Cracks of concern? (Merlin Gravel bike)

I wouldn’t be riding that at all. Especially the brake mount cracks. Time for a new fork if you can get one.

Looks like a dead fork to me and I would have thought pretty close to failing, potentially catastrophically.

Echoing the above, that's a big NOPE from me

Honestly, they look like paint cracks from the pictures, but you'd have to ask why the paint's cracking. I think Merlin are right to ask you to take it to a bike shop to get it looked at.

I wouldn't ride that and I lean towards 'it'll be reet' end of things.

That fork wants replacing, whether merlin feel it's on them or you to foot the bill could be a protracted conversation about overtightening bolts /who did that/whether it's a cyclic stresss fault but i don't think in this case you need anything more than pics to decide that one way or another it needs to be replaced.

You may have used bolts that are too long on the disk mount, have seen this before where the bolt hits the carbon inside the fork beyond the threaded insert.

I don't think I would ride that.

It looks like the Aluminium (I assume) inserts, one around the axle entrance and another where the caliper attaches to the fork, are breaking free of the carbon-fibre.

I think Merlin are right to ask you to take it to a bike shop to get it looked at.

Reading the OP, I was disappointed with Merlin's response in that seems a cop out to get an lbs to stick it's neck out and make an assessment; based on the pics, can't see why it isn't up for Merlin to request they be returned for assessment or at least suggest some additional tests first

Looks bad. I wouldn't ride it.

For whatever reason, (and there may be many), the cracks are at the alloy/carbon bonds, so any more failure may result in more movement/ more separation and you having a very bad day.

I can't believe Merlin wouldn't be finding a way to get that replaced asap just from the photos!

Definitely wouldn't be riding it.

It might just be filler that's cracking, but two things:

Why?

and

What are the consequences?

There might be an immediate danger from the "Why?"

If no immediate danger then I'd be concerned that a bit of salty water in there from winter gritting and you'll get a corrosion cycle going as a longer term consequence

Either way I'd be going back to Merlin and not the LBS

Riding that again sits very much in the 'oh hell no' category.

Looks like something has given way already, and the remaining structure is now cracking as the loads are transferring elsewhere.

The question is now 'when will this fail and how catastrophically'

I generally err on the side of "it'll be fine" (I rode a SX Trail with a cracked chainstay for a few years) but I wouldn't even ride those forks to the bike shop to get them looked at.

Will Merlin warranty them if a bike shop says they're unfit to ride?

I'd also not want to ride that.

I know very little about carbon fatigue but that looks to have moved enough to cause the paint to chip off rather than just crack. As it's the front brake/front wheel area I'd not be comfortable riding it until it was checked over.

A fork failure is a huge deal. I survived. I don’t know what happened. I lost about 40 minutes. I just remember along walking with a bike on my shoulder and noticing that the forks and front wheel were flapping about only held on by the cables. My helmet had a dent at the front and the ends of both bar ends were covered in dirt.

I spoke to Merlin and they just say take it into a LBS to get an opinion whether its something more serious or not.

Buck passing. A shop should send it back to Merlin for their opinion since the shop can't know how the fork's made and to be fair how many composites experts work at bike shops? (how many at bike brands for that matter)

imho for an online diagnosis - I would not ride that.

Looks like the carbon layup has delaminated from the aluminium inserts at the brake mount and spindle, allowing moisture to penetrate the gap with subsequent corrosion and swelling of the aluminium inserts.

IMHO they're scrap and *I* wouldn't be riding on them.

It doesn't look safe, as others have said, and personally I'd would have thought that Merlin would want that replaced ASAP (and perhaps have a look at what's going on in case there's a wider problem with those forks).

If you'd trust another Merlin fork, I think that the one you'd need (you'll need to double check) is currently half--price - https://www.merlincycles.com/merlin-carbon-gravel-forks-700c-318448.html

Thanks for the replies, I took it into a local bike shop and they pretty much concluded what was said on here... plus to be 100% sure that it would need to be x-rayed to identify if there is any structural failure(s).  I wouldn't be surprised if the cost of analysis outwieghs the cost of a fork 🙂

I'll got back to Merlin and see if they are interested in helping out a long term customer....

The bike is a 2020 model... so the warranty is no more apparently (2years).

Wow - we appear to have a consensus on STW - don't ride, new fork

Merlin in being shit over dodgy fork / warranty.
I'm not surprised.
They were happy to sell a new bike with missing mounts/badly made fork and basically shrugged when I contacted them and then didn't reply.

Standards are slipping Shirley its just a sticker*

I'd not ride it though as I'm not a fan of stickers.

*multiple stickers

Same bike, exact same problem around the axle with cracks around the alloy insert.

Scrapped it a while ago but was pretty bad before I actually noticed.

pile of shite, no response from Merlin.

I'd have expected Merlin to be as proactive and helpful as possible on this one. Given the legal ramifications facing several bike companies right now over fork failures causing such unpleasantness as broken backs and paralysis. Unless of course no one at Merlin reads the news. In such a situation it would be quite surprising if the law cares what Merlin's warranty period is, though I'm no expert.

Also...wouldn't ride it again

The question is whether the brake caliper will rip out before the fork breaks in half... or the other way around.

How much ££££ do you have to pay your dentist for face repairs when it fails ?

I’d have expected Merlin to be as proactive and helpful as possible on this one

My experience is that they really could not give a flying shit about warranty or poor manufacturing. They sold the bike. They have your money. Done.
They also block/don't publish reviews unless they are positive.

Blimey.

Not sure I'd want another set of forks like those.

Tend to agree with tillydogs suggestion

Oh well, Merlin have bascially said it's out of warranty and based on the LBS conclusion yes new forks are required, provided a link.

I subsequently kick myself as I found some pictures I took within 12 months of owning this bike which showed these cracks starting to occur so technically the issues was there within the warranty period... but due to other things that were going on in my life I didn't have the time to deal with it. Hey ho.

At this stage I don't think i'd be buying another Merlin.

I subsequently kick myself as I found some pictures I took within 12 months of owning this bike which showed these cracks starting to occur so technically the issues was there within the warranty period

I don't know hat caused the cracks but if you feel there was no misuse or the wrong bolts used etc you have 6 years to claim under the consumer rights act. The reasonable expected lifespan of a bike fork might be under 6 years according to some brands but it should be more than a year.

I've got a pair of ragley trig forks I bought in the wiggle fire sale, which i'm not going to use now. Could give you a good price on them, PM me if interested...

I think it is absolutely worth going back to Merlin quoting the consumer rights act.

Especially since you have some evidence that something was amiss sooner. While the onus may be on you to prove the failure occurred earlier (it may not, I don't know) you also have that proof.

Cracking fork paint?

fairly new bike?

Inspection sounds reasonable if that’s what Merlin have asked for. And they will pay for it.

SADFART applies. https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/reclaim/consumer-rights-refunds-exchange/

Well now I feel bad as I recommended looking at this bike to a friend as the spec looked great for the money. Hope this doesn't happen to his.

Given they are now confirmed as goosed, and you aren't getting a replacement, why not sand the paint off to see how close you were to dying horribly.

I have a set of barely used px forks off a tempest up for sale for 60 quid if you need a replacement. Although I see merlin are selling your exact forks for half price right now should you feel like giving them a second chance

The fork appears to have failed in two places - that may be because an initial fault has caused water ingress / further damage but the alternative would be that an incorrect bonding agent was used or similar. I would imagine it's very difficult to tell the two apart without destroying the fork for a proper look or an expensive (unrealistic) X-ray examination.

I subsequently kick myself as I found some pictures I took within 12 months of owning this bike which showed these cracks starting to occur 

This is excellent news.

I am surprised that Merlin didn't offer to help you out with this - a fork failure lawsuit is not trivial!  I suppose your difficulty would be if you replaced / re-torqued the front brake bolts as they could argue you caused the failure by improper maintenance but I think you have a strong argument that what you bought was not fit for purpose. It's worth going back to them with the evidence that the cracks appeared much earlier than you realised. And then feeding back on here what their attitude is to such a potentially catastrophic failure... As a bare minimum they can sell you a compatible fork at cost. I'd probably be happy with that.

As pointed out earlier the exact forks in the exact colour is half price on merlin as I type. Which leads me to believe they probably want rid of them due to oversupply

Given they have a customer with a clearly borked fork, which aside from the social media flaming (see giant), could directly result in a fairly substantial law suit directed at them if it failed catastrophically, I find it staggering they don't just sent one out as a gesture of goodwill given they clearly have excess stock

The photos OP took within the warranty period will have the date logged in the EXIF info.

I think it's highly unlikely there is an issue with a batch of these forks. They will have sold lots of them and if there was an issue they'd know about it. Merlin arent stupid enough to have a product out there that is potentially lethal. If someone died and it was proven they knew about a fault, and hadn't issued a recall, they'd most likely be up on criminal charges

More than likely the op just got a duff one..

Update... after escalating to Merlin they agreed to send me some new forks.

Read: Someone at Merlin saw this thread and thought make it go away.

 Merlin arent stupid enough to have a product out there that is potentially lethal. If someone died and it was proven they knew about a fault, and hadn’t issued a recall, they’d most likely be up on criminal charges

More than likely the op just got a duff one..

To be really clear I'm not posting RE Merlin here, only the scenario in general -

How does the brand know that fork was a duff one, Vs an indicator of a duff process affecting a number of forks? It's hard to be sure and that's why so many batches of carbon products get recalled.