Originally Posted by
saddlesores
i suppose surly doesn't offer lifetime warranties because
they don't need to. steel frames don't break. they build
a quality product at a reasonable price. offering a
longer warranty would imply their frames break.
Read the forums long enough, and all frame materials break. I've see several reports of broken dropouts (alignment issues?), broken bottom brackets (fatigue?), and broken head tubes and head lugs (crash stress?), all with steel bikes.
3 years may be long enough to rule out manufactures defects... or perhaps just long enough for fatigue due to some poor design to catch up.
Originally Posted by
jefnvk
Because, as I found out when I went to adjust the girlfriend's kickstand that came with the bike halfway through a tour, removing it for the first time, people can overtighten the bolt, crinkle the chainstay, and weaken the frame. That is user error, not something that should be covered under warranty.
So you were "adjusting" a loose kickstand, and complaining that it had been overtightened.
Almost all kickstands bolted onto round tubes behind the bottom bracket will crush the tubes. Or, they'll be loose.
It is hard to call it a user error. Manufacturing defect? If a kickstand is intended, they can weld on a 1/2 ounce bolt plate. Or, perhaps kickstands should be designed to be contoured to the tubes, so less crushing, and less twisting.