cyclezealot

I recently developed a crack on my Klein's top tube.. ( Klein having been bought out by Trek.)
. Two days ago a Trek Certified shop confirmed that this crease is a crack in the frame.. Before I took the bike to the shop, I talked to the International Headquarters of Trek at their Wisconsin office. The office that issues their guarantees seemed optimistic.. yes, there is either a partial or complete guarantee on aluminum frames.. Just take it to a Trek dealer and they will make out a report..
.. Now, my bike is in the shop.. Awaiting approval.. The Trek dealer said approval might take a week or so.. Now, I am without a race bike..
. What has been your experience with warranties on aluminum frames.. ? Did your bike manufacturer come through and respect their guarantee.. ?

mconlonx

CZ, for an aluminum frame like this, expect them to offer either a discount off a complete new bike or a 2.x series frame as a replacement. Are you here in the States or over in France right now?

Trouble with the replacement frame is Klein proprietary stuff that won't just swap over, specifically the headset/fork and bb/crank. If Trek does agree to replace the frame, argue for a complete frameset with fork unless the fork is a direct swap. Expect to have to pay for a new bb.

If you're here in the States, work with the shop where you have filed your claim -- you may be able to stretch your replacement offer to a leftover '11 bike already at discounted pricing. If you're given the option to take a discount on a new bike, check out their close-out bikes and consider this an awesome chance to upgrade...

PM me if you need any more detailed help or a walk through on any of this.

jimc101

This goes for just about any frame replaced under warranty, a friend has just had his Trek Remedy replaced, he had a 2009 model, and the 2011 frame has some minor but significant differences, being as CZ has a mid 90's frame, a lot of parts won't swap easily to a new frame.

10 Wheels

I cracked my Felt F-80 frame (20,881 miles, in 20 months).
My bike shop and Felt had me a new frame (F-85) in 4 days shipped from CA to Houston, No questions asked.
Bike shop had me back on the road 2 days after they received the new frame.(6 days total)

Full warranty covered it.

mconlonx

...and the factory is under no obligation to warranty the "obsolete" parts that won't swap over. Which will make any offer of a discount off a new bike worth looking at...

cyclezealot

Thanks all.. I purchased my Klein in June of 2000. I believe the frame to be of 2000 or 1999 vintage.. The Owner's Manual does not mention a year... .. I'll still likely have issues when the shop swaps over components. I expect that..Being a Klein fan, I really wanted a Klein... had I known Trek would being buying them out within the year, I doubt I would have remained a Klein fan..
. Really , for its age, it has not been ridden a lot. I probably ride my Touring and commute bikes 80% of the time.. During this interim period I don't know what to expect.. The Trek office spokesmen in Wisconsin seemed hopeful.. He acknowledged that Trek offered a warranty on Klein bikes..
Wonder how a discount on a new bike would compare with replacement costs in building up a new frame.?
Pedantic, I might well be in contact as soon as I know what Trek will offer.

HillRider

The Klein-badged frames made and sold after the Trek aquisition had very conventional headsets and English threaded bottom brackets. There is nothing proprietary about them.

CACycling

He bought it before the aquisition.

HillRider

I don't think so. A check on Wikipedia says "Klein's company, Klein Bikes, was purchased by Trek in 1995; production was moved from Chehalis, Washington to Trek's Wisconsin manufacturing facility in 2002." During the 1995-2002 transition period Trek made a lot of Klein-badged aluminum frames in Wisconsin.

I bought a "Klein Stage Comp" for my son-in-law in early 1998 and it was already a Trek-built frame and was a previous year closeout and even then.

cyclezealot

Evidence might indicate I bought it during the transition.. June 2000... My owner's manual says, Klein Handcrafted.. by the Klein Bicycle Corporation.. But, the kicker.. The Klein Bicycle Corporation 's is said to be located in Waterloo, Wisconsin.. Traditionally , Klein's were handcrafted in some small town in Oregon.. Waterloo, Wisc is the home of the Trek Corporation.. And I thought I was buying a Klein...
Guess, that's good news in one way.. My frame was a Trek Frame and not really a Klein Frame.. I'd think that makes a Trek life time warranty on their frames more valid as applied to my Klein bike..

DiabloScott

Can't help with the warranty, but there's some wrong info about the company in this thread.

Trek let Klein do their thing pretty much the whole time between 1995 and 2002; once the moved production to Waterloo Klein was just another sub brand. The carbon fiber rear end was the shark jumping event.

My History of Klein Road Bikes

cyclezealot

^.... Klein production stayed in Chelais until 2002.. So, guess I have a Klein Bike. even if the ownership was Trek..

fietsbob

Seems materials and workmanship warrantees, doesn't extend to wear and tear,
from long use.. just might be time to move on ..

had a couple AlAn frames , the cost of sending them back for a simple low cost
repair , required air freight, from Cal, to Italy, as the charges were excessive
the frame was scrapped.

cyclezealot

Originally, It wasn't my idea that my Klein had a life time warranty on its frame.. ^.. I was told by one of the shops that I frequent that Trek had a lifetime warranty of its frame.. What would be the better course.. And to think just this past year , I upgraded some of my Kline's components. Such as a new shifter ( Shimano) and replaced about half the chainrings in the rear cluster. I ride my Klein such a small portion of my rides, those chainrings were original....... Should I just throw out all those new parts in the Trash.? At a cost of about 250 bucks...
. That just before this new crack appeared. And to think I was really liking the way my Klein's ride had responded to that investment. .

prathmann

I've had two frames replaced under lifetime warranty policies, but neither was a Trek or Klein. One was aluminum and I was refunded the entire purchase price&tax to be applied to another bike of my choosing since the model that broke was no longer being made. The other was steel and the broken frame was replaced and all components transferred over by the manufacturer. Shipping charges in both directions were also covered by them.

Let us know how well Trek treats your warranty claim.

cyclezealot

^.. This is not the first time that I've bought a new frame and swapped over components.. In 1993 , I bought a Scott 520 steel frame. I rode that bike for over 10 years.. ( maybe , Scott offered a life time warranty. ?. Does not really matter.) I rode that bike to its death.. I estimate, I might have well ridden that bike in the range of 80,000 to 100,000 miles.. It was my commute bike and I used it for several multiple day trips . In 2004 , I took the bike to a shop because it was shifting so horribly.. He did a lateral frame check . It was warped between the head tube and the rear fork end by a couple degrees.. I credit its demise to a natural death. I had never had an accident while riding the bike..
. Upon his advice , I ordered a Surly Cross Check frame. To this day , I am riding on many of my old Scott's components.. Most of its components swapped over to the new bike... It worked out just fine and the cost of buying a new frame( without any discount) cost about 1/2 the price of a new bike..

HillRider

Not all of it did. Klein's lower line frames were certainly rebadged Treks. My son-in-law's 1997/98 Stage Comp was Wisconsin made and certainly not a Chelais bike. for one thing it has a conventional English bottom bracket and standard 1" press-in headset, none of Kleins proprietary components.

DiabloScott

How do you know it was a Wisconsin bike? I'd like to edit my site if I'm wrong, but I've never seen one with a Wisconsin sticker, they either say Chehalis or nothing. And Trek wasn't selling anything that looked like a Stage, so it definitely wasn't a simple re-badge.

By 1998 at the latest, all of the Klein road bikes had standard English BBs, and only the Quantum Pro had the proprietary steer tube size; lots of Kleins from that era had 1" threaded headsets - this one is 1994:




Sorry to go so off-topic CZ.

cyclezealot

Being a big time Klein fan, I enjoyed again seeing the propaganda that once influenced me to buy a Klein.. No problemo.

HillRider

I just took a good look at my son-in-law's bike and, as you said, it has no state of origin. The sticker says "Made in USA" and "Gradiant Tubing" so it may have been a Chehalis built bike. I'm surprised if it was since it was one of the lowest line bikes. When I bought it there was a "Stage" that came with Sora 7-speed components and a "Stage Comp" that had 105 8-speed. Prices were in line with Trek-built bikes, not Kleins.

FBinNY 

I don't know how this will play out, but I consider it an example of how the concept of warranty has become distorted over the years.

Makers warranty their products to be free of defects, but that shouldn't imply infinite life, especially in a race bike which by definition is built without deep reserves of strength.

All products have a service life, and as a consumer I'd expect a utility bike to have a longer service life than a race bike, the same way I'd expect a Chevy to hold up longer than a Formula car. The OP's bike has served him well for over 10 years. That's pretty long for a race bike (we used to retire steel bikes to training or winter use after 2-5 seasons) and IMO demonstrates that it was anything but defective.

If I crack a swing arm strut in my 10 year old sports car, I don't expect a free repair. Likewise someone who's enjoyed excellent service life from a bike should count his blessings and be ready to buy the replacement.

cyclezealot

What sold me on my Klein Bike was the ride.. I tried out a couple other aluminum frame bikes, I didn't care for the ride.. Especially, the Cannondale . It was a rough ride.. My Klein was a smooth ride . Just a ride around the block and I was sold..

cyclezealot

^.. I had not initially even considered its lifetime frame warranty. But, as I said earlier, a Trek Shop told me of it... When I called Trek in Wisconsin, they are the one's who seemed to indicate that yes.. There is a lifetime frame warranty..
Question two.. Should they not come through with this promise of a warranty.. What would you do with my Klein's components.. Just buy a new bike and toss them . Some of them being recently replaced... Or, buy a frame and swap them over to my new Frame..

prathmann

I'd actually expect Trek to come through with reasonable warranty service for you.

But if not, then it would depend on the economics. Usually you can get a complete bike for a much lower price than the frame and components would cost you separately. So depending on how many of the components you can actually reuse from the Klein it may make more sense to get a complete bike and keep the Klein components as spares. Wheels are especially handy to have around as spares. You can keep different types of tires on them and decide on which to use depending on the type of ride and the conditions - and it can be nice to have a spare wheel available when you're rushing to leave for a ride and discover a flat tire.

dedhed

Trek did warranty my buddies 02 Lemond Zurich frame when a drop out broke this fall. They didn't have the same frame and gave him a Carbon/Ti one of a bit newer vintage.