[matthew1226]

So I took my brand new Orbea Ora out for its first ride yesterday. Was very excited to get the bike and take it out on a ride. After riding 10 miles I stopped for a drink of water. When I took my water bottle out of the cage, I noticed that the entire down tube was cracked. My stomach sank and I was wondering I should even ride it home. Since I did not have any alternative transportation, I slowly rode it home. I contacted the bike store and they are waiting to hear from the Orbea representative.

I am wondering if I made a mistake buying the Orbea Ora. It looks like other people have had cracks. I was really excited about this bike, but am really have second thoughts. I upgraded the bike and have Zipp 404 Wheels and all Ulegra components. At this point I wonder if I should just start with a frame from a different company.

I certainly hope that Orbea has good customer service. I have no bike to ride and was going to do a half Ironman in July.

What should I do?

 

[ewitz]

Stores and reps are always leery of JRA claims.

 

[cpark]

Looks like there is a superficial damage on the surface or is it just the picture?

 

[matthew1226]

The picture only shows a limited amount of the cracking. There is signficant brakes on both the top and bottom of the down tube. When you touch the frame, it feels like it is hallow under the paint. There are small horizontal cracks along the tube. There are much deeper and concerning horizontal cracks on the top and bottom of the down tube.

I did not mention that the bike was built for me with a frame that came directly from the Orbea sales rep and was not a complete bike set. After I ordered the bike from my LBS, the store found out that the color I had chosen was completely out of stock and the only thing available was a frame from the sales rep. I hope to find out more about the history of the frame when I speak with the Orbea rep tomorrow.

I will post additional photos showing more of the damage.

 

[matthew1226]

Here is a photo of the bottom of the down tube. As you can see there is similar cracking as the top of the tube.

 

[JimT]

Wow, sorry to hear that. I hope Orbea treats you right.

 

[danielc]

When you first got the built up bike, did you inspect in for cracks? That looks like something someone would have caught at the LBS before handing it off to the customer. On your ride, did you ride over some really bad roads?..not that it should be an issue...

 

[matthew1226]

Well after a week of screwing around, Orbea decided to just give me a full refund on my bike. I would never buy another Orbea. This company initially told me I had to go through the warranty process on my brand new bike. They also did not consider a crack throught the entire frame as a failure of the frame--I am not sure what it would be called other than a failure. The Company has been a huge pain to deal with and they clearly do not stand behind their products. Buyer beware.

 

[ara]

Orbea's pretty good about evaluating frames for warranty issues... did you send the frame back to have them look at it?

 

[matthew1226]

It is on its way back to them. Orbea told me that they did not have a replacement frame in the same color (black) prior to me sending them the bike. They really left me with no options other than returning the bike and going with a different brand. I also was not willing to be without a bike for weeks while they spent weeks evaluating why the bike failed.

 

[ara]

my past experience with them has been maybe 2-3 days turn around between them receiving the frame and getting their answer on the warranty claim...

i understand that you want a black frame and they didn't have the specific one you bought before, but did they have no other black frames they were willing to move you to? (assuming the warranty claim panned out in your favor)

 

[matthew1226]

They were not willing to move me to a black frame in another model without an additional payment. That is one of the primary reasons I am unhappy with Orbea and their customer service. This has really never been an issue about them denying warranty coverage--it has been about them finding a solution so that I can get riding again. I was left with no option other than returning the bike.

 

[ara]

I guess I just don't really understand... was the other frame they would have moved you to a more expensive one?

If so, I'd think it fairly reasonable if there was some nominal cost in getting a better frame out of a warranty deal, and my past experience with their turn around would suggest to me that they could get you back in a new bike pretty quickly... certainly before your upcoming tri in july

how quickly did they let you know about the possibility of returning the frame for evaluation?

it seems to me that your original post was almost a week ago... so if you'd been quick about getting it back to them you could almost have been looking at getting a new bike back a day or two from now

 

[matthew1226]

Well, I returned by brand new Oreba Ora to the bike shop. They are now building me a new Cervelo P2 bike. Orbea told me that they did not have a replacement frame in the same color (black) prior to me sending them the bike. I really should have gone with Cervelo from the start. In my view Orbea has terrible customer service. I was dealing with their Illinois sales rep--Mike Schmalandt. He was rude, insulting and very unhelpful. I also placed calls and sent emails to Orbea USAs sales office and no one ever returned my calls or emails. I had no doubt that the bike frame would be replaced since it was clearly a defective product that failed. I have an issue with a company that is so unresponsive to a customer that has a defective brand new product and before they even get the bike in their hands start informing the customer that they will not be able to replace the product with the same color. This has been an aweful experience. Luckily I bought from a rebutable, high quality LBS that is making everything right. I have no doubt that if I had to rely on Orbea, I would be without a frame for weeks and then get a color and model I did not want. I would advise people to stay far away from this company.

 

[matthew1226]

Yes, the frame they were going to move me to was more expensive, but they did not have a replacement for my existing brand new frame (it had 10 miles on it) and I had just paid $4,500 for it. The return and replacement process was going to take weeks or months. These people were moving like snails. The Illinois bike rep was out of town and was waiting to talk to the LBS owner. I was not going to be willing to not have a bike for one full month. Every indication I have from looking on the net also shows that other people have had the same experience as I have had and it tooks weeks to get the problem resolved. This is just unacceptable when you are talking about a brand new product.

 

[JimmyORCA]

Glad that you are on your way to a new replacement bike even though its no longer an Orbea. I had my Olympic edition Orca sent back to Orbea in Spain and they replaced a new bike for me but it did take about a month for the transport. Sometime its the local distributors taking its time. I had the same problem with BMC Taiwan. I did not even get a chance to ride the bike when the LBS notice a crack in the paint work. BMC Taiwan said that if I wanted a exact replacement, the earliest would be late November to get the SLC or SLR I want. My LBS ended up changing my bike to my current Wilier bike.

 

[smartyiak]

Maybe a month isn't unreasonable?

My Cervelo cracked and it took about a month for replacement from when I brought it into the shop. I wasn't unhappy with the turn-around: it had to be taken apart, boxed up, shipped to Canada, received by Cervelo, and reveiwed by their experts. Also, I am very happy to report that Cervelo stood by thier product.

I am not complaining about Cervelo at all, I just wanted to let you know that perhaps Orbea wasn't that unreasonable...it's just how long turn-around/evaluation takes.

-Smarty

 

[ewitz]

Well, I returned by brand new Oreba Ora to the bike shop. They are now building me a new Cervelo P2 bike.

How do you go from a road bike to a tri/TT bike as a replacement? You would think that if you were going to replace brand new a bike it would at least be with one for the same discipline.

 

[matthew1226]

The Orbea Ora is a tri bike. I am not switching from a roadk bike to a tri bike--just trying to get a new tri bike. Thanks

 

[ewitz]

The Orbea Ora is a tri bike. I am not switching from a roadk bike to a tri bike--just trying to get a new tri bike. Thanks

Kept reading Orca. My bad.