Remember the epic Trek bottom bracket thread?
 

Considering a used Trek?

Add another data point. My 2007 5.2 Madone started creaking last summer something awful. The cause didn't present at that time and I tried everything to get rid of the creak; both myself and the local shop where I bought the bike went through more than one round of tightening/swapping components to isolate the creak with no success.

Today the cause finally presented itself: the bottom bracket shell is detached from the frame on the driveside. Fortunately, I am the first owner. Now I get to test the fabled trek warranty.

If it is a lifetime warranty and you are the original owner it should be covered without a problem.

sorry about that.

but this just further convinces me that steel is real and that i'll never go carbon.

:rolleyes:

Its only warrantied for life against defects.

Everyone knows carbon spontaneously explodes for no reason, its a feature, not a defect. :rolleyes:

^^^Funny, I think it was the alloy sleeve bonded inside the carbon that failed and not the carbon itself.

IIRC the problem was the bonding agent and not the carbon/resin.

rolling your eyes does not negate the fact that carbon is inferior to steel in virtually every way, and that the industry is cornered by carbon because of marketing ploys

come at me bros

Original owner is covered don't worry about it.

Slim must be sleeping.

Let us know how the warranty strategy works for you.

Ahh yes. "Virtually" being used again by people who are aren't quite convinced they are 100% right, or who in fact, know for sure there is at least one flaw in their argument.

Weak.

They will cover it, youll get a brand spanking new frame. A seed of doubt about the brand has been planted in your brain. :(

They should cover it. I have two friends who have had this same issue. One has gone through three or four frames in the last wo to three years - Trek keeps replacing them. The other only one.

:lol: funny

It good to see there are still companies that still stand behind there products.

This really, really disappoints. I guess I'll go back to bed. My day and maybe my week is ruined now.

ftfy.

I know, right? Sucks because the bike is the first one I raced and it has sentimental value for me. I had always envisioned killing it with some cataclysmic race crash, not having it die quietly from a manufacturing defect.

This is good to hear. Leaves me wondering if this might have something to do with Trek's migration away from bonded alloy bottom bracket shells.

Not every way. Longevity? Yes, steel wins. Weight? No, not by a long shot. Or it's early and I just got suckered by a troll.

Correct, as far as I can tell. Though it is possible the carbon around the bond failed, rather than the bond itself. No way to tell without getting the band saw out.

Eh, maybe. My running coach still rides around on a 1989 Trek 2500 (alloy lugs, bonded carbon tubes) and it's fine. I have easily 10K miles on my 2005 Madone and it's structurally just fine. Steel can last basically forever, but there's a lot of heavily used carbon out there at this point...

Hope everything works out for you.

Mine blew up at about the 20-30k mile mark, so it might be just a matter of time. One thing unique to carbon is the number of glue bonds in the frame. A welded or brazed frame is basically a monolithic structure. A carbon frame is a bunch of pieces glued together. After this, anytime I see metals bonded to composites in a frame (something stiff -metal- bonded to something soft -carbon composite-), I will be skeptical about its ultimate longevity.

"Rust never sleeps."

It looks like you are lucky!

You know THAT will void the warranty, right? :innocent:

steel is real...good boat anchor.

OP...let us know how you get on with the new frame.
Question is...are the latest Madones a press fit for BB30 bearings? Trek took big criticism for having BB30 bearings be slip fit and wonder if they changed?

Will they not let you keep the old frame?

I talked with my LBS about Madones a couple of months back, asked how they were holding up and specifically asked about the bottom bracket. I wanted to find out if they have had any issues with them. The guy told me that a few (4 or so) years ago they did see two or three bikes that came in with your kind of problem, but the newer ones were holding up great. My guess is that since you are the original owner and I am sure you bought it from an LBS, you will be given one of the newer frames.

And Trek appears to be one of them, so long as you can prove that you're the original owner.

No. They might even want to see it (they would certainly want the old frame destroyed).