The latest closure of CSS Composites got here as a little bit of a shock to many, together with us. Actually, we had toured the manufacturing unit simply two months earlier than they introduced that they had been ceasing operations. In that announcement, it was additionally said that any beforehand submitted or future requests for service, restore, or substitute won’t be honored. Immediately, all the lifetime-warrantied FusionFiber rims manufactured by CSS Composites on wheelsets from Forge + Bond, Revel, Evil, and Chris King not had lifetime warranties.
Since then, there has clearly been uncertainty concerning the choices accessible for riders needing guarantee or crash replacements of CSS-made rims. Only a few days in the past, Revel — the primary to market with FusionFiber rims on its wheels — introduced that it had partnered with Business 9 to supply guarantee help for its present wheels made with CSS-made rims. That was improbable information, however what about everybody else?
Reynolds Steps In
Reynolds Biking has simply introduced that it’s stepping in to supply an answer for riders left with out crash substitute or guarantee help. “Efficient instantly, Reynolds is providing crash substitute pricing on full Reynolds wheelsets to any rider who owns wheels manufactured by CSS / Forge+Bond or the manufacturers that sourced rims from them. This supply applies whether or not the rider’s wheels had been broken in a crash, are out of guarantee, or they merely not want to trip a product with no long-term help. The purpose is straightforward: to supply a path ahead for affected riders – one backed by a trusted model dedicated to long-term reliability and repair.”
So, whereas Reynolds isn’t changing CSS-made rims/wheels totally free, it’s providing a really beneficiant low cost to impacted riders, which is way, a lot better than nothing in any respect. And whereas that is definitely a great religion gesture, it’s additionally an effective way for Reynolds to get extra riders on its wheels, which additionally occur to be fairly darn good, in our expertise.
Right here’s The way it Works:
“Eligible riders can contact Reynolds instantly or via a certified vendor to confirm their present wheels and entry particular crash substitute pricing on new Reynolds wheelsets. This consists of any Reynolds full wheel system throughout the highway, gravel, and mountain lineup — every constructed with the identical precision, efficiency, and lifelong help that outline the Reynolds model.”
This sounds virtually too good to be true, so we requested a number of inquiries to get some clarification. Right here they’re with responses from Joshua Riddle, the International Advertising Director of the Hayes Bicycle Group (which owns Reynolds).
- BR: Can somebody with a CSS wheel swap it for any Reynolds wheel? Or does it must be the same product? I.e, if I had a damaged gravel wheel, may I swap it for a Reynolds MTB wheel?
- JR: You possibly can swap for something you want/need…gravel, highway, mtb.
- BR: Do the CSS wheels must be damaged to reap the benefits of this program? Or can they only do it in the event that they wish to attempt a Reynolds wheelset?
- JR: They’ll definitely go for an improve. It’ll require the present set to be despatched in however a strong low cost on even a non-broken pair of wheels is offered.
- BR: Is that this for single wheels or wheel units solely? Each?
- JR: Single or pairs, all the above.
- BR: I’m assuming the crash substitute worth should be completely different per wheelset. Do you could have no less than a variety of pricing that we may present?
- JR: We apply the identical crash substitute low cost thresholds as we do with our Reynolds wheels; nothing completely different. North of 40% off MSRP, if I’m not mistaken.
“We didn’t create this drawback, however we may also help resolve it. Reynolds has at all times stood behind its riders, and after we noticed the uncertainty dealing with homeowners of CSS-built wheels, we knew we may supply a good, good-faith resolution. Our precedence is to maintain riders rolling on wheels they’ll belief.” -Todd Tanner, Director of Wheel Growth.
Kudos to Reynolds for stepping as much as present help for all the riders impacted by the closure of CSS Composites. You possibly can study extra about Reynold’s wheel substitute program and discover a hyperlink to the Hayes Bicycle help web page (the place you possibly can submit a request) by clicking the hyperlink under.