So, I sent them the frame. Like I mentioned before, they were talking about a repair.
Personally, I never thought they’d actually repair the front triangle. I assumed they’d just replace it and say they repaired it, to avoid extending the warranty.
FYI: I also asked them if they could repaint the frame while it was being repaired. They said yes. We discussed a design, and they gave me a quote: $160 USD for painting the front triangle (which was the only part I sent in).
After about a week and a half, the frame arrived.
Originally, they told me the repair would take two weeks. Later, they said it actually took one more week, and after that, they would paint it and ship it to me. So there was a bit of a delay.
The paint I ordered was:
"Front red marble, fading into raw carbon at the rear."
Unfortunately, when I received the photos of the finished frame, it didn’t really match what I had imagined.
The black part in the rear, which was supposed to show the carbon underneath, was only visible when shining a light on it.
The red marble effect looked low-effort. I’ve actually done a marble effect myself before, so I have a bit of experience. Usually, you use a plastic bag, spray silver paint on it, then dab it on the frame to create the texture.
What they did looked really rushed. You could see repeated patterns right next to each other, like whoever painted it didn’t even bother to vary the texture.
For professionals, that’s honestly disappointing and, in my opinion, a bit unprofessional.
On the positive side: the red color itself looks really cool!
One more thing to mention:
The frame cracked not because of poor quality, but because a massive rock was thrown up by my front tire. It hit the downtube with such force that it made a loud bang, then bounced off and hit my shin. Even three weeks later, it was still painful to touch that spot.
When I sent in the frame, I mentioned the damage on the downtube. They didn’t say anything about it in return.
After I got the frame back, I checked the inside to see if it was really the same frame. I recognized some identical parts, so I think they just replaced the internal cable guides and repaired the crack. That part was actually really cool!
Now to the build:
While building up the bike, I noticed I couldn’t get the seatpost all the way in.
There was some weird glue sticking out inside the seat tube. I thought it would just compress if I pushed in a spare 30.9mm seatpost with a bit of force.
Big mistake — now it's completely stuck. I’ll probably need to use a vice and the leverage of the whole bike to get it out. That’s how bad it is.
I contacted them about the issue. After a few emails back and forth, they told me to take it to a bike shop and said they’d cover the cost.
Despite that, I went for a ride anyway.
No seatpost clamp yet — and after a few compressions with my full body weight, I heard a loud crack. Not sure what it was, but I think the seatpost moved abruptly inside the frame.
Another thing that bothers me:
The rear brake cable rattles a bit inside the frame. It’s minimal, but annoying.
I’m considering switching to a brake hose with a slightly larger diameter — anyone have experience with that?
In total, the warranty process took over 1.5 months.
I sent the frame on 04.07.25 and received it on 27.08.25.
They covered the warranty and repair costs.