Warranty Claims

I've had a number of cats come through the bike shop lately with various warranty claims. Some are legitimate (such as a new KHE tire's blown sidewall), while others are completely rider error. In this post I intend to discuss the purpose, scope, and effects of the warranty process...

A Little History

There was once a day when a manufacturing failure would lead to the rider swear off that particular company for life... or until they came out with some far too cool new part. At the same time, the quality of complementary that made its way into the BMX market was marginal. Tolerances were wide open, if specified at all; and materials were often very poor. What this did was leave an opening in the market for some quality.

Enter the high(er) quality manufacturers. Profile Racing began offering tight tolerance machined hubs; Primo introduced their cold forged Powerbite cranks (cold forging offers greater tolerance control than casting or hot forging along with good grain orientation in the outer limits of the structure). These components earned a reputation for being less likely to bend, break, or snap. But how could companies compete with high end, and high dollar, components?

In the late 1990's Odyssey took a turn from mediocre quality, fair variety components, toward a different business model. The idea was to introduce two concurrent and complimentary ideas to their product line: post weld heat treatment for their forks, and a no-questions-asked warranty.

41 Thermal, as they call their heat treatment regimen is designed not only to reduce the heat affected zone inherent in welded components, but also to make the component bend noticeably before breaking. From this, Odyssey forks developed a reputation for being extremely strong, while staying cost, and weight competitive. Even though there have been quite a number of bent components over the years, the easy, and fairly quick warranty process has reduced the amount of negative feedback on their components.

Today, it is quite common for riders to suggest purchasing Odyssey components because of their amazingly lenient warranty process (Nuno even offered to warranty my cracked Polycarbonate Twisted pedals!) Picking up on this, many other manufacturers have eased and streamlined their warranty systems. They have learned that supporting the rider, even to some immediate detriment, can have long term beneficial effects.

Purpose of the Warranty Process

You can ask around and I am sure you will get various responses to this question. My response is from the perspective of a shop manager, rider, and prospective manufacturer. The warranty process should be designed to induce a positive company image in the mind of the rider. What this means is that a component should not fail without due cause (i.e. riding hard will inevitably damage parts, especially when we get into lighter weight components). If a component fails due to manufacturing errors, it should most definitely be covered under warranty. A common example of this is a crack directly on a weld, which indicates contamination in the melt pool, and subsequent weld.

There is another purpose, as the Odyssey example shows: to increase customer base simply because of the streamlined warranty process. Although I do not list this as a primary reason for purchasing a particular component, it is certainly beneficial to the rider; even more so if they are on a budget.

When a claim goes too far

I had a cat come into the shop with corroded nipples on a machine built (pre-built) wheel. He claimed it was a warranty issue because he had never see that happen before. Perhaps unfortunately for him, I had. The corrosion was due to excessive sweating seeping onto the aluminum nipples. The electrolytes in sweat increase the rate of oxidation (and on some materials nitrogenation) of materials. Often these oxides are much more brittle than their parent materials, leading to sudden failure or cracking. The point is manufacturers have no way of knowing, nor a reasonable way of preventing all of the outlying conditions that may lead to failure.

So the next time a part fails on you, ask yourself a few questions:

* How did the component fail (break? bend? where? how much?)?

* What lead to the failure?

* Could it have been a manufacturing issue?

Of course you could send in the product in any case, but if they deny your claim, don't give them a bad wrap if they conclude that it is not a manufacturing issue. If they do deny and you feel it is unjust, post it up on line with the question of whether it is a manufacturing fault.

BMX and Hygiene

Ok, I accept that many, perhaps even most, BMX riders are in their teens. As such, they may just scoff at this post. But there are good reasons why all riders (BMX and otherwise) should care for their hygiene:

• Some people like the sickly-sweet smell of fresh sweat; nobody likes the smell of old, bacterially digested sweat.
• Calloused hands show you work hard, but don't feel so nice against soft skin.
• Fresh smelling pads and riding cloths will keep you excited about going out for a ride.

Hand Care

First things, first, when you're done riding, working on your bike, or otherwise, it is good practice to clean off after. Soaps can leave your skin dryer than they began. Even "moisturizing" soaps don't quite do it for me. I highly recommend Phil Wood Hand Cleaner. It is an oatmeal based hand cleaner that leaves your hands feeling refreshed, clean, and supple.

But Phil's hand cleaner won't be enough to remove the grater that is some riders' callouses. For this, there isn't much better than a pumice stone. Properly shaped, and preferably with one side bonded to tough nylon bristles for cleaning out under your finger nails, these little gems will let you round off and reduce the callouses. To work properly, hop in a hot shower; once your skin has soften, gently round off the callouses. You'll be surprised how much callous skin can be removed.

Foot Care

You can use your new pumice stone to soften the callouses on your heals and toes as well. The nylon bristles work well as a quick exfoliant to remove dead skin cells on top of your skin. And remember to clean and trim those nails too! Removing dead skin cells will give bacteria less to eat, producing less smelly excrement to make your shoes smell.

Clothing

Cotton sucks! Sure it is cheap and readily available, but it absorbs moisture, leaving a dark, humid environment for those little nasties to have a field day. Many synthetics, and animal fibers (such as wool) do a much better job at moving sweat off of your skin and out to be evaporated, and effectively cool you. So should you go out and buy some synthetics to help you keep cooler, and smell less? Sure, if you can find some you would be comfortable wearing at the skate park.

Many bicycle shops will stock a good variety of aesthetic options for jerseys that will keep you cool. Shorts are a different story. I'd look to MTB shorts, as many of them have removable chamois. Fox racing offers a full line of MTB gear that may match your style. Have a look through MTB catalogs on line or in your local bike shop to find something you like.

In some cases, their either isn't a non-cotton choice, or no choice you would be caught at the park wearing. This especially hit me with pads. I have a full set of leg padding, much of which is constructed with cotton or (even worse) polyester. I could toss them in the washing machine, but I worry the stitching will tear and the pads will begin to fail. A solution I heard from a cat while I was in Oslo, is to toss the pads (pants, shoes, etc) in a zip-loc bag, and put it in the freezer over night. The extreme cold temperature will kill many bacteria, leaving your cloths relatively odorless.

Haircare

Wash it. But find some shampoo and conditioner that matches your hair (dry, regular, oily) in the current season. This is also a time to pick a scent for your hair. Trust me, its nice with a little decedent scent.

It can be expensive, but I adore L'occitane.

Some updates to the blog

I finally found the motivation to do some regular maintenance to the blog. I went through all of the posts and added labels. Hopefully this will make it a bit easier to reference and navigate. The "cloud" of labels is on the left side of the blog. Give it a try and let me know what you think (i.e. do you just want a list?).

Also, I noticed that I never linked to the bearing article I posted a few months ago. By now, that information is up at BMX-U, so have a look.

Some BMX Tech issues

Some of you may have noticed that when you went to bmxtech.blogspot.com over the weekend, it would redirect to some funky (and likely malicous) site. Apparently it was tied to the hit counter gadget. Thanks to this article for explaining the issue. I hope none of you got into trouble with this.