Giant Warranty

jimmocrates

I posted back in March about my Giant Defy which I bought in 2012. In summary, the forks look like they have corroded under the paint. Advice was to either replace forks or look at a new frame/bike in the second hand market.
https://forum.bikeradar.com/discussion/13110243/paint-bubbling-corrosion#latest)

Lockdown gave me time to take a look through the Giant website at their warranty conditions. That states that 2012 models onwards have a 10year warranty on their forks. Mine is nearly 8 years old, but well within the 10year limit.

I phoned my local GIANT store in Blackburn in May. The earliest they could book my bike in for inspecting was August. No major issue for me as only really need it for winter. It's going in next Saturday. I've had 8 decent years out of it, so see it as nothing to lose (being charged £10 for them to inspect it). BUT, one of the conditions in the warranty says warranty excludes bikes serviced by non-Giant retailers (mine has been).

How strict can I expect them to be with this?
What should I be expecting from them?

https://www.giant-bicycles.com/gb/warranty

Ben6899

Maybe just don't mention it.

ballysmate

Certainly with cars, the manufacturer's warranty is unaffected if you use a non franchised dealer for servicing provided that you use genuine parts. Perhaps bikes are the same.
Does not apply to extended warranties though.

Ben6899

When they ask who's had their hands on it, tell them nobody but you.

It's that simple, isn't it?

50x11

There is a real easy way to get round this worry. Don't tell them. You dont have to supply a log of service on it.

amrushton

Sadly things are going this way. The bike trade has rumours of the groupset makers only covering equipment installed by their dealers.

dj58

To the OP, in the 8 years of winter use, did you fit mudguards to your bike? The warranty states you must be the original purchaser and that the bike must have been assembled by an authorised Giant retailer. Did you register the bike on the Giant website, did you take It back to the reatailer for the 6 week check/service? Warranty on the paint and decals is 1 year.

jimmocrates

dj58 said:

To the OP, in the 8 years of winter use, did you fit mudguards to your bike? The warranty states you must be the original purchaser and that the bike must have been assembled by an authorised Giant retailer. Did you register the bike on the Giant website, did you take It back to the reatailer for the 6 week check/service? Warranty on the paint and decals is 1 year.

Hi, it had the Giant Defy specific mudguards on until they failed (replaced by Giant's newer versions which weren't as good). I bought the bike from new from Edinburgh Co Op and still have receipt, but not registered on website.

Like I said, nothing to lose. It's been well used, but looked after.
Just sounding out opinion on whether I can expect them to be awkward or what they may be likely to offer if anybody else had tried claiming against the warranty.

dj58

You should be OK then, it will probably be down to whether the shop are going to strip the fork out and send it to Giant UK for inspection, or they make the inspection themselves and report back to Giant UK. I would imagine it will also depend on if there are any service forks still available in the UK, these may not match the original colour scheme of your Defy, though you could repaint it to match. Do let us know how you get on with this claim. As an alternative if they say no, you may be able to get a new fork from this company, again may not match the orignal colour scheme though. https://www.giantbikespares.com/search.php?k=defy+front+fork

jimmocrates

dj58 said:

You should be OK then, it will probably be down to whether the shop are going to strip the fork out and send it to Giant UK for inspection, or they make the inspection themselves and report back to Giant UK. I would imagine it will also depend on if there are any service forks still available in the UK, these may not match the original colour scheme of your Defy, though you could repaint it to match. Do let us know how you get on with this claim. As an alternative if they say no, you may be able to get a new fork from this company, again may not match the orignal colour scheme though. https://www.giantbikespares.com/search.php?k=defy+front+fork

Thanks, got a call from the Giant shop today, but not what I wanted to hear.
They said that there was a chip in the paint caused by brakes being over tightened. They said that this had allowed water ingress which had caused the paint bubbling and that this was the issue rather than corrosion. They said that the chip in the paintwork invalidates the warranty.
I found it really harsh to be honest.
I'll attach a pic when I get the bike back with the brakes removed.

Giant said because it was paint bubbling rather than aluminium corrosion, that the forks were still safe to ride.

dj58

Cop out. Did you fit the mudguards yourself or the LBS? I have the same bike and those first generation mudguards, though I don't use them in the summer and I don't use the bike in winter as I have another bike with adeqate clearances for full length mudguards.

When I collected my bike from the shop I asked what the correct torque figure was when fitting the mudguards, they could not tell me. I was apprehensive because I thought that the fork was carbon, actually the steer tube, crown and dropouts are alloy, only the legs are carbon The Shimano torque figure is 8-10Nm for a 5700/6700 caliper, I don't think I've used more than 5Nm when fitting the mudguard/caliper.

Unless you use a non metallic insulating washer between the mudguard mounting bracket and the fork, you are going to damaged the paint finish IMO. Giant do not supply any in the fitting kit, neither do they state any torque figures, so you could argue the point with them, though you would probably be wasting your time.

If they are saying that this is loss of paint adhesion due to water ingress and not alloy corrosion, I would remove all the flaking paint back to the bare alloy, clean, lightly abrade, etch primer, high build primer, top coat then lacquer. Wet sand between coats. Worth a try rather than scrapping the frame and fork.