Gary Fisher Warranty Help?
Hey everyone-
I've been on the forum for a while, but mostly posting in the road forums... I've been doing far more of that lately than MTBing... Anyway, I decided that I needed to dust of my MTB and go bang through some trails the other day. As I was giving it a tune up, I noticed that I one of the welds in my swingarm is cracked. It's bad enough that by slightly flexing the tubes, I can actually see the crack move.
The bike is a '98 Gary Fisher Joshua X1 (full-susp). A great bike in it's day, but certainly not the latest and greatest. I ride carefully though, and take care of my stuff, so I'm not quite ready to buy another one. It's in great shape save for the crack. I checked GF's website, and it looks like they warranty their frames for life for the original owner. If you're not the original owner, it's unclear- maybe just a year warranty.
The rub is, I'm not the original owner. I bought the bike from someone just months after they picked it up. It was practically new. I have no idea how to contact this person at this point. I do know where he bought the bike though.
What do you all suggest? Would I best off to go back to where it was originally purchased? Or to a different shop that might not have the original owner's name in the computer? I don't know if he sent in a warranty card. I'm not out to lie + cheat my way into a new bike- not my style. Just trying to figure out where I have the best chance of getting warranty coverage. The LBS where I know the most people doesn't carry GF (they do carry Trek though?).
Any advice would be greatly appreciated. I really hope I don't have to throw this frame away.
Thanks-
Bob