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Well, the ride was lots of fun for the first 6 miles. Then a big bump brought the fun to a screeching halt. SNAPOLA! Frame breakage on day one. This is the kid of thing that happens to bikes from Kmart and Target but not from an $800 Kona 29er. Well, perhaps it does. The sad part isn’t that is happened, but that Kona wouldn’t honor their "Lifetime" frame warranty. They said "he rode over something he shouldn’t have." All they would do is offer a discount on a new frame and that tool some coaxing and 2 weeks of effort. No thanks, I’m not interested in riding a Kona anymore. Ultimately, the out of pocket cost to Kona would have been $159 plus the cost to ship me the frame. They offered a replacement frame for $259 and offered a $100 credit if I returned the broken frame. Seriously Kona!?!?! You’re going to piss off a brand new customer over $159? What the hell is wrong with your customer service reps? Anyhow, here’s few pics.
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"brcjacks" wrote
"he rode over something he shouldn’t have."
As in what, the trail?
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"brcjacks" wrote
"he rode over something he shouldn’t have."
Wait, so they didn’t warranty that? That’s crap!
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Ironically, this doesn’t happen to target bikes, as they are made with such thick tubing. It’s why they’re so heavy.
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What do you mean by a big bump? That’s a catastrophic failure, and hard to believe it happened while just riding along.
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Whatever it was, it doesn’t seem to have hurt the fork or front wheel…
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It was a hole. Looks to be left behind by a tree stump that rotted away. It was covered with leaves on the side of the trail. The edges of the hole were also soft so the wheel was able to sink in enough to send the rider over the bars.
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Yeah, while not "normal" riding, it doesn’t sound like the rider was abusing it by taking 10′ drops either.
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Agreed. I thought for sure that they would look at this as a defect of materials and would want to examine the frame to figure out how to prevent this from happening again. i know if I owned the company I would want every broken frame sent back for examination. how else do they expect to improve their product.
Kona just isn’t the grass root company they were in the 90’s.
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Apparently he crashed the bike into a ditch. The story is slightly different everywhere it’s posted…
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To my untrained eye, the damage to the frame, with none to the fork or front wheel, sort of matches the scenario as described.
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Not trying to be a jerk – I’m very skeptical by nature – but this seems a little fishy. It’s hard to imagine ANY riding scenario that would produce this kind of failure. And the fact that Kona isn’t going to warranty the frame makes me think they came to the same conclusion – riding couldn’t do that. Slamming into a parking garage with the bike on a roof rack at speed? That might do it… though the bars seem to be ok so maybe that wasn’t it.
Still, I suspect a car or a tool was involved somehow…
Oh, one other thing – the original post made it sound like the brcjacks was the one who crashed the bike (offered [ME] a replacement frame if I) but his follow-up reply refers to "the rider."
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Hey, really good theory on the low overhang…
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"trek7k" wrote
Not trying to be a jerk – I’m very skeptical by nature – but this seems a little fishy.
My thoughts as well, especially since the story is different. Here he first said it was a big bump, then a hole, and over on mtbr it was a ditch.
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How is it Kona’s fault if you crash your bike? BS slander campaign.. Kona should be commended for the cheap frame replacement they are offering..
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"Spartan" wrote
BS slander campaign..
I was thinking the same thing based on this line:
Kona just isn’t the grass root company they were in the 90’s.I read through the comments on MTBR and a lot of folks over there seemed to think the story was plausible but that it doesn’t really matter b/c most frame warranties aren’t valid if the damage occurs due to a crash. Coincidentally I was talking with some friends just last night and they were saying in their experience, most companies will still honor the warranty in the event of a crash (though, oddly, not if you’ve painted your frame, no matter the cause of the failure).
Again, Kona has a lot of experience dealing with warranty claims and I’m guessing they’re pretty good at figuring out what’s going on. It’s not worth a hit to their reputation for a $150 frame (as even the OP admits) but clearly they aren’t going to do anything if they suspect fraud.
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"trek7k" wrote
(though, oddly, not if you’ve painted your frame, no matter the cause of the failure).
That’s because you can damage a frame removing the paint. Sandpaper and sandblasting can both remove a lot of material pretty quickly, which can lead to failure, especially when you consider just how thin some tubes are.
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Good point – I wasn’t thinking about pro paint jobs, more the backyard spray-paint sort. Paint can also point to a situation where someone is trying to cover up "homemade" modifications (welds). Another theory we came up with is the companies are pissed you’re covering up their logo and figure if they give you a new frame you’ll just do the same thing to the new one. 😀
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