An explanation of our 10-year warranty

Dec 29, 2016

We are occasionally asked why we offer a ten year warranty, in contrast to the so-called "lifetime" warranties that are advertised by other titanium builders. 

We are tremendously proud of the craftsmanship of our frames, and we have built our brand around offering what we believe are the best made titanium frames currently available. We strive to be open and honest with every element that goes into our bikes, and our warranty is no exception.

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No. 22 Warranty Card

No. 22 Warranty Card

We are occasionally asked why we offer a ten year warranty, in contrast to the so-called "lifetime" warranties that are advertised by other titanium builders.

We are tremendously proud of the craftsmanship of our frames, and we have built our brand around offering what we believe are the best made titanium frames currently available. We strive to be open and honest with every element that goes into our bikes, and our warranty is no exception.

We launched our comprehensive ten year warranty in response to the so-called "lifetime" warranties of several other titanium builders. What we strongly disliked about those warranties was that despite the "lifetime" name, what is actually covered and for how long can be very misleading. Some real-world examples:

  • Brand A offers a lifetime warranty, but that coverage is actually limited to the "useful life cycle" of the bicycle, noting that: "This warranty is not meant to suggest or imply that the frame cannot be broken or will last forever. Bicycles and/or frames will not last forever. The length of the useful life cycle will vary depending on the type of frame, riding conditions and care the bicycle receives." This warranty also specifically excludes failure from fatigue from its coverage.
  • Brand B offers a "lifetime warranty against manufacturing defects", but also specifically excludes fatigue from its coverage.
  • Brand C offers a lifetime warranty which covers the "normal life expectancy" of the frame, with no indication of what that life actually is.

The list of other titanium builders taking a similar approach is very long. What we don't like about this type of warranty is that it sets the expectation that a titanium bike will last forever. What these warranties are actually saying is that if you find a defect in the quality of manufacturing they may cover you, but if your bike fails outside the arbitrarily set "lifetime" of a frame then warranty coverage is no longer available.

We wanted to be careful not to set a misleading expectation, so we opted to take what we thought was a more inclusive, better defined warranty approach. We cover our bikes for ten years, because we feel that a decade of use is more than enough time for any construction defects to be found. We also do not exclude fatigue from our warranty—if it fails, even from fatigue, within the warranty period then we will honour the warranty.

Our full warranty is available here: http://22bicycles.com/pages/warranty.