RONALD NCLEAN

When I purchased this frame new 5 years ago, there was a very slight peel of 5mm – 1/5 inch on the underside of the top tube. Nine months and about 1000km later, peeling had occurred on several places but the bike shop, where I bought the bike indicated that it was not serious enough to return to Specialised for an exchange of frame ("just cosmetic and not affecting the life of the frame") Stupidly, I listened, since I later realised the warranty on coatings is only one year. The peeling continued and now bits of clear coat can be removed with a finger nail or pencil. This bike has done around 5-6000 km, not been in a fall or accident and not been exposed to corrosive chemical cleaners.
Specialised has indicated to me that there have been "no known issues with the clear coat used on this generation of bike" – the first generation of all carbon S-Works tarmac frames.
I am posting here to see if anyone else has observed this problem on these frames.

RacerOne

Bike Forums has a 'Trek and Motobecane are the only bikes that have problems' policy. Therefore your paint is not peeling.

Seriously though, what does the bike shop you had look at it four years ago say now?

W Cole

I was told by my local shop that if you report a problem within the 1 year warranty Specialized will cover it in the future if the problem gets worse (they may have just told me this to get me to go away, as this is they're usual approach). But so far I have been VERY disappointed with the Specialized warranty. They refuse to warranty my frame where the wheel has dug grooves into the chainstay. And I've been with a broken shifter for over 2 weeks (pending replacement under warranty) - the shop refuses to "loan" me one in the meantime or do anything to work with me on it.

Eclectus

I wouldn't get another Specialized bike, or another Cannondale. First co created by a trader (also rider) who sent Gary Fisher/ Tom Ritchey bikes to Japan for reverse engineering, then hired engineer/designers. Second company created by a rider, who hired engineers for US based design and production. Went bankrupt, now owned by a company that specializes in children's chairs. Look at Cervelo. Created and owned by aerospace engineers. They are constrained by having to adhere to UCI rules, they're handcuffed, but they do really good designs. Frankly, if UCI would get out of the way on designs, some race course segments of TDF would go for bents. Others DF. All the top DF bikes would be waay below 12 pounds.

Here is the inside joke: UCI is saying, "We don't want the best bike-dsigners and builders creating 'unfair advantages', we want the best riders' performance to determine outcomes. If that means the best DRUG-DESIGNERS and drug-advisors that give top riders undetectable drugs,to their advantage, that's great. We like genius drug-designing better than genius bike-designing."

lechat

My '05 Roubaix frame has some blistering of the clear coat. it's almost impossible to find a used carbon Fact stem without this also. They definitely had some finish problems.

Eclectus

You guys bought a work in progress. If you have some reasonable documentation/testimony about complaining within the warranty period, you can prevail under litigation or threat thereof. In a lot of small-claims actions you can file pro se, sans lawyer, and corps will decide, "We don't want to send our execs, and seending lawyers will cost too much," and you can win.

Here's the best approach. You say the clearcoat is peeling, under warranty period. The LBS stonewalls. You take a statement to a notary public and sign it. This constitutes proof that you felt there was a problem. It's not proof there was a problem, but it is proof you said there was a problem. Take the bike to the NP, and say "Here is the problem," and you have an unimpeachable witness. Take the bike and notarized statement to your LBS. Tell them, "This under factory warranty, I want a new frame, contact the mfr on this, otherwise if you shuck-and-jive me, and refuse to contact the mfr, I will see you in court. If you got a faactory blem at discount, and gave me a discount, that's not my problem, because you didn't tell me that I was purchasing a blem. Where is that in our sales agreement?"

This stuff is crap, but it may be necessary.

There is nothing wrong with buying a factory blem at deep discount, as long as it is represented at sale as a "second", and imperfections are revealed. If it is represented as a non-blem "first", even if it is highly discounted, for example, they say,"You get full mfr warranty," the LBS has to satisfy you. If the mfr warranty includes a 1-year factory clearcoat warranty, you have that. An honest bike shop will say, "The mfr screwed up, we'll process it for you."

If you have an under-warranty-represented product that failed, why would you accept it?

ultraman6970

Why do not re clear it???

W Cole

This 2nd owner garbage is a BS "cya clause" that companies use to shield themselves. They really ought to step up to the plate and take care of their customers. Its funny, I've gotten the best customer service on the cheapest items but thus far I have spent several grand on bike(s) and not gotten very good service at all.

ultraman6970

For 40 bucks u get polyurethane clear and the activator, plus 8 bucks for a can of compress air that u can add the clear to. For less than 50 bucks u can re clear the whole bike if you want and u will have enough clear to clear a few more bikes

Chris_F

Those bikes direct bikes are looking awfully good now. At least then you KNOW that you're gonna get screwed. No surprises.

iam7head

you don't just spray CC over a blistering carbonfiber frame, you need to get rid of the existing CC first, which mean you probably have to sand off the peeling surface.

i would be piss if my cf frame is peeling, anything is do-able but why should we eat the cost? and what about resale value?

ultraman6970

I mentioned about the sanding in a previous posting, but sand with 600 grit sand paper is not that hard after all

Butcher

I have a 05 S-Works Tarmac and a Tarmac Comp. No peeling on either frame.