I got a Soma Wolverine v4.1 Type A this week directly from Merry Sales. Out of the box, it was missing the drive side sliding dropout tension screw, which was quickly rectified by customer support.
As I inspected the rest of the frame and fork for any concerns, overall everything looked well made except for the bottom of the fork, pictured.
To me, this looks a little sloppy, but if it’s par for the course, not a big deal to me personally. It is a little disappointing because I read some similar experiences from other users here about incomplete shipments.
I only ask because my hope is this bike will last me a lifetime with good care and no shredding, which is my MO.
Thoughts/opinions/questions?
by dirtshirtdirt
11 Comments
Welder ended up burning the tube adjacent, it’s ugly but it will work.
Probably fine, but I would hit up the vendor to see what they can do to make it right. (I.e. discount or replace fork)
Could also hit up Soma directly and ask if this is typical. They might also be willing to work with you.
Honestly that looks like some solid weld strength. Looks like the mitring or jig left a bit too much steer below the weld and they burned through that section.
It’s a bit ugly but that’s a hard weld junction to not burn through given the inside and outside weld and the curvature of fork blades. Would have been nice if they’d cleaned up the front and back to be more flush with the weld though.
Definitely strong and I wouldn’t worry about it failing, but that’s just sloppy work. QC should have caught that. I’d definitely contact the supplier/manufacturer about replacement.
Those are about 600-800$ frames right? At that price point, I’d say it is more annoying than anything else. Perhaps not entirely unexpected.
IME, it’s actually moderately common for the bottom of steerer tubes to be quite ugly, especially on two-piece steerers like that. Personally, I wouldn’t really worry about it.
Structurally sound, cosmetically and aesthetically sub-optimal and lacking in craftmanship, but it is on a part of the bike that will never really be seen again, so care factor has to be vanishingly small.
I had to return my first soma Wolverine (Gen 2) because the bottle bosses on the seat tube were so crooked. The second one had a bent fork upon arrival. The third one was ok but was always worried it would break. So I sold it after a few months.
I had a soma fork just like this, was definitely bummed on the finish work but it’s totally fine to ride
Yo! I do some work with Merry Sales. I’ve also owned a bunch of their bikes, including two of them currently, one of them being a Wolverine. I’ve also built a bunch of their frames too.
I’ve found their frames to be exactly what they say they are, practical, affordable, and durable. They will never wow you with quality, but all of my Soma’s have been *rock* solid. Never had a single issue. I think in this case, this is purely cosmetic. Its going to be fine. A bit sloppy, but its going to be fine.
Regarding the incomplete shipments… yeah. They can make mistakes. I’m not offering this as an excuse, but I think you should know, Merry Sales/Soma/IRD/New Albion/Yokozuna/all those brands are all 100% Merry Sales, and, that is a company of like 8 people. A small family business.
There is literally like 1 dude, my homie, handling all these shipments and work. He’s also handling a bunch of B2B stuff for bike shops around the country, as well as supplying tubes for frame building. Merry Sales has a shitload of SKU’s, and its literally all handled by like 3 people. Its a small family business doing its best, and hopefully, passing some great value onto the end consumer. The Wolverine is amazing value for money, even with this somewhat sloppy fork.
Finish work on entry-level Taiwanese frames should not be expected to be top notch.