I picked up a Ridley X-Night this year. Was expecting some great things. Top of the line bike from the best cross bike maker in the world, right?
Hmm.
It broke in my first race. Seat mast split. In a race. On grass. 7 minutes in.
Ridley’s first response: “we won’t warranty it due to how you broke it.” (in a cross race)
I argued. cross bike, cross race, etc. I race cross cat 2 and coach/teach cycling skills. I’m not a rookie who doesn’t know what he’s doing.
Second response: “well, maybe we can do something, but i don’t think so.”
Grr.
Third response: they made some excuse. No replacement, no apologies, no working with me. This process took 5 weeks, mind you.
Bottom line, don’t waste money on a Ridley. If you break it riding it like it was meant to be ridden you’re out good $.
The OP totally mangled the cutting of the seat mast and is completely in the wrong here. Ridley bikes made some generous offers to him anyway. The OP is very misleading here.
I picked up a Ridley X-Night this year. Was expecting some great things. Top of the line bike from the best cross bike maker in the world, right?
Hmm.
It broke in my first race. Seat mast split. In a race. On grass. 7 minutes in.
Ridley’s first response: “we won’t warranty it due to how you broke it.” (in a cross race)
I argued. cross bike, cross race, etc. I race cross cat 2 and coach/teach cycling skills. I’m not a rookie who doesn’t know what he’s doing.
Second response: “well, maybe we can do something, but i don’t think so.”
Grr.
Third response: they made some excuse. No replacement, no apologies, no working with me. This process took 5 weeks, mind you.
Bottom line, don’t waste money on a Ridley. If you break it riding it like it was meant to be ridden you’re out good $.
Bummer to hear. Were you working with the company directly or through a shop?
Wow that sucks. Do they claim that there was any mis-use?
Don’t know this specific warranty, but if you read the fine print of many bike warranties, about 95% of them say no warranty if the bike is used in racing. Or words to that effect.
Sorry for your aggravating circumstances. Your timing may be just right to save some folks from a big mistake. One of the major on-line bike sellers just sent out an e-mail this afternoon promoting a Ridley cross bike sale.
But there is nothing in his post proving anything was wrong with the bike. If I don’t tighten the seat post it slips and shatters the frame that’s not the manufacturers fault.
How do you figure, the whole post is set up that the bikes are supposed to be the best and it broke in his first race. Sure he’s mad about the customer service but thats because they wont replace his bike.
i figure because he stated facts: the bike broke, they won’t replace it. those are both facts.
if you re-read the post, he never claims that their production quality is bad, only that their customer service is bad.
NOW I’m claiming the products are not the quality their marketing espouse them to be, AND the US distributor customer service is crap.
I followed the manuals, tightened the bolts with a torque wrench properly (I own a shop and know what I’m doing), and have cut more seatmasts than most people have drooled over.
What part of “my bike broke on my first ride” steers you away from “this is crappy product”?
Poor customer service plain and simple. The true cost of replacement to the company is not significant…they already have their R&D done and production set up covered. This customer paid for the product. I bought a used Cervelo…they owe me nothing yet when I called them, they were willing to back their product. Every company has to draw the line somewhere, it seems to me they made a poor decision here.
take it easy, man. i’m on your side, here. i think you’re bike should be replaced.
but all companies have scenarios like this; the issue here is that MOST companies will replace the bike in these situations.
after reading the post and hearing your story i don’t get “this is a crappy product” i get “this is REALLY crappy customer service”.
again, all companies deal with issues like this, but MOST handle them better. a lot better.
Uses in competitive events, trick riding, ramp riding, jumping, aggressive riding, riding on severe terrain, riding in severe climates, riding with heavy loads, commercial activities and other types of non-standard use can dramatically shorten the useful product life cycle of a Ridley bicycle or frameset. Any one or a combination of these conditions may result in an unpredictable failure of a Ridley bicycle or frameset that would not be covered by this warranty.
Basically if you use a racing bike for racing then you are not covered and the expected frame life may be shortened to a few minutes.
Next time tell them you were just riding along like everyone else.