Wormtreat

Friend took her Bianchi Pista to the shop for a seized seat post and came out with a broken seat stay. Is it worth it to try and fix it? I feel the bike shop is completely accountable for it. Should she just get a new frame?
Thanks ya'll

ThermionicScott 

*y'all

prooftheory

It needs a new frame. I'm not sure about the liability of the bike shop.

CliffordK

Photos? Is that basic TIG steel or aluminum including the seat stays?

Your friend went to the shop with a non-functional bike, and came back with a non-functional bike.

If I was the shop owner/mechanic, I'd try to work with the customer to come up with some kind of shared remedy (free labor to build up a new/used frame for the customer?).

However, perhaps there also needs to be some kind of liability waver for working on seized parts.

TimothyH

Bianchi Pista is steel.

Newer ones are tig welded.

The 2015 model retails for about $850 for the entire bike.

The shop must have been hammering on the thing with a sledge hammer or using the jaws of life to have broken the seat stay, unless there was something preexisting with the frame. It is entirely possible that whatever caused the seat post to get stuck - rust or corrosion - also compromised the integrity of the seat stay or the joint. This is where pictures of the break would have been helpful.


-Tim-

motrheadsroadie

since when does a stuck seatpost mean nonfunctional?

79pmooney

This one should be on the shop. You stop before you do serious damage to the frame or tell the customer in advance that real damage may occur and get their OK to go ahead. That is, unless the seatstay broke too easily in which case the shop can argue they might have saved the owner's behind.

Yes, removing a seat post can be very difficult. But unless the post is worth more than the frame, it can always be cut short and sawed from the inside with little damage to the frame.

Ben

TimothyH

Seems like "non-functional" is a poor argument in favor of the bike shop.

Leukybear 

Usually for problems such as that, if a shop doesn't outright turn away a customer, a disclaimer is made or a release of liability is signed making them not responsible for any damage if it doesn't work out.

If a customer can't go along, they are turned away.

CliffordK

It depends. I've seen photos of bikes where someone, or a few people attempted to extract a stuck seatpost, and by the time they're ready to seek help, it is already pretty badly mangled, or perhaps broken.

Even so, if the seat is at the wrong height, or the seatpost is otherwise not functioning as the owner expects (worn out?), then the bike isn't usable for the owner, whether or not someone in the world would be an exact fit for the bike as-is.

I'm having troubles imagining breaking a steel seatstay. Clamp the post in the vise, and twist the frame like one has a 4 foot cheater bar on it. Maybe one could bend a seatstay. But break it?

I'm with TimothyH of perhaps additional undisclosed damage.

Scrodzilla

Post on a few more forums and see what the general consensus is. Whatever you do, don't get off the internet and go talk to the mechanic or shop owner.

JohnDThompson 

OP describes a broken seat stay, not a stuck seat post.

FBinNY 

Odds are the owner will want a new frame.

Responsibility and compensation from the shop depends partly, or maybe completely on the conversation when they took the job. I often take jobs that others gave up on, or worse, tried and failed complicating what might not have been so difficult.

I'll usually have a quick go to get a sense of the job, and if it seems like it'll require heroic measures, I'll tell the customer that I'll TRY, but no guaranty of success, and a real risk of damage. I often use a 2 tier price, with a deposit which is forfeit no matter what, and a full price if I succeed. Even if I destroy the bike in the effort (which has happened), I still get to keep the deposit as compensation for the time I put in.

If the mechanic didn't warn the client, then it may turn on exactly what he did. It's entirely possible that rust, normal stresses, a build defect, or the stresses of the prior effort may have weakened the stay, to where it would fail when the next guy twisted the frame. This can be a matter of trust and credibility. The mechanic knows how hard he was working, and whether the frame should have tolerated it (normally) or not. However explaining this can be difficult.

Sometimes the frame itself tells the story, in the form of corrosion showing that there had a partial break for a long time, in which case it's a case of "compost happens".

TimothyH

Here is the $64,000 question...

Did they get the seatpost out?

I'd be pissed if they did.

Actually no. It would give me an excuse to upgrade to a Soma Rush.

Unkle Rico

This x10000000

Wormtreat

They told her they worked on it for 2 hours before the break.

Scrodzilla

If it broke up near the top cluster, Pistas are notorious for cracking there. It was most likely already cracked to begin with.

Leukybear 

My first legitimate track bike, a chrome pista, died actually died that way after I sold it to a friend who rode it daily for 5 years.

Ended up being reborn again after he booger welded it with his harbor freight welder.

JeremyLC

Photos?

mconlonx

Accountability: not able to be established. New bike? Old bike? Rusty bike? Pre-existing defect or wear?

If they were exerting undue force on the bike or taking chances with an unproven seat post removal technique, they might be on the hook responsibility-wise, but if they were just doing what they usually do and the bike broke in an unpredictable way due to defect or some pre-existing fault with the seat stay, I'm not sure how accountable the shop should be...

New frame/bike.

dabac

On frames where the stays comes to a point that is brazed to the outside of the seat tube, it's not that uncommon to see one stay that has popped off.

hairnet

It could have broken along the weld. The heat affected zone on chromoly becomes very brittle if it cools to quickly after welding, so perhaps it isn't too crazy to think it cracked in the scenario you posted, but it could have already been cracked and no one noticed. I have seen many cracked frames in my years as a mechanic and the steel ones are always along the toes of welds. Plenty on the seat tube cluster, rear drop outs, and BB clusters.

Leukybear 

That was exactly what I said after he told me.

He came back telling me how he "cheated" by using a MAPP torch to heat up the area red hot first then welding for better penetration.

Half a year later of daily riding, it hasn't broken again.

hairnet

preheating isn't cheating at all, pretty smart really. Probably kept the weld zone from becoming brittle and cracking again. Although "red hot" is wayyy to much

seau grateau

I like how OP has not provided any of the information necessary to form a judgment on this issue.