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Hi all,
First post, apologies for the dreary content. I bought a Cube Stereo 12 months ago and after 3 months the main pivot bolt on the rear suspension snapped. That was replaced under warranty eventually but I'm still left wondering if it will happen again every time I go over a drop off. The shop has said that snapped pivot bolts are a common occurrence, which I was slightly taken aback by. So I was just wondering if this is genuinely true, i.e. it could happen to bikes from any brand once in a while, or if this is a sign of poor engineering or assembly?? Any thoughts?
Cheers
Edited to add: The pivot bolts are hollow aluminium. Is this common amongst most bike manufacturers?
See:
https://singletrackmag.com/forum/topic/newish-bike-broke-i-got-injured-what-to-do/
Anecdotally, this happened to my friends Stereo as well.
Not had any issues with my stereo so far (2 years). But i did notice the main pivot bolt was loose after just a few rides when new (never checked it before though). Tightened it up and its been fine since.
I don't have a stereo, but I don't think it's correct to suggest that all bikes can suffer a snapped pivot bolt, I've never had that issue on any of my full suss bikes over the last 13 years.
I've had my Stereo 160 for 2 years now and had zero problems with my shock bolt. I did read about this problem before I purchased it but I just put snapping a shock bolt down to bad luck or ham fisted repairs. My mate bought a second hand Stereo which was about 5 years old, we stripped it down and he managed to shear his shock bolt off but on closer inspection you could see the stress cracks in the alloy and it looked like the Hulk had tightened it previously.
Rob my mate has a e stereo 160sl thats just had a pivot bolt go, funny story as the bikes just 6 months old , the threads had been ripped out on inspection of a loose pivot bolt ,so instead of speaking to the shop to sort his warranty he went to B+q and sources a 10mm bolt and then threaded the none drive side chain stay ... dont be like Rob (because hes a prat ) speak to a local cube dealers
Sounds like I'm not the only Cube owner this is happening to then! I'm still wondering what to do with this bike. I was planning to upgrade various parts soon but I don't think the quality of the frame is worth it now. I did read about a guy replacing his pivot bolts with custom titanium ones but I wouldn't know where to start.
I checked my pivot bolt on my Stereo 140 after the bike developing a creak whilst riding to find it was loose. Loctite and torqued to 12nm and its been fine since but I now check it on a regular basis.
I had a Cube 120 AMS that this happened too, twice. Mate had a Stereo that it also happened too.
From what I can see the problem lies with the bolts just not being up to the job, they just aren't big enough. On my AMS it was just a small bolt each side that screwed into the frame.
I did fix mine in the end - Did a bit of measuring & found that the main pivot bolt set up on my old Giant NRS that goes right through the frame was just the right length to do so on the Cube as well. Couple of pilot holes later & then lastly with the correct size drill bit I put a hole right through the frame where the pivot bolts go. There was plenty of metal there so it's plenty strong enough. Had no more problems with it after that, far better set up & a lot stronger.