I broke my Ruby's seat stay! (repair advice please)

[Tokie]

Aicabsolut - thanks for great ideas. I didn't think of a crash replacement program. I just e-mailed my friend that sold me my Ruby,(sadly, she recently closed her bike shop, but now works for another Specialized dealer). DH has been searching his bike forums re Calfee/RR Velo info - some fellow said that Calfee farms out some of their repairs to Joe's Bicycle Painting, ( I would guess the cosmetic ones) and some other guy said that RR Velo does most of the repairs for Joe's bicycle painting. The businesses are all in the same vicinity, so it sounds plausible. I don't know if I am so skilled that I would notice the difference in my repaired seat stay vs the original side. It may help that I only weigh 104 lbs, so it's not like my frame takes lots of stress from my weight. Calfee said they could repair the seat stay. I would love to have a spare repaired frame to turn into a dedicated TT bike! I'm getting the frame stripped of all parts tomorrow, and hoping my mechanic doesn't find any more damages I haven't noticed! Thanks for your input! I'll post what happens with my frame! Tokie

[Tokie]

PS Oakleaf, thanks to you too! And cost -wise, so far Calfee is talking about $300 - could be more , and that's without paint or shipping. At least I live in California, so the shipping should be less. Tokie

[aicabsolut]

Calfee has all of their painting done by Joe's. But it's painting (and paint prep, and clearcoat stuf) ONLY. Joe's is located in the same business/industrial complex as Calfee. Calfee does all of the structural repairs to the carbon weave. I believe Joe's is a company that does a fair amount of painting for manufacturers. They paint Calfee's own brand of bikes, IIRC.

[aicabsolut]

PS Oakleaf, thanks to you too! And cost -wise, so far Calfee is talking about $300 - could be more , and that's without paint or shipping. At least I live in California, so the shipping should be less. Tokie

For a bad (level 3?) fracture to my downtube plus painting (including re-stenciling factory decals) and shipping from the east coast, Calfee said I'd be looking at about $500 total. The bulk of the cost comes from the degree of damage to the tube, and not really the size of tube. It's slight cracks versus complete cracks versus a severed tube that makes the difference in the type of patching they have to do.

I really wouldn't skimp on the repairs, because bad carbon repair can be catastrophic.

I would look into Specialized's crash replacement, though, because this could be a good time to get a nice upgrade for cheap, especially if all your components are still good.

[Tokie]

Well, I've decided to go with Calfee for the repairs. If DH ever wants to do a cheaper repair on his bike, he can. I want a solid frame I can trust! I called a Specialized shop in town - the manager was less than enthusiastic about working on an exchange with specialized, particularly since I didn't buy my bike there. I'll call the shop tomorrow where my former bike store owner friend now works, she said they could help me - I guess I need them to see the damage before they can do anything. My bike is at my mechanics getting stripped now. I would love to get a discount upgrade, especially the way bike prices are set to rise in 09! Tokie

[aicabsolut]

That's lame. When I was shopping around for a crash replacement frame, I went through 3 shops on the east coast who were all willing to try to locate me a frame. They work through different warranty reps, and they were trying to find some new old stock out in a shop somewhere, and so they were going through their different regional reps too. Any Specialized dealer ought to help you out with warranty issues (and although it's not a "warranty" exchange but a "crash replacement", they still deal with Specialized's warranty department). That's because Specialized won't let you do it yourself. I mean, what if you bought the bike in a different state? Hopefully your friend will be able to help you check out those options.

[Aggie_Ama]

That is lame. My husband had a frame crack and the bike shop he had bought it from was no longer a dealer for that brand. Another bike shop gladly helped us. I hope I never have issues with my Cannondale, the shop I got it from closed in April 2007 but there are three Cannondale dealers left in town.

[ehirsch83]

I know multiple people who have sent frames to Calfee and they have all come back looking great!(my boyfriend is one, so I saw the frame every day after it came back, it looked great). You won't be dissapointed with the work Calfee does a great job!