Rick53

This is on a 2020 FX3 that's 2 days after Purchase : You don't see it unless you take the Skewer off. Which I was doing to put on My Sprint Stand . Which I realize won't work : That's another Issue:

Just wondering if I should bother teh Company or not : I did have several loose chips of paint come off. So it's a Little odd . Assuming paint was wet when they put it together ?

puma1552

Wouldn't worry about it, paint virtually always chips on dropouts (or in this case, thru-axles). On the plus side, unlike a dropout, the thru-axle area there is confined, so I would just scrape off the rest within that circle and make it nice and clean.

BiciMan

"Little odd" is generous, Rick; I'd definitely take it back. This may have been a bad paint job or paint batch, be only currently confined, and could extend, or manifest elsewhere later. I wonder if it may show elsewhere now if you pulled other parts, though I'd take it back now, regardless. You said "company" and not dealer or shop, so I don't know what your options are. Nice bike and color, otherwise, BTW.

Edit: I now see the dealer sticker on you picture thread, so that's where I'd be headed. Last thought: if they claim it's "normal", it wouldn't make it acceptable, but I would at least expect to see illustrations on their other aluminum bikes to buy any "normal" claim.

Brocephus

Yep, agreed. While that does seem to be a lot of missing pain for a brand new bike, it's a normal wear spot, and I personally couldn't see myself dragging back to the shop and saying, "guys, we have a problem here", and making a major issue of it.
That being said, it might not be a bad idea to at least show it to them, let them know you're concerned and get their opinion, so you're on record with the issue, in case it worsens over the next few weeks or months, but I wouldn't go in demanding a replacement bike or anything.

BiciMan

That Michigan shop does "have a problem here": "normal wear spot" in two days of a 2020 model?!? I'd only accept it if I'd paid less for a worn demo.

Scooty Puff Jr

Like others have said, its normal, but if it bothers you get some nail polish or touch up car paint thats the same color and just touch up the inside edges to keep it from chipping further.

hokiefyd 

It's pretty apparent to me that this area is not worn -- it was simply never painted. And, given that traditional dropouts are typically painted, even on Trek bikes, I'm certain there's a reason Trek does not paint this area. It uses Trek's proprietary "Thru Skew" axle system, and they've probably found through design and testing that this unpainted area will look pretty trashed up soon anyway after use. Further, perhaps it's possible that the skewer will chip the paint up and it can work its way into Trek's "Thru Skew" and foul it up.

In other words, I think it's probably not painted for a reason. It's not worn, and Trek wouldn't simply forget to paint something.

BiciMan

Hmmm.. really? I hope not. Certainly, never-painted by choice, for whatever reason, is a possibility, in which case all/other 2020 FX3s -at least- should look this way. But Rick43 reported "several loose chips" coming off, and that doesn't sound like lack of paint: It sounds like bad paint or bad paint job/practice, with one lovely red bike or a batch. Would this don't-paint be a Trek innovation or are others doing it as well? Again, I hope not. Paint also has a protective function, even if unpainted aluminum is less meaningful/consequential than unpainted steel. If this is a new practice, it will be interesting to watch for other Trek don't-paint...anyway choices.

Trevtassie

Looks to me like it was masked off so the skewer was seated on bare metal, and like any industrial process the cost of doing it so it looks like it was done carefully wasn't deemed appropriate.

JonathanGennick 

That is what I see as well -- that the metal disk the skewer clamps to was masked off. Below is a zoomed in shot of the women's model (lighter red color) from the Trek website. Look at the small gap at the bottom just under the skewer. You can see that the metal is unpainted. What the OP is seeing is how the bike was designed.