OT: cracked Felt frame, but not original owner, any ideas?

[Ted Lesher]

Hey All,

After my first century at Levi's a couple of weeks ago, I took my bike in for a service and the guys at Roaring Mouse informed me I have a crack in my Felt F35 frame right on the bottom bracket :-(. Felt frames are warranted for life, but only if you are the original owner and have a receipt. This was my first road bike, so I bought it used a couple of years ago since I wasn't sure how much I'd get into biking. 

Has anybody been in a similar situation, or dealt with Felt customer service? How are they? I'd even be really happy if I could get a discount on a new Felt bike since i do really like the bike other than the crack! Let me know, thanks!

[Judd Blair]

http://www.calfeedesign.com/repair/

I had my bike repaired by Calfee and can't say enough good things - probably cheaper than a crash replacement, although I'd call Felt and confirm that. You never know - my friend bought a used Trek (I think?) that ended up having a crack in the frame, and they sent him a new one for free - even let him pick the color.

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[Lina Mårtensson]

Talk to Carlos at the Freewheel Valencia - he can also repair carbon fiber. Fortunately I haven't had to use the service myself.

-Lina

[Lina Mårtensson]

But I agree with Judd - call Felt and see what they say first. Sometimes you get lucky.

[Scott Crosby]

yeah I gotta hand it to Trek on that front, my brother's old 2300 carbon/al glued-together frame came untogethered, and they sent him a brand new (NOS) frame in the same color, no questions asked.  they must have an Indiana Jones-style infinite warehouse of extra framesets.

will be interested to hear if Felt is so generous.

On Wed, Oct 10, 2012 at 2:28 PM, Judd Blair <judd...@gmail.com> wrote:

[Peter Chang]

2012/10/10 Scott Crosby <scr...@gmail.com>:

> will be interested to hear if Felt is so generous.

they used to be (they were vaguely local in tahoe or something like
that) but stuff changed when they got bought by the answer parent
company. it doesn't hurt to ask though.

\p

[tho...@me.com]

On Oct 10, 2012, at 2:30 PM, Lina Mårtensson <lina.ma...@gmail.com> wrote:

> Talk to Carlos at the Freewheel Valencia - he can also repair carbon fiber. Fortunately I haven't had to use the service myself.

The Felt F35 is aluminum (with carbon seat stays). If I were to hazard a guess, it's a cracked weld...

-- thorpej

[Daniel Hobe]

I sold my original aluminum felt frame to a friend a few years ago and
he broke the chainstay after a few weeks of riding. He brought it
back to the bike shop where I bought it and told them he wasn't the
original owner. They didn't care he wasn't, took it apart and sent it
back to Felt. Felt sent him a new all carbon frame, so he did pretty
well out of the deal.

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Daniel Hobe <ho...@gmail.com>

[Daniel Hobe]

Mine was a F75 aluminum with carbon stays.

>
> -- thorpej

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Daniel Hobe <ho...@gmail.com>

[Ted Lesher]

Cool, thanks for all the help so quickly everybody. Yes, the bike is aluminum frame with carbon forks. I believe the original owner bought it from roaring mouse who unfortunately does not carry Felt anymore. I'll shoot Felt an email/call and see what happens!

[Judd Blair]

May I humbly suggest the "call and beg" approach?

[Ted Lesher]

And also yes, the crack is right on/above the welding.

[Ted Lesher]

Update in case anybody is interested: I wrote to Felt since their site doesn't have a phone # on it, and they advised me to just go to an authorized retailer and they can help me out. I took my bike to Sports Basement in the Presidio, and just heard back from them. Felt is offering me "VIP pricing" on a replacement frame since I'm not under warrantee which is pretty nice of them. I believe the SB employee told me they can charge me $317 for the 2012 FA frame and around $290 for the ZA frame. Seems like a pretty good deal, since the prices I can find for the FA frame kit have an MSRP of $850-$1000. 

Pretty solid customer service from Felt! Especially considering I bought the bike used with no receipt so I definitely am not under warrantee 

[Ben Kochie]

Sounds like it's time to use your discount to upgrade to a Felt FC or
F1 frame kit. :)

[Edgar Higgins]

Peter Gulezian had a Felt that cracked next to the weld after a crash on San Bruno Ave - thread is here. I'm no welding expert - but I remember thinking at the time that it was almost certainly a manufacturing defect. I'd be curious how similar your crack is.