Specialized Levo FSR - Broken tooth on cassette (SRAM 1130)

[mel75]

Bike is 6 months old / 150 miles.

Noticed some noise during the last ride and it appears that a tooth on the cassette's 5th cog has completely snapped off. (Not profiled!)

It's a SRAM 1130 cassette.

LBS tell me they need to send the cassette off to the distributor and get their view before I can be offered a warranty replacement. So that would mean hand over the cassette, no bike for a month...and even then they may refuse a warranty replacement if the distributor says "no".

Any views? - Bad luck, bad technique or defective cassette / drivetrain? I read somewhere that some groupsets can't handle the torque from the Levo motor.

And is my LBS's reaction typical for a warranty claim?

 

[vikb]

There is no way to answer your first question. Having a look at the cassette in person might shed some light, but not necessarily. Your LBS is not doing anything wrong or unreasonable in how they are processing your concern/potential warranty claim. Everybody was just riding along when their parts broke.

If there is a manufacturing problem or the part was not suitable for the power of a motorsports application like you note the distributor will have seen a bunch of other similar failures and their warranty folks will provide feedback to your LBS and the manufacturer and perhaps the bike company. That should get you a warranty replacement and hopefully a more robust spec of future motorized bikes.

I would buy yourself a new cassette and get back to riding. If you get the old one replaced awesome....put it on the shelf for when your wear out or KIA the new one. If they don't replace it you haven't wasted a bunch of time not riding waiting to find out.

 

[mel75]

Thanks vikb, that's helped me be less furious with the LBS.

 

[vikb]

I'd rather be riding and break some parts than not riding and have a perfect bike.

 

[WaywardTraveller]

Bottom line, it's a consumable part. Buy a new one so you can ride now. If the broken one is replaced under warranty, then great, you won't have to buy your next one. They don't exactly go bad.

 

[Giant Warp]

Mine was a SRAM 1150. The tooth didn't break but flipped over. I rode 1000 miles with it and then changed it out. LOL. I figured it was either a rock or bad cross shift.