Clearly, BB30 and Zipp are at fault for this!

No need to get worked up over this. It's a regular warranty claim. Most manufacturers would be better served to be more generous in those less clear-cut cases. The guy is a CFO, so it's not like it makes a huge difference to him.

Frankly judging from the photos, there could be several possibilities. Unless each of us was a carbon particle resident in that right chain stay at the time it snapped, none of us will know for sure.

Oh! I thought this thread was about changing subject names.

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Well, this last shot shows the stays "sprung back" to a degree once torque loads were been removed, and also the r/mech still on it's hanger (so definately NOT a mech in the wheel).

Looks very much like QR/axle failure - wheel pulling out and to the right under high torque load - stays flexed beyond limit then failing. This would be apparent from tear fractures on the inside of both stays. If it's a frame failure at fault, there should almost certainly be compression/crush failure evident on the chainstay (seatstay could have failed as a result and still show the internal tear failure). Cracking on a chainstay prior to these photos would have to crush to fail (shortening the stay and locking the wheel) as the stays are under compression loads, but the frame would feel "soft" long before catastrophic failure. Obviously without detailed photos or examination this still cannot be proven and is just my theory from over 20 years as a composite structures developement engineer (before semi-retiring to shop ownership).

@Walkercycling - No offence meant, sorry if any was taken, and I certainly didn't call you a liar (although re-reading my post I can see how you may feel it was implied - unintentionally I may add).

I have the same username on both forums

From the looks of those pics, it appears to me that the QR skewer came out of the wheel...and that could have caused the problem.

The dropout that we can see doesn't seem to have any damage, and if the wheel was clamped on both sides by the skewer, breaking a chainstay or seatstay would not likely cause the wheel to come out of the frame like that...unless the QR broke or came out in the failure (which is unlikely IMO).

My guess is that this is user (or mechanic) error and that Specialized will likely cover it under warranty regardless...

Awesome photos. Especially the second one where he gets both wheels parallel and stays up, and the guy on his right is going "dude, you broke your bike".

I'm totally perplexed though - if both seat and chainstays snapped, how is not eating bitumen? Without anything else to go on, I'd have to give credit to Specialized for making a frame that still supports a rider on half a rear end with both stays busted.

This was apparently a JRAWIPWTB*

* Just Riding Along While Ignoring Problems With The Bike

If anything, that photo sequence make me want to BUY a SL4.

Cant be that poorly designed/built if you can get the rear wheel that far out of shape and not have the whole rear end shear off

I'd like to know if it was a qr failure. It never occurred to me that you could bend the stays like that with chain tension, but of course you can.
I might just upgrade the qr in my rear wheel.

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Specialized have replaced the frame.

^ Good for them. Figured they would do that, as it as that is not a battle worth fighting.

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"Let's plunge ourselves into the roar of time, the whirl of accident; may pain and pleasure, success and failure, shift as they will -- it's only action that can make a man."

2 thumbs and 2 toes up.....someone in Merida's factory in taiwan was smoking pot when that batch was made.

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"Light bike? Its still about the engine!".

Same thing happened to me on a steel frame. Qr failed during a sprint and bent out the seat and chain stays exactly like that. Luckily I stayed up and skidded to a halt (shredded right through the tire). Mechanic was able to bend it back into place but I didn't feel comfortable riding it after that.

^ Not sure but did this ever happen with old-school horizontal dropouts? Presuming of course the QR head doesn't come off, doesn't seem like you'd ever see one side of the wheel pop completely off with the old dropouts. I could be wrong...