Broken Parts and Broken Dreams

For much of my cycling career I have enjoyed a charmed existence. Most of my equipment remained intact for longer than expected and then was repairable when it broke, often at manufacturer's expense (as my last post illustrates). My luck has recently worn thin. In the last month, I have had a series of mechanical failures that I plan to list and complain about. At this time, I have a pile of non working or marginally working bicycle equipment that needs replacement or service, valued at $8-9000 (for most items, I use the first valid price that pops up in Google shopping the establish the true retail value).

1. Ritchey PRO Cyclocross Crankset $125. The non-driveside crankarm cracked in half while I was preriding the Monson cyclocross course.
   
   
   Luckily it happened while I was trying to power up a steep run up (I was moving rather slowly). I crashed and bruised my left shoulder and my testes. If this had happened on the gnarly descent, I'd be in the hospital right now. Also, I missed the Palmer Cross Race because I was unable to repair the damage to the bike (luckily I was able to borrow a nice bike from Felt to race on at Monson, no joke, it rode really well. Thanks Felt!). I plan on pursuing Ritchey for a remedy. Turns out the crankarm that failed had been recalled. Thanks for telling me.
2. Campagnolo Record Left 10 speed Shifter $160. I broke the brake lever in the crash when the crankarm failed. I think that it is repairable, but I took the opportunity to order 2009 Centaur shifters, which have the new Campy shape while retaining the ability to shift multiple gears in a single shift (the 2010 and 2011 are limited to 1 down, 3 up, probably in an effort to make the 11 speed groups more appealing).
3. Fuji SLM 2.0 MTB $4o00--Destroyed. I sent it to Thule. I only mention it because I haven't gotten to replace it yet so I haven't been able to mountain bike for most of the summer.
4. Easton EA 90 SL clinchers $750. While the rims on these wheels are almost identical to Velomax's Orion II rim and therefor stand up to abuse, the hubs refuse to remain adjusted. Seriously, the front hub requires adjustment every 100 miles and the rear appears to need attention every 200. While the adjustments are simple and take less than 5 minutes and two 5mm wrenches, it is annoying. Other users of these hubs have concurred that this is an issue that plagues them too.
5. Easton EC 90 Aero tubulars $1800. Different hub from the above wheel, same issue, only more pronounced. These wheels come out of adjustment almost immediately, rendering them useless as race wheels.
6. Velomax Orion II clinchers $550. Broken spoke. My fault. Waiting on a spoke that Landry's ordered for me. Other than this isolated incident, I have had good luck with these wheels. This is my second set.
7. Ritchey Protocol WCS clincher wheelset $550. Knocked out of true in a minor crash during WNSP. When I tried to true it, a spoke nipple crumbled in my spoke wrench. Replaced by Landry's in like 15 minutes (they called to say it was done before I got home from dropping it off).
8. Chris King HeadSet $125. The one on my cross bike appears to be indexed. I abused it, I am not blaming King. I have tried to adjut it a number of times and it is just rough. I plan on seeking professional help.
9. Shimano 105 threaded Headset $25. I installed this on my Basso (winter/travel/"B"/loaner bike) a year ago when I was broke and couldn't afford anything better. Its seriously indexed and needs replacement before any serious miles can be put in on the Basso.
10. Shimano Ultegra Octalink Bottom Bracket $35. This was on my cross bike and was just plain worn out. It developed play. Normally, I would just repack or replace the bearings. Unfortunately, Shimano designed these to be disposable, you can not adjust them or access the internals. Thanks Shimano. Luckily my good friend Andrew had a suitable Dura Ace BB laying around that I am now using (and the DA is serviceable)
11. Sidi Dragon SRS MTB Shoes (non-carbon) $250ish. Eggbeater pedals suck. Not only can you not tell if you are clipped in or not, but they eat into the soles of your shoes. I experimented with Eggbeaters a little while back and they ground themselves into my soles and eventually the sole cracked as a result. Crank Brothers must know about this problem. They should sell these pedals with a little metal plate to prevent the damage. It would cost them penny's per pair sold and save users from ruining perfectly serviceable shoes.

Excellence in Customer Service: Thule

Last winter I purchased a car that I am rather fond of. One of priorities in outfitting my little race wagon was fitting 4 bicycles and 4 front wheels on top of the car. After doing a bit of research, I stuck with Thule and purchased a set of feet to mount to my factory racks, 2 new bike trays, extra long cross bars and 4 front wheel mounts.

I installed the rack per instructions in the early spring and didn't use the new trays much, as I had mounted my 2 leftover Rocky Mount trays in the outside spots, which caused me to use these more often as they were more accessible.

My third time using the driver's side bike tray my carbon fiber Fuji SLM 2.0 popped out at highway speed on Route 1 North, leaving the city (lower deck of the Tobin in Chelsea). I hit a bump hard. The bike did a dramatic end over end tumble before skidding to a stop in the middle of a traffic lane. A box truck had to lock up its brakes and swerve to avoid the carcass, complete with smoking, squealing tires. I came to a similar squealing stop in a traffic lane, as there is no breakdown lane on the lower deck of the Tobin Bridge.

I considered leaving the mess on the road, but thought better of it and jammed in reverse and squealed the tires some more. There was a distinct smell of burnt carbon when I opened the car door, but that may have just been Chelsea. I collected my bicycle, my spoiler and as many pieces of the tray as I dared gather.

The frame was toast. Other parts of the bike were in various states of damage. The bike didn't look terrible, but it is carbon fiber and close inspection indicated that the frame was cracked badly in more than one place. Also, the bike ripped my spoiler off of this car that I am very fond of.

Here I am, with a broken race bike and a damaged car. Initially, I cursed my own stupidity for misusing the rack. I backtracked to figure out where I went wrong and the more that I thought about it, the more I was convinced that I had used the rack properly. After mulling the issue over for a few days, I spoke with Mark Vatour at Landry's who immediately called his Thule rep (I didn't purchase the Thule equipment from Landry's) and told him the issue. I was put on the phone with the rep; I briefly told the rep what happened. The rep put me in touch with Thule's claims department within minutes.

The Warranty Claims Specialist, Travis Stevens, patiently listened to my story, while asking clarifying details. Hyper sensitive to lawyerly questioning, I got the distinct feeling that Mr. Stevens was only looking to understand the issue as opposed to finding reasons for denying my claim. At no point did Travis ask any questions or even imply that I may have misused the bike tray.

After clarifying what happened, Stevens offered me a clear, simple and logical protocol for submitting a claim. While the required documentation was thorough, nothing was superfluous, obstructionist or deliberately difficult. He was clear on the time tables and the procedures that Thule would follow in evaluating the claim.

I mailed Thule both of the heads of the bike trays for inspection. After a few weeks of dithering, I got my act together and gathered the receipts and documentation and submitted the claim. Days later, after some phoning and emailing back and forth to clarify and explain details, Stevens contacted me and asked that I mail him my bicycle.

Within 2 weeks of submitting a complete claim, I had a check that covered the complete cost of repairing my car and the complete replacement cost of the bicycle (the bicycle was team purchased, so I was given an amount that covered another team purchased bike including shipping costs). Furthermore, Thule sent two more robust (and more expensive) bike trays to replace the two I sent back.

While some of you are reading this as a post about a failed product, I am writing this to point out how great Thule was in handling my issue. Most companies will replace a failed product while under a warranty. But usually, getting a company to pay what is essentially an insurance claim is adversarial and contentious. I got none of this feeling while working with Thule and Mr. Stevens. Thule was straightforward about making the situation right and get me on my way quickly. Some of you know that I can be pushy at times. I want to assure you that I never even felt the desire to become pushy with Thule, they were just so clearly trying to do the right thing without being pushovers (and their not being pushovers makes me respect them even more).

For this, they have earned a heartfelt thank you and a customer for life. It feels really good to report on a company that attempts to fix a situation that didn't go right instead of shifting blame and trying to evade responsibility. Thank you Thule.

BTW, the new trays are pretty sweet.