Dear Sir or Madam at Specialized UK
I purchased an S-Works Tarmac SL4 road frame at Sigma Sport, Hampton Wick, in February 2013.
The frame’s performance totally satisfied me for the whole season of 2013 and helped me to rise from BCF Cat4 to Cat2 level, to win two races and a getting 4th place at the National road-race championships of the Masters B.
I only use my S-Works Tarmac for club training and racing so that it has been ridden for only approx. 5,000 km max.
It is equipped with a Campagnolo Record group set and 50mm carbon wheels. All in all this has been and still is my dream-bike, I would not want to exchange it to anything else. I decided to purchase this frame because of its great reviews for hill climbing and because of its lifetime manufacturer warranty.
In November 2013 I discovered a damage on the underside of the downtube that appeared to look like a crack. This came at the same time as an observed change of handling on fast descents, which made it feel much more “wobbly” and unsafe then previously, usually at speeds above 45km/h.
The bike has never had any crashes or any other form of mechanical impact on the frame.
Right after new year 2014 I was about to turn the bike in for a service at Sigma Sport. When we started talking about that down tube damage, we concluded that this didn’t look like a scratch and inspection by Specialized would be recommended.
The bike got disassembled and sent to Specialized. This was more than 6 weeks ago. Specialized have refused to accept this damage as a crack, claiming it is only a superficial scratch.
Meanwhile I have consulted with a Carbon repair specialist who confirms that the damage undoubtedly is a crack in the carbon fabric, as it is in a location where it should not happen if it was only a crack in the paint. Also, the morphology of the damage clearly indicates a crack rather than a scratch.
For this entire time of more than 6 weeks I had to train and prepare for the new season on my commuter bike, which is by no means comparable. In this time I have also missed various important winter series races
My racing season was supposed to start next Saturday 15 Feb 2014 at our very own London Dynamo hosted Surrey League E123 race. I still don’t have my bike back.
Specialized claim that the discussed damage is a scratch in the paint, my quoted carbon specialist and Sigma staff all disagree and say it’s a crack in the carbon. The riding behaviour makes this bike unsafe for racing road races with fast descents.
Sigma Sport staff provided me with Specialized’s note saying that they guarantee that the frame's structural integrity is in working order but that they “recommend to observe the damage and if it is getting worse”.
I wonder if it can be right to sell a frame of your top-end line, with lifetime warranty, but deny a customer a replacement in such case of unprovoked damage, considering that it must have occurred within less than 9 months of use.
Can it really be that Specialized want me to ride a full season of races on a cracked S-Works Tarmac?
As a member of the largest London based racing club, London Dynamo (650 members), and as part of its Cat1/2 performance team with an international racing programme for 2014, I really cannot afford to be out of racing mid-season, if this damage eventually leads on to a fracture of the frame.
Not to mention the risk of injury if this should happen.
Kindest regards, Riko Sibbe
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