Mountain Biking - Broken frame, God gave me a warranty!

Okay, I was riding my 2005 Fisher HKEK last week. I stopped to enjoy the scenery for a second. I threw a leg over her again and gave it two good pedal strokes and all of the sudden...my seat cocked backward.

I hopped off the bike (thinking that my binder bolt was loose) and got out my multi tool. I looked at it with tool in hand and noticed that the seat tube was cracked and bent backward about 45 degrees!

My seatpost is always at least 1" below the minimum insertion mark just to be on the safe side. On the 2005 Fisher HKEK, the seat tube sticks above the top tube / seat tube junction about 2 inches or more. My seatpost was inserted to slightly below the bottom of the top tube. ( I measured ) The seat tube broke off at a 45 degree angle.

Gary Fisher hardtail frames have a lifetime warranty against defects. I took my bike to the shop and just let her sit. I have been riding my Dakar XLT Porker on my normal climbing trails.

My first thought was that they would give me guff because they'd think my post wasn't inserted enough. Then I figured they'd send me a 21" frame so my post wouldn't stick out quite so far. Then I thought they'd send me a "Biggun's" hardtail frame that is tougher and much heavier.

All of these were not going to be too acceptible to me. So I just sat and waited for a response.


I just talked to my LBS and they said that Gary would be sending me a new ZR9000 hardtail frame like the one I had, but they don't have that color anymore. I get to pick from a bunch of colors and either black or white lettering.

Wooha!!! I'm stoked. I have always liked the '06 Excaliber metallic orange, and I love the orange Fisher Ferrous steel frame this yr.


I decided to go with metallic orange with black Fisher logo's. (X-cal orange / Ferrous black)

I'll post pic's when she's gets here and I put her back together.



Okay, I don't think Gary Fisher is God BTW. I just feel blessed to get a custom colored frame.

That's awesome, can't wait for the pics! :beer: :bday:

Fantastic customer service! Thank God that you didn't get hurt, that is the most important part!

Nice choice of colors, I'm jealous. I'm an orange kinda gal and can't wait to see the pics! :D

You got a new frame for breaking a seat post?

Seat tube.

Also, pics of the broken frame?

That is awesome, congrats. Only thing I would do different is go with white letters. I love the way they go together. I'm not a huge fan of black on orange though. Just personal preference. To get an idea of white on orange check out the IF in my signature.

Yeah, I love white on orange too. I actually said that first but got to thinking...my fork is black, my bars, stem, seatpost, wheelset, brakes, saddle...all black.

I thought the contrast would look nice.

Anyways, I dropped the bike off at the shop immediately after it happened so they could get the ball rolling. I will go over there soon and see what I can do 'bou getting some pic's.

EtherGhost, as stated by wethepeople...I broke the seat tube off where it joins the top tube. I didn't break the post. It must have been stress fractured over time and just gave way when I gave two strong pedal strokes from my MAN LEGS. (heehee)

Ya know it's funny. I worked sooo hard to get that bike and I love it a ton but...umm...after 6 months they had to rebuild my rear hub 2x. After 9 months, my fork was rebuilt 2x and then finally replaced under warranty with a new Tora 318 Solo SL. After 6-7 months, my LX rear derailleur shot craps. After 2 months, my BB bearings were shot and I replaced with a Hollotech II. I have gone through 6 chains, 3 cassettes, and a middle and big ring. The headset was always loosening, so I sought King. 2 sets of tires.


Really, the only things that will be stock when I get the new frame will be m505 pedals, LX front derailleur, Bontrager bar and stem.

The bike will most likely be:

Frame-ZR9000
Fork-RS Tora Solo SL
Cranks-LX HTII
Shift-X.9
R Der-X.9
F Der-LX
Cass-PG970
Chain-PC971
Bars-Bonty
Stem-Bonty
Post-RF Evolve XC
Saddle-SanMarco Arami
Wheels-Mav. CrossRide
Brakes-Shimano m4'somethin
Levers-Avid FR5
Tires-Panaracer Fire XC Pro
Grips-Odi Lock On
Pedals-m505

I have upgraded just about everything due to wear or failure yet I don't feel that I got a bad deal? Fisher is good at marketing...he's got me buffalo'd.

I'm pretty hard on stuff, I guess. I ride technically challenging obstacles and don't shy away from getting a little bit of air here and there. I don't go dirt jumping or freeriding, so I don't feel I'm abusing my bike.

It kinda sucks in that to get a really nice bike that would last a long time, you have to pay so much $$. I just didn't have the cash to pony up all at once, so I guess I did it over the course of the last year or so.

Now that I have my Dakar XLT built up for the rough stuff, I will probably only use this bike for when I go climbing, road, and smooth trails.

It was good to see in the December issue of MBAction that they did a review on the Dakar XLT. It kinda reinforces my feelings and gives me comfort knowing how tough the frame really is.

Did it have a manipoo fork stock? I broke mine quickly too :)

Its weird that it broke when you sound like you got the seatpost perfectly fine. But its lifetime warr,. so who cares. Good that you didn't get hurt. I saw someone using a Giant XTC frame doing a small jump (2') and snap the seat tube before. I had a GT Zaskar frame and the top tube crack (not at the weld but the tube)

No Manitou fork. It was a RS Pilot SL. That's why RS sent me a Tora as a warranty replacement.

If it were a Manitou, then I suspect Manitou would have sent me another Manitou instead of a RS Tora. If it was a Manitou and they would have bought me a Tora to replace it with, then I probably would have tried to talk them into a Fox Float or Talas.

Hey...maybe I should have tried to talk SRAM corp into buying me a Fox to replace the Pilot. I didn't even think of that.

Just messin with ya Minesbroken.

That is awesome, congrats. Only thing I would do different is go with white letters. I love the way they go together. I'm not a huge fan of black on orange though. Just personal preference. To get an idea of white on orange check out the IF in my signature.It's all a matter of whether you're a Halloween (or KTM) kinda person or an orange-sherbet-and-vanilla-ice-cream kinda person :)

By the way, chelboed, congratulations on a great outcome! I'm not a big hardtail fan, but the GFs are my favorites of them.

It's all a matter of whether you're a Halloween (or KTM) kinda person or an orange-sherbet-and-vanilla-ice-cream kinda person :)

By the way, chelboed, congratulations on a great outcome! I'm not a big hardtail fan, but the GFs are my favorites of them.
KTM

:D

I had the exact same thing happen to me last week on my fisher x-caliber. A new frame is on the way. Great customer service from GF and the dealer. I bet this is going to happen alot since the seat tube extension is the same length as or longer than the minimum insertion on alot of seatposts.

I guess great customer service is all a company really needs. They can build a total pos frame, as long as when it breaks they have great customer service.

Two instances of frames breaking from fisher, and they have pos frames eh?

my 95 HKEK frame is still holding up. I guess they let a few out the door that aren't junk ;-)

I just saw my new frame today. It was hanging on the wall at the bike shop. (the mech. wasn't there today to press the headset)

It's sooooo stinkin' cool lookin. It's the exact same metallic orange of the 006 X-Cal. I was a bit skeptical about the black lettering, but I love it!

As soon as I get her built, I'll post some pic's. I'll try to post a few of the old frame too.

A really unique thing about it is that it doesn't have a model decal'd on it. Just the head tube badge and the "Gary Fisher" on the down tube. I don't think it say's Genesis either. Soooo...it's like having a custom / one-off kinda thingy, eh?

How fun.

I'm so much more into my dual suspension bike than my hardtail, but it's fun to get new stuff for free like that. I called Arkansas and they advised me to bring my hardtail when I come down to do the "Womble" trail next spring. So much climbing. They said I'd be struggling with my Dakar XLT. I'm 'bout ready to just bring that to spite them and prove that Kansas has hills to build quads too, hehe. Oh I probably won't prove anything that way. May as well bring the hardtail and enjoy the 40 miles of hills.

They would have been able to estimate how deep the seatpost was in based on the beaking point. Its a pretty easy quality control test to emulate if you ever have a couple of frames to break :D (its actually one of the first stress test you learn when you take quality control testing, or at least something pretty similar)

Well, I got it built last night. It's so pretty that I couldn't waste my time taking pic's last night in the dark. I wanna wait until it's light out so y'all can see the crazy under-tone beneath the orange.

It's a little bright at first, but once you notice the metallic peices...it's really a beautiful color. I had some Panaracer Fire XC Pro 2.1" Blue walls on it that looked good with the old Saphire Blue frame and fork. Now that the frame is Orange and the Warranty fork is black...it looked pretty sorry with the blue walls.

I threw on some Bontrager Jones ACX 2.2" black walls on it until I get some Nevegal's or Smallblock 8's. (can't yet decide)

I'll try to take some luscious pictures tonight after work to share.