So I bought my first tri bike a couple months back, a 2008 Felt B12. I occasionally noticed a clicking sound when riding but could never locate it. I thought maybe it was just the cabling inside rattling around. Well last week I finally got around to getting a proper bike fit and when I mentioned it the fitter knew exactly what the problem was, a crack in the seat post clamp. He said he’s seen it before and that people typically have a hard time locating it because the noise echos through the frame and amplifies so it’s hard to locate the source.
Apparently the clamp is two parts, one comes off and one (while medal) is actually molded into the frame. The crack on mine of course is on the part molded to the frame. I mentioned it to my LBS and they said they had seen it a few times on Felt and handled the warranty claim. They said that Felt are sticklers about their warranty being only for the original owner. I already emailed the guy I bought it from to see if he has his original receipt and can help me out.
If he doesn’t though what are my options? Is there any harm in just leaving it alone? The clamp still closes and holds the seatpost just fine, so it’s really just a slight annoying noise.
Have your LBS look at it and have them determine if it is safe. Until then do not ride it. Some random people on the internet are not qualified to determine whether it is safe from a couple pictures. Having said that it looks like the crack has propagated from the bolt hole all the way up to the top of the collar and is working it’s way down to the very bottom of the metal collar. I really don’t think this crack will stop getting bigger and eventually the collar will separate and stop being able to hold your seatpost up. If I were you I would hope that Felt will work with you. Otherwise your repair options aren’t great. You could probably talk to some of the carbon repair specialists and have them remove the collar from the frame, weld up the crack and put it back in the frame but it will not be a quick and inexpensive job.
I DO NOT work for Felt and I’m in NO WAY affiliated with Felt. I do ride 4 of their bikes and I am VERY brand loyal to them for their service and customer care. Here’s one reason why…
So this was a common problem with these clamps, both in the B series and the DA series 2008-2009. They quickly switched to a more robust and removable collar following all the issues they had with this collar. I had two frames (a DA and a B2Pro) with this collar and both of them cracked. I carried to all races a small metal peg with which I was prepared to drill into the post to prevent it from sinking if the collar experienced a catastrophic failure pre-race. Obviously there as nothing I could do about it during a race. But I figured if it’s ever going to go it was going to be when I was tightening my seat post clamp pre-race.
By the time I got around to calling Felt the frame was out of the prescribed warranty and all I wanted was a few ideas on how to “fix” the problem. You cannot weld the crack, you cannot seal the crack, and you cannot remove the collar… so I was looking for a few hints. Long story short they gave me a brand new DA frame in that current year’s model with no argument, no haggling, just good service. From then on they gained a customer for life. I now own the B2Pro (converted into a single-speed winter cross bike, still with the cracked collar!), an F2, and Edict, and the 2011 DA they sent me as the replacement mentioned earlier.
My advice to you is to call and discuss this with them. I doubt you will get a new frame, but I found the guy I worked with (who will remain name-less) very thought-full and straight-forward. Perhaps they have developed a way to fix this or someway to get the collar out so you can replace it. My issues was three year’s ago though, so you may be waaaay beyond their ability to help you out. If so… save up for a new IA!!! Good luck.
one thing you can do is permanently bond the post to seattube or drill holes through both and use a bole. when mine did that, i had to wait a bit for replacement frame(was original owner) and in teh interim, i bonded the seatpost permanently with tehsame stuff they use to bond the dropouts to teh forks, etc. cant recall which epoxy it was. but it requires knowing your seat height and sticking with it and teh current model of saddle,as it isnt going to move withoutu extremem heating after that.
So I bought my first tri bike a couple months back, a 2008 Felt B12. I occasionally noticed a clicking sound when riding but could never locate it. I thought maybe it was just the cabling inside rattling around. Well last week I finally got around to getting a proper bike fit and when I mentioned it the fitter knew exactly what the problem was, a crack in the seat post clamp. He said he’s seen it before and that people typically have a hard time locating it because the noise echos through the frame and amplifies so it’s hard to locate the source.
Apparently the clamp is two parts, one comes off and one (while medal) is actually molded into the frame. The crack on mine of course is on the part molded to the frame. I mentioned it to my LBS and they said they had seen it a few times on Felt and handled the warranty claim. They said that Felt are sticklers about their warranty being only for the original owner. I already emailed the guy I bought it from to see if he has his original receipt and can help me out.
If he doesn’t though what are my options? Is there any harm in just leaving it alone? The clamp still closes and holds the seatpost just fine, so it’s really just a slight annoying noise.
Here are pics.
The original owner can submit a claim to a Felt Dealer for warranty evaluation. Felt also has a crash replacement policy that allows for a low-cost replacement of a frame in the case of non-warranty or a no-questions-asked service.
Thanks for all the feedback. I have emailed the guy I bought it from and will go from there. I think he’ll be willing to help me out, as we have been in contact since I bought the bike, just talking shop and stuff.
I had a similar seat post issue on my 2012 Felt B16. something came loose that caused the seat to have some play forward and backwards. I took it to the bike shop I bought the bike from, they contacted Felt and had a new (2012) frame for me in about a week. I didn’t have any interaction with Felt, but they seemed to be very responsive.
Great to hear that there seems to be solutions to this problem. However, I was not that lucky when my B2 seatpost clamp cracked earlier this summer. I contacted the EU customer representative and explained the problem. I learned that three years had passed since I bought the frame, so a warranty replacement was not possible.
Felt offered me to buy a 2013 B2 frameset with 10% discount or a 2012 B2 frameset with 25% discount. I was not too impressed by the offer, especially not when one can get a complete DA4 2012 bike for a couple of hundred euros more from some of the German dealers.
I have been on a number of Felt bikes through the years, and always liked the ride. However, now when I need to get a new TT bike, I will probably go for something else (even though the DA3 and DA4 models of 2012 and 2013 are great value for money these days).
I contacted the original owner, who felt horrible about things, he got me the original receipt and I dropped it off at my local Felt dealer about a week and a half ago. It only took about two days and Felt approved a new frame. The LBS said they never know exactly what frame it will be until they get it in. A couple days later in came a BRAND NEW Felt B2!!! What the?!?!
The only down part is that the LBS said it cost $400 total for all the labor and parts they had to do. Because the frames were so different they had to recable the entire thing. Initially they said the rebuild for the new frame would be around $200, so the $400 is a bit of a shocker, but here is what they break it down too.
$250 - Complete Build Up
$6 - New rear tube (apparently there was something in my back wheel and when they pulled it out the tube went flat
$72 - 4 new cables (2 brakes/2 derailers), 10ft SI Housing, and 4ft brake housing
tax on the three above items
$60 for the shipping of the frames
= $400
Does that sound like a reasonable amount for all that material and work? They said the new frame was a beotch to cable because they had to basically fish every line to get it run properly.
My wife is none too happy about the $400 out of nowhere, but all told I spent $1100 on the 2008 Felt B12 + $400 for this leaves me at $1500 for:
Brand new B2 frame including fork, seatpost, and headset
2008 wheels
2008 Ultegra components
2008 Ultegra crankset
3T Mistral carbon aero bars
That seems like a pretty solid bottom line to me. I pick it up today and will post pics of the new ride later.
I’ve had the same experience (broken collars and excellent warranty service) and cabled several variants of B2’s and DA’s ranging from 2008 to 2012. Always surprised how easy it is. Don’t know how comfortable you are with a wrench, but I can’t think of anything on the rebuild (except maybe bottom bracket if you don’t have the wrench) that requires a shop. $400 really does sound like a lot.
I’ve been frustrated to have to deal with warranty issues, but the warranty service has been excellent every time. Just bought a 2012 DA1, which is my 4th Felt TT bike.
Yeah I guess my main beef is with the lack of communication from the shop. I dropped it off and they said they would call me.
3 days later I called them and they said Felt approved a new frame. Were they ever going to call me to tell me that?
4 days after that I called them and they said the frame came in and they had been working on it for a day or so. Again, were they ever going to update me?
Get call yesterday that it’s ready and $400. I mean I think good customer service is to call and give you an estimate and let you know if they ever go over that estimate (within reason). I think $400 fits the bill of “let me check before I do this”.
About the cabling I don’t know. He explained it that the frame works with traditional as well as Di2 and that made things hard. He said they put in all the “blue tubing” that is supposed to help you so if you stick something in the rear derailer hole then it should come out the other rear derailer hole, but he said it wouldn’t fit so he had to pull all that out and then fish the new cabling through. This is my first tri bike expierance so I don’t know but yeah I would think the frame would be built to cable easier than that.
He said they put in all the “blue tubing” that is supposed to help you so if you stick something in the rear derailer hole then it should come out the other rear derailer hole, but he said it wouldn’t fit so he had to pull all that out and then fish the new cabling through.
It sounds like he’s saying that he couldn’t get the Felt supplied “blue tubing” to work, so he removed it and ran the cables without it. That is something I would be concerned about. For $250 he should build it according to Felt specs.
All the labour prices are top end for what you’d expect but not criminal…
The cable costs are high if its just usual bbb or jagwire, not so bad if dura ace original… But still …
And yes all works should be approved before completed.
Seems you have a typical LBS, not necessarily a great one…
All the labour prices are top end for what you’d expect but not criminal…
The cable costs are high if its just usual bbb or jagwire, not so bad if dura ace original… But still …
And yes all works should be approved before completed.
Seems you have a typical LBS, not necessarily a great one…
Enjoy the ride and good work felt…
Forgot how much it is a foot, but Jagwire housing is easily only a couple of dollars for a decent length (you could recable a bike for under $20). Jagwire der/brake cables are only $4ish ea. Ferrules/etc. aren’t that much either.
Sounds like the LBS made a little money off of that. Personally, I’d be angry that they quoted $200 more.
He said they put in all the “blue tubing” that is supposed to help you so if you stick something in the rear derailer hole then it should come out the other rear derailer hole, but he said it wouldn’t fit so he had to pull all that out and then fish the new cabling through.
It sounds like he’s saying that he couldn’t get the Felt supplied “blue tubing” to work, so he removed it and ran the cables without it. That is something I would be concerned about. For $250 he should build it according to Felt specs.
.
The blue hoses are just guide tubes, they are meant to be removed after aiding in electronic or mechanical cable routing.
I pick it up today and will post pics of the new ride later.