Specialized Aethos: Frameset Replacement

As one of the top level framesets in the road bike industry, the Specialized Aethos is favoured for its excellent ride quality and low weight. In fact, many non-competitive road cyclists prefer the Aethos over the faster SL7 or SL8 due to the more comfortable ride.

I have previously built the Aethos from scratch using the frameset, you can read all about it here. Unfortunately, I recently discovered some problems with the appearance of the frameset.

As you can see from the pictures below, there are some strange defects on the S-Works logo on the frameset. I love the colour of this champagne pink frameset which makes it so unique. It comes with silver coloured logos on the frame as well.

However, while cleaning the bike, I saw some black areas and specks on the silver logo. Somehow it only happens on one side of it, giving the wording a shadow effect. I have only used water to clean the bike, without any chemicals at all, so it is unusual to see this happening. Check out the original appearance of the silver logo here.

One side of the silver logo turned black, which gives it a shadow effect.

Unintended 3D effect on the silver logo?

The silver logo and wording at the front of the head tube also has the same problem.

Given that this is the top level Aethos S-Works frameset, this is not acceptable. I contacted the Specialized dealer in Singapore and showed them this problem. I was not sure what a possible solution could be, short of changing the whole frameset.

When the dealer got back to me, they told me that it looks like corrosion on the silver logo, which is made of metallic material. Apparently the earlier batches that came from the factory did not have a protective coating on it, which allows it to corrode naturally over time.

Other frame colours don't have a metallic silver logo, so they don't have this problem. Since the frameset is less than 1 year old, it is fully covered under warranty. I had initially thought it would be hard to get the whole frameset exchanged under warranty due to a defective logo.

I was surprised when the dealer offered to exchange the frameset under warranty, in order to solve this problem. This is excellent as this means that Specialized is willing to absorb the cost of fixing the defective frameset. In any case, the cost would probably be footed by the OEM factory that allowed this to happen.

What I had to do was to bring the old frameset back to the Specialized dealer, and get a new one in return. I could choose from any of the Aethos S-Works frameset that is in stock, of the same size. This is an excellent chance for me to change the colour of the frameset!

Although I love this champagne pink colour, I don't mind trying out another frameset colour given the chance. The troublesome part is to disassemble the bike completely, so that I can exchange the frameset.

Disassembled the Aethos frameset completely in preparation for the frameset exchange. Other than the defective logo, the rest of the frameset is in pristine condition.

There were not many colour choices in my frame size for exchange. One of the available colour was the same champagne pink, but I was worried that the same problem might occur again. In the end, I chose the Maroon colour instead of the other boring black colours.

It turned out to be a good choice as it looks really good under sunlight! It looks almost like black when it is dark, but looks amazing under good lighting. Check out the pictures below!

Brand new Aethos S-Works frame in Maroon colour!

Check out the amazing glitter in the paint job. S-Works logo is protected by the gloss clear coat on the paint.

Smooth joints around the head tube, with a lovely gloss Maroon paint.

Aethos logo at the front of the head tube.

More pictures of the beautiful Maroon paint job!

Although the fork did not have the same logo corrosion problem, I also have to exchange it together with the frame as a complete frameset. This means that I have to return the champagne pink fork as well.

New Maroon fork for the Aethos S-Works!

Glossy Maroon paint that fades to black at the bottom of the legs.

Amazing glitter that is visible when viewed up close.

More pictures of the new Maroon fork.

Bottom of fork legs are black, which is fine as it helps to hide the dirty area near the brake rotors.

Weight of the Maroon frame is 655 grams, inclusive of front derailleur bracket only. The seat post clamp and rear hanger are not included.

Weight of the new Maroon fork is 302 grams, before cutting to length.

Comparing the weight of this Maroon frame to the previous Champagne Pink frame, there is an increase of 56 grams, as the previous frame only weighed 599 grams! The fork weight is nearly the same at 302 grams, which is already very lightweight.

Overall, I am happy with the frameset replacement, as I get a brand new frameset in a new colour at no cost to me. The only thing it costs me is time and effort to disassemble and later reassemble the bike, which I don't mind doing so for a new frameset. Also, I am impressed with the Specialized warranty which stands by the quality of their product.