Eddy. 220 dollars is a great price for a crash replacement. If you send me a perfectly functional bike and I crack it by crashing into a big rock, that is on me and I am happy to pay to fix it. If you send me a bike with a clearly documented flaw that is not capable of basic trail riding without modifications then that is on the company.  I even emailed you about the issue when you still had the frame. You assured me that my frame was all good with no problems and that the issue was fixed.  You may get away with charging for this, but the trust in your company will take a huge hit. Haideli may save a few thousand in the short term by not taking responsibility for their mistake (deception?), but will probably lose in the long run by losing all consumer trust.  I understand that you are probably not calling the shots but this is bad bad business. No one should by buying frames from Haideli until they step up and take care of all of us who trusted them with our business.

My washers keeping it rideable but too much flex still. Hard turns flex the tire into the seat and chain stays. Way more movement than my YT.

It’s gonna stick out a little but not too bad. Honestly at this point does it matter much what it looks like?  Bearings are like 4mm thick.  Recess in carbon like 2mm. Probably sticking out 4 mm at most with bolts. A solid fix would be amazing.

Mine rides very well with the 1mm nylon spacer/bushing. I am however inspecting multiple times throughout the ride for slop and the bolts coming loose. No reputable company would ever design a bike like this expecting not to have problems eventually.  It is going to wear down at some point. Keeping track of miles till failure. We may yet get a solid fix thanks to JJJ but no one should buy this frame until the issue is resolved from the factory.  There are too many good options out there to be buying this very flawed frame.  They should actually stop selling it until issue is resolved.

It'll work in the short term, but the bolt will inevitably come loose with the rubbing. The rubbing will increase as the press-fit mount of the bearing degrades.

Bushings are mounted such that any rubbing cannot loosen bolts. This is a traditional bushing mount - you can see that nothing will tend to turn the pink bolt. (My Altitude has this type of pivots.)
[/quote. Thanks JJJ. Aware of the loosening risk (hence the gobs of locktight). I also carried the fat Allen wrench with me on the ride. I put myself on the list for the bolts and will continue to ride this thing to see how long it works for. 

Agreed on putting bearings in the link. May even be some simple ways to do it. Big mistake on their part. That said…… I took the bike out today with the 1mm thick nylon washers on the outside of the carbon of the offending link underneath the aluminum bolt outside lip and it was very solid. There was no noticeable flex and the suspension seemed smooth and responsive. The bolts also did not come loose. There were not any clicking or creaking noises. Bike rode really well.

I think there is a chance that this may work. Bushings have long been used successfully in suspension design. We are all trial and erroring this thing but if the bushings are thin enough to allow the bolts inner sleeve to contact the bearings and thick enough to take up all the slop and provide structure and support to the link, could this not be a fix? 

One caveat: I only rode about 16 miles with 2k climbing and descending. No signs that it loosened up or the bushings wore down but how long can a fix like this last?  Who knows.

I locktighted the crap out of the bolts and let them sit for a couple days before riding. I also greased the area between the nylon and the aluminum bolts.

For what it’s worth.

Thank you and great work JJJ. With Eddy’s response a couple posts back and the possibility of a new carbon layup, what do you see as the most effective fix coming from the factory?  Bearings on the outside of the rear triangle with the c clip retaining thingy ala Yeti?  That seems very doable if the mold can be changed. Would like to hear your thoughts.

BTW. Going to take the bike out today with the 1mm nylon washers to see what it does. Will sign up for bolt buy when I can do the measurements.