[Closed] Is this normal?

Don't know what w if that's normal but I would doubt it. Would be well pissed if my new bike came looking like that.

It's a long way from normal and very far from acceptable... For a new bike.... Nope....

No idea why that had to happen to a brand new bike & not something I've seen before. I'd be asking for a courier uplift to take it back.

I'd recommend not buying a carbon frame from them! 😆

I have several Konas

None have had that, including a 2018 bike, the frame number is usually painted over & a bit hard to make out

New Konas also usually come with some touch up paint (tho grey market wiggle/crc maybe not)

they are offering a refund but I need to know who did it before i proceed.

Why do you need to know who did it? All you need to do is work out what you want out of it (i'd be tempted to take a significant discount, and buy a little touch up paint to cover the bare metal)

As above its not normal and not really good enough for a new bike and you would be right to be a bit annoyed. That said it is only cosmetic, water won't get into the bottom bracket and after a few rides there will be other chips and scratches in that area. What other option are wiggle offering? I'd be happy with some money back or even vouchers for a few bike bits and live with that, or slap a bit of touch up paint on it.

What mashr said, esp as it is a long term bike, so diminution in value not so significant.

This is my Whyte - similar but not as roughly done.

[url= https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7821/47310583182_726ee812a5_k.jp g" target="_blank">https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7821/47310583182_726ee812a5_k.jp g"/> [/img][/url][url= https://flic.kr/p/2f5F773 ]Untitled[/url] by [url= https://www.flickr.com/photos/169210173@N02/ ]paul charlton[/url], on Flickr

Shouldn’t be like that. Get a refund or negotiate money off as per your preference.

I'd be furious if that were me.

Not normal, but I'm struggling to understand how paint removal would allow water into the BB as a result.

personally if they offer a big enough discount I would accept it, but I completely sympathise that it is unacceptable and should not be like that. I have bought a brand new Kona (road bike) from CRC in the past and it wasn't like that (it did come with touch up paint and full manuals etc).

As an aside, I'm loving that you covered up the frame number to stop any of us cloning your bike and using it to rack up speeding tickets 🙂

Thanks for the replies - it's much appreciated.

It did come with some touch-up paint so that's an option.
Wiggle have offered a £25 voucher which is a bit of an insult considering it's a £2.5K bike - although it was heavily discounted when I purchased it.

In answer to why I want to know who did it, well who does such a stupid thing? I genuinely thought there may be a reasonable explanation and maybe it was common practice but it seems not as you guys think it is unacceptable so yeah, I wanna know who and why.

The notion of sending the bike back and starting my search again makes my stomach churn. I spent months researching to get the bike I wanted and to be honest I wouldn't get a bike with the same spec for the money I paid. Plus, I'm a short guy and the Explosif seemed the best option for someone who is such a short ass.

I'm waiting for Wiggle and Kona to reply to my last emails.

Yeah I didn't know what the practice was regarding frame numbers so just covered it. I knew I'd get stick for that 🙂

Wiggle have offered a £25 voucher which is a bit of an insult considering it’s a £2.5K bike

Absolutely.... whether or not i'd accept the issue in the first place, i don't know... probably not...
But if i were to think "OK, if they come back with a decent offer i'll go with it."

£25 wouldn't have been that offer.

It may have been that the SN wasn't stamped at the factory at the right point so they stripped the paint and stamped it, forgetting to paint over it.

If you have paint and can make it good then that would be the simplest option.

I know you want to understand who and why, so that you have confidence buying again, but it's a bit of a weird one.

You might feel like it's a bit crap, but as others have said, the decision is what do you want, is it still acceptable? You may or may not get more of a discount off Wiggle but if it was £25 less and the defect was pointed out, would you have still bought it? If you return it, are you going to get as good a deal elsewhere?

FWIW, I'd paint over it, helitape it (the BB and downtube get a battering from stones!, my BB chipped though the paint all over before I helitaped it) and get riding. Life is too short to chase the pennies sometimes.

and welcome to the forum!

As above, really. I've never seen a bike sold like that, I'd be properly cheesed off if I received one in that state, and I'd be very curious as to why it ended up like that. That said, it's cosmetic and it's in an out-of-the-way location, so I'd live with it with some suitable compensation. And personally my idea of "suitable" on a bike that expensive would be closer to the cost a professional respray than the price of a rattlecan from Halfords.

Then again, if you've spent ages finding the right bike at the right price then you may have to be pragmatic about it. It's not going to cause a problem, it'll just be one of those things that you'll always be aware of. Some people will make their peace with that more readily than others 🙂

From the shape of it I'm going for it being a bad masking job, just odd that it's obviously not part of the normal Kona paint process. The Whyte photo will have been done the same way, but the Kona has been left too long before the sticker/tape was removed.

£25 is a bit of a kick in the stones though. I'd let go of the who/how question as you're unlikely to get a phonecall as nobody is going to get on the phone to Taiwan for you

Seems to be the norm with anything you buy these days mail order. Sold in bulk and throwing any old crap in hoping to get away with it .I bought a lapierre of crc 3 years ago and it had a small scratch on head tube , got £50 voucher back so you should at least get that much off .wouldn't be letting them have it back tho ,it's just principle .

I'd return it. Never seen anything that ridiculous before. None of my bikes have ever had paint removed before for the frame number. Why cant they stamp the frame number before painting?

ignore

Why cant they stamp the frame number before painting?

They likely did

The explosif is a steel frame is it not? In which case that bare metal will corrode quicker than the painted areas. I'd send it back.

Steel frame? The price of a professional respray at the very least I would say.

http://2017.konaworld.com/explosif.cfm yes, that's steel. Bare steel in the direct path of road spray? No thanks.

I assumed it was alloy but steel, that raised my eyebrows and I'm the least fussy person out there. Still if you can't get another one elsewhere for the same price, try and leverage a bit more of wiggle and break out the touch up.
I'd imagine someone in the supply chaim needed to record the frame number, it was obscured and this was their bright idea.
P.s
Suns out you cant see the BB when your riding 😎😎

Assuming that it's a Small, CRC are showing 4 in stock. If that's correct then I'd just get another one and make them check it prior to sending.

Assuming that it's a Small, CRC are showing 4 in stock. If that's correct then I'd just get another one and make them check it prior to sending.
Even easier, Wiggle are also showing stock so should be a case of collecting the damaged one and replacing it.

Wiggle and CRC are the same company, so will be showing the same stock

How discounted was it?

I ask because the number that Wiggle / CRC show in stock is irrelevant - they can make that any number they like, as long as there's more than one showing if you want one and less than one showing if they're out of stock.

I'm pointing this out because it looks to me like the sort of thing someone would do if they wanted to be really clear about what the frame number was - which is something you might do if you're returning a bike. If there was a problem with it and the customer wanted to check before sending the bike back to Wiggle.

Wiggle would then be able to rectify the problem (or determine that the problem wasn't sufficient to warrant writing the bike off) and sell the bike again, maybe at a big discount.

I know I sound like a big cycnic but I'm aware of this happening to at least two of our customers who thought they were buying absolute bargains, and both showing "several" in stock at CRC / Wiggle, but a) once they'd bought their item the site was then out of stock, b) once the items arrived they were definitely not as they should have been, with bits missing or not matching the description.

EDIT: just realised it's a steel bike, not aluminium. Aluminium will eventually corrode and go white and powdery if exposed to wet and salty conditions; steel will rust. You'll probably notice surface rust, which won't be very significant at first, and it will take a really long time for the rust to become critical (unless you live by the sea), but it's really bad form to sell a bike with a big chunk of exposed bare steel.

PJM1974

Member
I’d be furious if that were me.

I'd just send it back, without the fury! 😆

karlossantos

Subscriber
they are offering a refund

tbh sounds like no advice needed, get the refund, happy days.

and welcome to the forum!

Then again, if you’ve spent ages finding the right bike at the right price then you may have to be pragmatic about it

£25 is a bit of a kick in the stones though.

got £50 voucher back so you should at least get that much off

Assuming that it’s a Small,

How discounted was it?

Another big issue is that I bought it on finance which, after buying a house last year is the only way I'd be able to fund such a bike.

I’m pointing this out because it looks to me like the sort of thing someone would do if they wanted to be really clear about what the frame number was – which is something you might do if you’re returning a bike. If there was a problem with it and the customer wanted to check before sending the bike back to Wiggle.

EDIT: just realised it’s a steel bike, not aluminium. Aluminium will eventually corrode and go white and powdery if exposed to wet and salty conditions; steel will rust. You’ll probably notice surface rust, which won’t be very significant at first, and it will take a really long time for the rust to become critical (unless you live by the sea), but it’s really bad form to sell a bike with a big chunk of exposed bare steel.

Thanks for all the replies.

Someone's done a real shonky job with that orangey red touch up paint that's for sure.

Just checked my Kona, bought from Tredz 2 years ago and the frame number is exactly like that, albeit a bit tidier. It’s a steel frame too, so it may be a Kona thing.

I wouldn’t worry and take any compensation you can get.

makes me less inclined to return it on the chance that I’ll not get another. I’d be hard pressed to get a bike with the same spec at that price.

Can't you order another one?

On arrival, if it's not damaged, you return the first one. If the second is also damaged, you can choose to return either one or both.

It sounds like Wiggle have already accepted that the bike is faulty (damaged, not as described, whatever) and therefore any return postage is on them, so you're not losing out.

Absolute worst case scenario, even if they don't agree it's faulty and are just offering their normal 365 day returns policy, is that you pay to return one or both under that returns policy (or the statutory 14 day period), which—other than a bit of faff—would leave you out of pocket to the tune of about £12 per bike.