>A welder friend of mine spotted this hole in the weld on my frame, I'm
>about to take it to the Trek dealer to get it evaluated. Is this a valid
>claim?
>
> http://www.userealsugar.com/lemond_weld/
In my opinion that's not a warranty issue, and certainly not something that
looks like it would in some way weaken the frame. In most cases that pinhole
would be filled in with paint, but for some reason this one wasn't. In our
shop, it might earn a $25 "blem" credit, but most people wouldn't be
bothered with it.
If it's bothersome to look at, you can simply put a small amount of paint
there (as should have been the case originally) and nobody will ever know.
One of the technical reasons for the relative ugliness of some welds is that
they no longer weld all the way around the tube at once, but rather do one
quarter of the weld, then move on to another tube junction. Doing this helps
reduce built-in stresses, but also means you have four start/stop points for
each weld (which is visually noticeable).
LeMond warrants cosmetic issues for one year, and if push came to shove,
within that year period of time could probably be talked into repainting the
frame. But... had such a bike come into my shop, I would have suggested that
a small cosmetic "blem" credit might be appropriate, but that it really
wasn't worthwhile to repaint the entire bike for such a small thing,
especially since it could be touched up easily and the bike would be out of
commission for 4 weeks if it was sent back.
That's practical bicycle retailer thinking; your mileage may vary.
--Mike Jacoubowsky
Chain Reaction Bicycles
www.ChainReaction.com
Redwood City & Los Altos, CA USA