Litespeed Warranty
 

Hello,

Has anybody had any recent experience with Litespeed warranty coverage, specifically a road frame.
Thanks in advance,

- Tyson

Just a hunch, but I doubt there are many who have experience with their warranties. They've been making some of the best titanium frames for a long time and probably have had very few warranty claims.



Edit: I have since learned this to be a false statement based on others in this thread. Litespeed USED to be one of the best, but that has not been the case for some time. I stand corrected.

No idea, but I hope it goes well for you.

American Bicycle Group (ABG) owns Litespeed and Quintana Roo. They just sold merlin to Competitive cyclist. Heres one of several customers ive read that had issues with ABG warranty. http://forums.roadbikereview.com/showthread.php?t=232793&highlight=litespeed
Good read, somewhere in the thread shows ABG threatening the customer.
Litespeed was once on my list for a Ti frame, I decided to go with the friendly service at Lysnkey.

You have to be the original owner and you need a sales slip to prove it. If you can't do this they will offer you a replacement frame at a reduced price. What is wrong with your frame? I had my frame repaired.

good luck, what seems to be the issue?

The odds of finding a sales slip many years down the road is remote. Considering Litespeed can quickly determine if the frame is authentic I think the sales slip is nothing more then giving people "the slip".

Best of luck. If they don't stand behind their product please let us know.

Cheers,

Uhm, no, and no.

At least since ABG acquired Litespeed their reputation has been in the toliet. Their have been a number of examples where ABG screwed Litespeed customers recounted here on BF, and I know one example personally where they totally screwed my teammate.

The Linskey family owned Litespeed was a good compnay.

Merlin was a good bike.

ABG, not so much.

Litespeed Warranty
 

2002 Litespeed Ghisallo (sm); original owner (yes, have the sales receipt)
problem - der. hanger sheared off


from ABG:
we cannot repair your frame under warranty as this is considered to be an issue with wear and tear and not a manufacturing defect

As the bike has never been crashed, I find it hard to believe that this is wear and tear. I have a 20 year old custom Medici and its hanger hasn't sheared off.

ABG has offered to repair the frame for $460.

Compared to Frodo, I'm quite large ... 5' 5", pockets fully loaded, maybe close to 150 lbs. I don't see how I could have snapped Ti with wear and tear. I think ABG if full of it ...

What do you think?
Thanks.

That's code for we think you sent the derailleur in the spokes and snapped the hanger.

A Ti derailleur hanger should not fail from wear and tear. Ti has a fatigue limit a least in theory; i.e. you can stress it below that limit infinitely and it should never fail. The stress put on a deraileur hanger would be below that limit. So it should never fail from "wear and tear"

Assuming you didn't run the derailleur into the spokes, or crash, I'd sue their ass.

Google "Magnuson Moss Warranty Act"

I don't think i would trust ABG on the repair.

If i were you i'd contact Lynskey. I was told that they also handle quite a bit of repairs of other brands, most commonly ABG-produced Litespeed and Merlin bikes. The guy with whom I spoke mentioned that the most expensive type of repairs would run ~$400, and many problems could be repaired for less.

Full disclosure: I own a Lynskey Cooper. The topic of repair comes up when i brought up the issue of putting on S&S couplers, which would void the warranty on the frame. The rep then told me about their repair services.

thread derail. i thought about that before I put S&S couplers on my Merlin. I figured the 13 year old frame was already fully amoritzed, i.e. if it failed I'd already gotten my money's worth.

Also I didn't much value in my Merlin lifetime warranty, as long as ABG was the compnay backing it.

ABG's Warranty Policy

" Warrantied for the life of the frame except when it breaks."

Personally - I stop doing business with anyone that screws me over. I'd tell ABG to stuff it and have a reputable company that stands by their work fix it and take them to small claims for the cost.

Wow its sad that a piece of your bike falling off is considered wear and tear. I would try and get a hold of someone higher up the food chain at ABG....

Good luck with that one. From the many threads Ive read, ABG is full of scumbags that do their best not to honor their warranty. Its seems common practice for ABG to automatically assume that the customer is at fault. Worst bicycle company EVAR!

That's ABG (American Bicycle Group). They are utter weasels. Good luck getting warranty out of those jerks.

So would buying a titanium bike from Bikes Direct be a better choice than buying a bike from ABG ?

ftfy

Litespeed isn't what Litespeed used to be. When Litespeed was Litespeed it was all about titanium. Since ABG took over they've gone away from titanium and geared towards carbon. They have gone away from their philosophy as they only have two titanium models left in their line up as to five carbons models. I heard from someone that they were just maybe eliminating titanium all together as they're going strictly towards carbon and dealing ti warranties is a hassle to them.

I had R&A Bicycles of Seattle repair my frame and they only charged about $200 plus shipping and did a fantastic job.

Reply from ABG
 

>> so would buying a titanium bike from lynskey or moots be a better choice than buying a bike from abg ?
> ftfy

from ABG:
Kate brought back your claim to the warranty department and we discussed your claim.

Derailleur hangers are not a warranty issue. If your frame was 30 days old or 30 years old, our decision would be the same. There are too many variables that work into a situation when broken derailleur hangers are involved. Shifting errors, load, laying the bike down, storage of your bike, etc.

Our decision still stands. We can repair your frame for a charged service.


And this is from another Ti builder:
We have not had these dropout fail, but for some reason they did it would be covered
I have only see these get damaged in a crash

Hmmm ... interesting.
One stands behind their craftsmanship and quality of their work. The other does not.
Clearly, the posts here (and on other forums) are correct.
Do NOT buy anything from ABG.

Regards ...

Lifetime warranty is obviously good until the frame fails. Once it fails, its lifetime is over, hence, no more warranty! Ugh....

ABG is full of scumbags! Do they know its part of the frame and not a replaceable hanger? Talk to Steve Potts http://www.stevepottsbicycles.com/index.php . Hes repaired a lot of other brands.

Found this on another site: