Levo Gen 2 2021 Levo comp - clear coat drips...now a bad weld?

[drm31078]

Just got my 2021 Levo Comp in redwood. Looked good in the shop...brought it home in some different light and there are a few clear coat runs on the down tube. A small piece of black garbage under the clear on the seat stay. Normal quality? I know I know its a mountain bike, go get it dirty.....the more expensive they make these things, higher quality control should be expected I would think.

 

[Miru]

It would be sad if the pressure to deliver the bikes faster means turning a blind eye to final QC or doing a sloppy job even tho the bikes are getting more expensive by the minute.It seems like this pandemic is bringing out the greedy nature of many appreciated companies to the surface. Maybe you could also post some pics with this defects.

 

[drm31078]

Here are some photos.

 

[mak]

To be fair that's bad. its not often a camera can pick up imperfections so it must be as bad as it looks and worse if you'd paid for it

 

[drm31078]

I mean, I did have to take the photos at certain angles to make it show up better. If you are 2 ft away they are not noticeable. Perhaps this is just an OCD problem. Lol.

 

[Miru]

@Specialized Rider Care ?

 

[drm31078]

Whelp....looks like I probably won't have a bike for a while.

After noticing the paint / clear coat drips on the frame, I started inspecting the frame even closer. Turns out the downtube has a subtle dent in it and a bit of a ripple in the surface that you can feel when you slide your hand over it. Worse than that, there is an undercut weld between the downtube and the top tube.

Brought it to the LBS and they said they never seen paint / clear coat drips that bad before. Never seen a dent / rippler in a downtube like that. Certainly have never seen an undercut weld before. The weld certainly should be considered a liability issue if anything.

They are going to put a claim in with Specialized. I really really hope they just swap out the entire bike since it's literally brand new with 0 miles. Picked it up Sunday and rained every day since. Have not even ridden it on the road. To have to swap all the parts onto a new frame seems like it would be opening the door for other issues.

Inspect your frames closely people! The LBS said they have been seeing some quality issues with the demand being so high that it appears Specialized (or their suppliers) have been cutting some QC corners.

Photo of the undercut weld below. The dark area is a groove in the weld where the weld doesn't fully fill the void. Will eventually cause it to crack.