Bulls Iconic TR1 Spee

[Oldbrokenmanchild]

Bulls Iconic EVO TR1 Speed with a problem. I have owned this bike for about 15 months now and it has been my single favorite piece of sports equipment that I have purchased in my entire life. The ride is fantastic and the bike performs well all the time. I have had the bike serviced at least twice at the dealer and have not had any other issues. Tires, brake pads and chains are the only thing that ever needed replacement. I loved this bike so much that I just purchased a Bulls Iconic TR2 Speed for my wife a month or so back.

I am older and ride 90% on the street and about 10% on easy dirt, mostly fire roads. I was just returning home, having literally just turned 3,500 miles on the ODO when I heard a snapping sound and felt a grind as I pulled into my driveway. The frame snaped in two at the base of the seat post where it joins the pivot point of the rear swing arm. I have never ridden the bike hard, never went off a jump and never had a bad crash.

I have alerted the dealer and provided them with lots of detailed images of the bike and the spot where the tube broke. The dealer has told me that he has presented the problem to Bulls USA and that they had in turn passed the info off to Bulls in Germany as it seems as if warranty issues are handled overseas. I have several biking trips fast approaching and have requested that they expedite the solution to this problem. The bike retail dealer informed me that it would likely be a number of days before they reply with a resolution.

I am hoping that they are an honorable company and they result this as soon as possible. Has anyone on this forum had any experiences with Bulls in regard to warranty issue resolution?

 

[fooferdoggie]

UYA bulls is not the greatest with warranties. like all the components are under their own warranties. my rim cracked at 1 year and the shop said it was normal wear.

 

[Oldbrokenmanchild]

Thanks for the info. Sorry to that you were not able to get good resoluton. I am hoping for a better outcome. We shall see.

 

[fooferdoggie]

Thanks for the info. Sorry to that you were not able to get good resoluton. I am hoping for a better outcome. We shall see.

hope so. bulls only warranties their frames everything else goes through the companies who supplies the parts. I bought new wheels anyway. my trek was no problem replacing the back wheel when the rim cracked. part of it too the shop changed hands and they were far stricter on what they repaired and maintained.

 

[Oldbrokenmanchild]

Yeah, Bulls website states a 5 year warranty on the frame so I am hoping that it is resolved quickly.

In dealing with other manufacturers of other items I have been offered deep discounts or credits towards purchases of new items as the manufactures do not always have the replacement components items readily available nor a system in place to get them to the owners. If Bull would offer a substantial discount or credit toward a new bike I would be happy to give them another run.

 

[fooferdoggie]

My motor on my bulls used out just after 2 years and 14,000 miles. I had been talking to a bulls rep on Facebook. (he sent me socks and such) and I went to him to see if it could be fixed. but I also went to the trek store astray are less then a mile away and the mechanic was not sure but he contacted bosch for me. I bought a new bike as the trek could use my battery as an extended battery and service was great and close. that mechanic got me a new motor and t only cost me 35.00 the shop I bought it from offered to look at it and go through the bulls rep to help but trek was so much easier. Now my bulls does not get a lot of use its more my backup bike.

 

[Oldbrokenmanchild]

Base of the seat post? Insert pictures in your post of said snap frame.
I own a Bulls Evo 45 AM. Frame is made in Vietnam.

 

[Oldbrokenmanchild]

Thank you for the info. I too loved my bike, could not have been happier with the Gen 4 Bosch Speed motor.

Paid roughly $5,600.00 the bike 15 months ago. Can get a new one, same year and model now for $4,700.00. The latest updated model, the one I just bought for my wife, the TR2 Speed is about $6,400.00. An interesting detail is that in the same location on her new bike Bulls had added two welded parallel brackets right at the location that my frame broke. Seems as if they may have made thia change due to other reported failures.

I am also considering a Specialized Turbo Tero X 6.0. It is substantially similar to the Bulls Iconic TR2 Speed only it has a Brose Motor rather than a Bosch.

 

[Ritcheybiker]

I have the exact same frame crack on my Bulls Iconic EVO TR1 Speed bike, and presently awaiting the resolution
which I'm told by Bulls is a replacement frame. Your pictures of the crack could have been mine they are so exactly same. They quote a 2-3 month frame build process for a replacement warranty frame. Then I assume I have to move all the parts from the old bike to the new frame - not a very confidence inspiring solution. Sounds like this is a common issue - I hope they have taken action to improve the strength of the new frame. Very disappointing for a $5600 bike.

 

[JselRollTide]

I have the exact same frame crack on my Bulls Iconic EVO TR1 Speed bike, and presently awaiting the resolution
which I'm told by Bulls is a replacement frame. Your pictures of the crack could have been mine they are so exactly same. They quote a 2-3 month frame build process for a replacement warranty frame. Then I assume I have to move all the parts from the old bike to the new frame - not a very confidence inspiring solution. Sounds like this is a common issue - I hope they have taken action to improve the strength of the new frame. Very disappointing for a $5600 bike.

I’m currently considering this bike and just stumbled across this thread. Any update on the situation?

We’re both of yours 2022 models?

 

[Ritcheybiker]

I just left another message back to Bulls - It is now about 3 months from my frame warranty claim. Bulls does answer my messages but
no firm commitments on delivery date or specifics of their follow-up solution. I have asked if this is an improved frame they will send me since
the cracked frames appear to be in the same spot as reported in this thread. I'll update when I hear. This is very frustrating for a nearly $6000 eBike.
I don't have a model year for my ebike. Sadly I can't report an energetic and responsive manufacturer to this claim, yet, and therefore cannot
recommend this brand until I get resolution. As I have said, I want this to be resolved because I like the design and feature-set of this bike a lot.
More to come, hopefully. Update - I spoke with the manufacturer live and my warranty replacement is still in process. Evidently they provide an exact replacement to the original and I was told that is the extent of the warranty. One thread above mentioned the warranty provision of a modified/improved design in bottom of the seat tube area, so perhaps they would make that working change in the design, but I was told the
opposite which is counterintuitive to me and further not confidence inspiring in this brand and its support and concern for customers. I have never had a cracked frame in the 25 bikes I've had over the years.
FINAL RESOLUTION/Update on Cracked Frame - After waiting 5 months for Bulls resolution of the cracked Iconic EVO TR1 Speed frame, I believe that BULLS finally did the right thing, which is to completely replace the bike with a brand new EVO TR2 Speed bike. Let me say the bottom line is that the TR2 Speed bike completely improved on all the weaknesses of the TR1 Speed:
1) Redesigned the swingarm, so that a 40T front chainring now fits and is provided vs the old 38T which ran out of gas at top speed.
2) The seat tube location that eventually cracks as mentioned in my post and pictured in another post above, is redesigned and appears much stonger to eliminate the frame cracking problem.
3) The luggage rack now is flat on top, and also has a clamshell spring to hold down your luggage.
I always thought my BULLS TR1 Speed was close to perfect, until it cracked... it was simply not a robustly designed and executed frame build. However, now with the TR2 Speed, Bulls has executed a perfect bike. The only flaw is the wait time to rix the problem, so if Bulls takes their customer service up a notch and speeds up their resolutions and proactivity to solve problems for the customer, that's all that is remaining.

 

[Ritcheybiker]

Bulls Iconic EVO TR1 Speed with a problem. I have owned this bike for about 15 months now and it has been my single favorite piece of sports equipment that I have purchased in my entire life. The ride is fantastic and the bike performs well all the time. I have had the bike serviced at least twice at the dealer and have not had any other issues. Tires, brake pads and chains are the only thing that ever needed replacement. I loved this bike so much that I just purchased a Bulls Iconic TR2 Speed for my wife a month or so back.

I am older and ride 90% on the street and about 10% on easy dirt, mostly fire roads. I was just returning home, having literally just turned 3,500 miles on the ODO when I heard a snapping sound and felt a grind as I pulled into my driveway. The frame snaped in two at the base of the seat post where it joins the pivot point of the rear swing arm. I have never ridden the bike hard, never went off a jump and never had a bad crash.

I have alerted the dealer and provided them with lots of detailed images of the bike and the spot where the tube broke. The dealer has told me that he has presented the problem to Bulls USA and that they had in turn passed the info off to Bulls in Germany as it seems as if warranty issues are handled overseas. I have several biking trips fast approaching and have requested that they expedite the solution to this problem. The bike retail dealer informed me that it would likely be a number of days before they reply with a resolution.

I am hoping that they are an honorable company and they result this as soon as possible. Has anyone on this forum had any experiences with Bulls in regard to warranty issue resolution?

 

[Ritcheybiker]

See my post below - same problem here, now resolved. I'm curious what do you think caused
the TR1 Speed frame to crack? My sense is its a side load issue, meaning for example, when you go to mount or dismount
this TR1 Speed bike, you are on your left pedal only, swinging your leg over the bike. During that time, you are side loading all of your weight on one foot, and this side motion simply snaps it right off because the frame (which is now redesigned on the TR2 Speed bike), simply does not have the strength or geometry at that location to counteract that normal use of the bike.