddersfield.Perhaps a phone call to Andy there may help you for more info as Trek you would think should be consistent in their policy.

AK_jnr

No chance a frame will just break on its own. Your RD went into your spokes and snapped your chain stay.

cougie

Was that bike over a year old too janwal?

stanthomas

Trek's lifetime warranty on the frame and fork covers faulty design and manufacture. It doesn't cover other components and consequentail damage caused by failure of a part attached to the frame. On a complete bike you'll get a general 12 month warranty on the build. So, if the rear mech jammed and whipped around into the chainstay, you'll have a claim within that 12 months but not beyond. If a bike shop regularly serviced the bike you might have a claim against them. If you did everything yourself then you're on your own.

Trek are generally sympathetic and operate a crash replacement program which will get you a discount on a new bike.

G_mcd65

AK_jnr wrote:

No chance a frame will just break on its own. Your RD went into your spokes and snapped your chain stay.

I need to clarify that I'm not stating the frame broke on its own, I put it to trek in the hope they would sympathise with the situation. The RD is still attached to the bike - worst case is that it hit the chain stay some other way of which I'm not fully aware. 100% there was no impact involved. My feeling is that the frame should be far more robust to absorb such scenario of RD coming into contact which is why I'm pursuing this.

G_mcd65

janwal wrote:

It's interesting that Trek won't replace it.Friend of mine had same new bike and on a trip back from Chester last year the same thing happened to him.Just pedalling up a short rise at about 10 mph and he ground to a sudden halt.The rear derailleur had more or less come apart,we found one jockey wheel back down the road. When we looked it had broken rear chain stay.Luck would have it we were near a local train station!
Anyway he took it into his LBS where he bought it and they got Trek rep to inspect it and they DID replace it.Took quite some time as they said that none were in the country as they don't normally just sell framesets.When it did arrive it was a Matt black and white one and his damaged one was orange! But he didn't push the point and shop rebuilt it him for free aswell.
To this day he doesn't know why derailleur broke.It was new as he had the Longer one fitted to take an 11-32 cassette before delivery.
If it helps the LBS was wheelspin in Huddersfield.Perhaps a phone call to Andy there may help you for more info as Trek you would think should be consistent in their policy.

Thanks - appreciate the useful response I think sometimes it can come down to the person you speak to within a company. I plan to talk directly to Trek before taking it any further.

G_mcd65

Fenix wrote:

Also (taken from the Which website) -
"Beyond six months, it's up to you to prove that the problem was there when you received the goods even if it has taken until now to come to light."

You'd be better off just looking for the recent threads on carbon repair and getting it fixed. It'll be as strong as ever.

Thanks - I'll look at this.

stanthomas

G_mcd65 wrote:

AK_jnr wrote:

No chance a frame will just break on its own. Your RD went into your spokes and snapped your chain stay.

I need to clarify that I'm not stating the frame broke on its own, I put it to trek in the hope they would sympathise with the situation. The RD is still attached to the bike - worst case is that it hit the chain stay some other way of which I'm not fully aware. 100% there was no impact involved. My feeling is that the frame should be far more robust to absorb such scenario of RD coming into contact which is why I'm pursuing this.

While it is right to argue that the frame should be robust enough to handle the loadings encountered in normal use, abnormal loads caused by failure or improper fitting of a component are well outside the scope of Trek's lifetime warranty.
Your best bet is to be very nice and hope they give you a discount on a new one.