Hopefully someone can explain this to me. took my new look 585(1700 miles, 3 months) to the lbs where i purchased it because i was hearing a popping noise coming from the bottom bracket, especially when pedaling up hill or under load, or standing. they came back with the happy news that the bottom bracket cup had separated from the frame, at least to the best of my limited mechanical understanding, and they were sending it back to the look distributor in california to decide whether to repair or replace it. I guess my two questions are what exactly does this mean, and can it really be repaired or should i insist they replace it? Worst of all i'll be riding my older heavier bike for the triple bypass july 8 it looks like.

if they sent it back to the distributor, it sounds like the bb shell and not the cup were seperating frame the frame. if it was simply the cup, they should've been able to take care of it on location. a reliable repair may be possible, depending on the nature of the failure, but i don't think expecting replacement out of line.

Since your $3K carbon fiber frame has a metal BB cup bonded into it, it's not too hard to believe that the cup became "unbonded", for whatever reason. That's a problem that virtually no LBS is going to be able to deal with and sending the frame back to the manufacturer was almost certainly the correct thing to do. If there is some really bad problem that can't be fixed properly, I'd think that Look will do the right thing and replace the frame with a new one.

Please do us all a favor and follow up this with the end resolution of your problem. If they say they fixed the frame and did not replaced it, you should demand a "new" warrantee on the repaired frame or your money back. In the meantime, read your warrantee carefully and see where you stand.

Thanks for the help. I will update over the next few weeks(months?) as the situation develops.

Got the resolution today, I hope. LBS called, said look was sending my brand spanking new frame, will arrive at the lbs thursday, be rebuilt by fri pm, which means i will have it back in time for the triple bypass-yea. kudos to my lbs(bicycle store too, okla city) and Look.

Cheers to your LBS and Look. Good luck in your race