Fred D and Queen Zipp's SWIM, BIKE RUN consistency thread.... CLOSED (Page 58)

Blue is giving me what we paid for the frame in 2009.  That seems pretty fair to me.  

The 8 week turn around sucks--but the new Triad XP (which has the sexiest frame I have ever seen) won't be out until 2014.  The  Triad EX isn't out until 2014.  The ONLY available frame is the SP. I like the SP.  Would be okay with it as I am a MOP athlete at best and while I am inwardly drooling over the XP my brain is saying it is more bike than I can handle.  I don't know about putting any more pressure on them to get me a frame faster...

I don't go over to ST, just never fell into a groove when I have looked at that site.

What I don't understand--and never will-- is how a bike that spent 90% of it's life with me hanging on a rack in the garage can get a cracked seat post like that?

We have a friend who has a tight relationship with the owner of that LBS.  In fact, our friend helped my husband get the deal he did on the T17.  This friend is supposed to be getting in contact with the LBS. My husband spoke to him earlier today.  So, I'm going to see if my connection can help me there.  My husband said he'd call the friend again tomorrow to see what he found out for us.

My ONLY dealings with this particular shop are for the Blue.  When we got it, they were the only shop in town to carry them.  I don't see them listed on Blue's website as a distributer any more.  But, they are in contact with Blue for me.  (the only VA shops that stock Blue now are in VA Beach or NOVA)

The model I have is the T17, not sure when they stopped making it.  The only tri frames on the Blue website are Triad XP (SEXY BIKE!), Triad SL and Triad SP.  The XP and SL are not available until 2014.  The SP is available but with an 8 week order turn around.  

I am almost willing to wait for the XP. If I get the interventional rad job I applied for I could get paid better than what I currently make for the insurance company--but would also be putting a lot more money in my gas tank since I currently work from home.  BUT, I might be better able to save for the frame I really want instead of settling for what's available.

My husband asked if I could take the Triad back home until we order.....ride it anyway.  While I know they can't advise me to do so, I may have been riding with a cracked frame for a while.....my gut says if I did that and somehow the crack got worse that the company would not be very willing to deal with me.

Did you get the original frame at a deep discount, and that's the price they are willing to refund you for instead of the MSRP?  Don't take that from them.  I would ask for a refund of the MSRP, with the more reasonable solution as replacing it with a SP frame at no cost to you.

This isn't a blender or a toaster oven you bought at Target we are talking about.  This is a high end piece of equipment that customers expect good quality from.  I completely agree with Fred that a good chunk of the price we pay is the piece of mind that they company we are buying from will stand by their products. 

Almost every bike bought is bought at a discount.  Bike shops offer 20-30% off all the time, and I would never buy a bike at MSRP.  That shouldn't affect the warranty though.  I have never heard a salesperson say that a bike is 20% off, but just know that if you need to warranty it, you're going to have to pay the additional 20% for a replacement.  That's just not how it works.

I agree with the other comments.  Write or call someone higher up in the company and see what they can do for you.  If they still won't budge, I'd choose one of two options:

- make a stink about it on public forums or

- take the warranty money and go shop for a different manufacturer's bike.

Blue is probably upholding their warranty to exactly what's required: the cost of the original frame.  But it's not very customer friendly considering they've changed their bike lineup and prices have gone up across the board.

Edit: think of it another way... what if the part that cracked caused you an injury?  Like the fork?  You'd be furious.  Ask them the same thing.

I specifically asked the LBS about doing this.  It won't work that way.  If I get money from Blue it's only for another Blue.  Can't look at the Cannondale Slice or Cervelo.  

I really want the XP frame.  Since I only have a super sprint (doing it for the OWS practice) and an olympic this year with my marathon focus I am okay waiting for what I really want.  

I don't want to settle for the SP, pay for the frame (even partly) and fitting.....get the bike then trade up when the XP is available to have to repay for another fitting.

I emailed Blue this morning, waiting to find out

1.  when is the Triad SL going to be available?  (that's the HOT frame I want)

2.  will they hold my "credit" until it is available

3.  what is the estimated cost of the SL frame?

I also called the LBS to ask the same things so perhaps we can get things moving.  Even the LBS guy agreed that it would be stupid to rush out a frame that "will do" if I really want something else and have to pay twice for fitting.  (gee ya think?  maybe you could give me a discount so I would say nice things about youir shop here and on other boards like say FaceBook where yoiu have a page??)

enders_shadow - 2013-04-18 11:47 AM Got my new tri bike fit yesterday...hoping to take her out for a little spin on some safe roads later this afternoon to get used to her. So excited. But first I have to do this thing called "work." Four. Letter. Word. (At least today - usually I love my job - today I have some yucky yuck to deal with.)

Jealous....wanting to hear from Blue about my questions!  It's driving me nuts but I think the bigger picture is to look for the frame I will be happier with long term and not what will do right now.  Since I have a run focused season I am okay waiting until the frame of my choice is available.

Point 1.....yes ride more, strengthen the core and don't look so far forward

Point 2  spend more time with her trying to get her in & out of all the gears.  If she's still stubborn take her back to 3 Sports to see if there is something you are missing  The rear shifting shouldn't jump up ? down by 2 gears, you may be pressing the shift harder than you realize.  If it keeps up definitely visit 3 Sports.

PS.....was she totally amazing to ride?  

1.  It's just about riding more and adjusting.  I go through the same process every year as I transition from riding my road bike a lot during the summer/fall/winter to going back to my tri bike in the sprint.  Try small doses at a time where maybe you're down on the aero bars for 3 minutes, then sit up for 3 minutes and stretch your neck.  Rinse/repeat, then slowly increase the time you are on your aerobars and reduce the time sitting up.

2.  TT/Tri bike shifting is made like that.  Where the front derailleur shifter is more of a simple cable pull, and the rear derailleur shifter is indexed (clicks).  If your chain doesn't want to go all the way into the small ring, I would make sure you are pushing the shift lever all the way down.  If it is all the way down and it still doesn't shift all the way into the small ring, your delimeter screws may need to be adjusted. 

The rear derailleur should only shift one time per click of the shifter.  If the derailleur is shifting twice per click, the cable tension may just need to be adjusted a little...but you would know this because your drivetrain would sound choppy the whole time.  Or you could be simply pressing the shifter 2 clicks without even knowing it.  That's sort of the difference between road bike and TT shifters for the rear.  With a road bike, when shifting down (to a harder gear), you can only shift one at a time.  It's impossible to shift down twice in one movement.  But with TT shifters, you can shift down as many gears as you want in one swipe.  It's not recommended...but it's possible to go from the biggest cog (easiest gear) all the way down to the smallest cog in one swoop.  It will still click 9 times in between, but it can happen so fast that you may not recognize each click individually.

I think the guys above have already answered your questions, but just wanted to jump in as someone who's (very) recently been through the same stuff.

For the neck/shoulder thing, I just tried to spend a short time every day on the bike on the turbo for the first couple of weeks to get used to the position.  I'm pretty comfortable on it now.

Shifting - I kept finding when I first started that I was clicking twice on the right shifter.  It felt quite stiff, and then when I put enough force in to change it would overshoot and change twice.  But again, now that I've started to get used to the different type of shifter it's happening a lot less often.  I think it's mostly about getting practice as the movement is very different to the road bike shifters, but it'll come.

Good morning crew,

Getting ready for Ragnar Socal...should be a fun 30 hour adventure with about 700 teams of 12 running relay 200 miles from Huntington beach to San Diego...kind of like a running all-nighter. I have one of the shorter total legs but starts off with a  6 miler during the hottest part of the day in addition to a short leg at about 1:30am then ending with a medium leg tomorrow late morning. It will be a new experience running with ice bags during the hot day and wearing headlamps/reflective gear at night. Our team is also running for a great cause and will also be joining up at the last half mile to all run together. I guess I'll be sleeping in Sunday =)

My bike is in the shop for a tune-up as I've been having issues with my gearing and also getting a new bigger cassette (12-27). My quest for a new Tri bike is a bit on hold due to some recent developments as I want to make a decision I will be 100% happy with fit being key.

Have a great weekend all !