Three weeks ago I noticed a 30mm hairline crack on my Birdy. It skirted the weld where the seat-post Q/R is situated. Obviously, I didn’t want to propagate the crack, so I contacted R&M who promptly advised me to take it to my Birdy distributing LBS (the main frame is covered under a 10 year warranty). Whilst I was surprised that the Aluminium frame had failed after only 20 months/4000miles, as a heavy, tall and aggressive rider (but within stated tolerances) it wasn’t a huge shock…

Happily, two weeks later I had a brand new Birdy main frame, which my LBS fitted at no charge.

That's how it always should be. :beer:

This is additional inspiration of sticking with steel frames for me.