Metal fatigue.

[baratron]

My tricycle is completely broken. A spot on the welding under the frame has sheered off. It took me more than half an hour to work out what the problem was (initial symptom was simply "pedals will turn backwards but not forwards") and there were quite a few red herrings.

It is a reasonably critical point in the folding mechanism that's gone. So the tricycle will not fold. At all. Currently it is locked to the fence at the front of the house, and we are going to have to rearrange furniture to bring it inside. It is only rideable if you tie the stand up to stop it dragging on the ground, and if you do that, there's a weird juddering vibration down the right hand side which makes me suspect it's not a good idea.

It is, of course, 4 months out of warranty. Or possibly 5. Not that this makes much difference, because I wouldn't honestly want to have to send it back to freaking Italy to get it fixed - that would take months. I need to consult the guy I bought it from and the manufacturer, just in case this is a known design fault, and then find one of Richard's metalworking friends/relatives to do the welding. Joe Random bike shop will not be able to cope with the folding or the extra wheel, I've learned that from experience.

But argh! I need that tricycle to get round! It is so much faster & more convenient than buses + walking. I don't walk terribly well in winter, but cycling is much easier on the joints.

I am really very sad and not very functional. And I don't know what I'm going to do about the students who don't live on bus routes. Tonight, I'm getting a lift from my dad, but he can't do that every day.

Comments

[thekumquat.livejournal.com]

Might a local car garage be able to weld it? Might be quicker.

[judiff]

Meep!

[ruth-lawrence.livejournal.com]

:-(

:::thwaps entropy upside head:::

I hope you can get it repaired soon.

[nitoda]

Hope you can get it fixed soon!

[x-mass.livejournal.com]

sounds like its "not of merchantable quality" see sales of goods act. A product has to be capable of fulfilling its product life. Warranty has nothing to do with it. The key issue here is reasonableness, would someone on top of the clapham omnibus think that a folding trike failing after 18 months would be a reasonable lifespan for the product? if not then its failed the "merchantable quality test". You can use the act to get them to make reasonable repairs, you probably should be able to get them to do it for free
hope that helps
kate

[x-mass.livejournal.com]

to whit
http://www.guardian.co.uk/money/2006/jun/01/yourrights.legal4

[memevector.livejournal.com]

What a bummer!

I have a sense from many of your past posts of what a vital part of your life that trike is. Hope you can get it fixed quickly and with not too much bother.

::sends trike-fix vibes::

[inkyann.livejournal.com]

I have a friend who's a scarily competent engineer and has a transportable welder, who says he'd be willing to come over and have a look and try to fix it if that helps. Email me off-board if you'd like his contact details. In the meantime, it does seem that it's not "fit for purpose", so good luck going back to the vendor and chasing that way.