I love companies that stand behind their products

+ 1 for crank brothers, they rebuilt my acid pedals free, no questions asked

 

+1 for Easton.

I posted a story how my buddy's Explorer PU blew a tire, sent us spinning, and bounced my bike down the freeway. The only damage was a scratched carbon handlebar. Easton sent a new bar gratis.

 

As long as we're giving props:

Gravity Dropper seat posts - I called them up and told them I broke the remote lever in a crash, can I buy a new one. They sent me one for free.

Dakine - I have had mixed results. They've replaced several parts/pieces and entire hydration packs without question. Awesome service. Then, I had a couple leaky bladders that I wanted replaced. They told me the bladders only had a two year warranty and would not replace them. I wrote a letter to their president expressing my disappointment and was again turned down. Finally, I made a second phone call to their warranty dept and asked them to show me on their website or anywhere in the literature that comes with their packs that their lifetime warranty excludes the bladders. After they could not find the exclusion either, they sent me two bladders. I should not have had to go through that much trouble.

Fox Shox - I have had mixed results. I had a Talas fork with a creaking crown. Called them up, no problem with warranty, sent my fork and had it back within 10 days. Good service. Had a DHX 5 Coil shock that went bad well within the warranty period. I didn't have a receipt for the shock since it came with a frame (which I did have a receipt for). They were originally going to deny warranty for this until I asked to speak to the owner of the company. They finally agreed to cover it after implying I abused the shock and that's why it blew. WTF?

 

Blackburn is another company that stands by their products. I had both a floor pump and a mountain pump that both finally died after 10+ years of service. Took them into my LBS and walked out with new pumps, no questions asked. I would recommend their pumps to all.
www.blackburndesign.com

 

I had the same thing happen to me with a pair of M085's. They lasted about seven months and the soles split and began to separate from the shoe. I replaced them with a pair of M087's and am much happier.

The boys at IE Bikes turned my $200 fork into a sublime cushion of smooth happiness today for almost no money. I have no idea what they did, but it turned my Tuesday night ride into a romp. The smile has not yet left my face.

 

I lost the visor center adjustment screw on my 09 Giro Remedy helmet. Called Giro today and they're sending me a screw kit in the mail no charge.

 

Cleats are generally considered wear and tear items. CB and Time use brass cleats so the cleats wear before the pedal cage. It would be beyond fantastic if CB replaced your cleats for free.

 

+1 on Crank Bros.
Also Smith sunglasses. I crashed and broke the frame of my Smith Sliders and scuffed a lens. I asked them if I could purchase replacements. They sent me back a new frame and whole new set of lenses (smoked, amber, clear)

Bike shops lie!! If they're feeling lazy, forgot to call, or just not enough profit (i.e. warranty) they will flat out lie. I have caught bike shops lying more than a couple of times. For example waiting a month to get a response on a warranty just to find out they never sent it out or ever even contacted the manufacturer. Or the most recent lie, I wanted to get new stickers for my fork, the LBS said they called RS and they are out and unable to get them, even though I talked to the Rock shox rep and was told they're in stock but I have to order them through a bike shop. I knew that was going to happen.

I hate going through a bike shops as the middle man for stupid stuff.

 

I was going to give CrankBrothers a chance to stand behind their product, but after trying to rebuild my Acid1's, I think I'm just going to get a different set of pedals.

They just seem poorly engineered from a "rebuildable part" standpoint. My biggest beef is their use of a pressed in inner needle bearing that is protected with nothing but a small rubber gasket. If moisture gets in there the bearing carrier turns into a rusty cage and the pedals seize. Not only that, after looking at my spindles, it looks like they're marred to the point where a rebuild wouldn't help anyways. They would just continue to consume any new bearing set I put on there. This is pretty lame for a set of pedals I rode for a year and spent ~$120 on.

If they come up with some new bearing design for the next line of pedals, I'll take a look. I'm just going to go back to Shimano in the meantime.

 

I got one for Ergon Grips. I stripped out one of the clamps while tightening it. I asked them if they sold clamps separately, since it was my fault. They said they did not offer them separate, but they send me a whole new set of grips at no charge. I'll always buy Ergons on my bikes from now on.

 

Park Tools is also a great company. I broke a Park socket tool last year. I took a picture of the part and sent it to Park CS. No questions asked, they sent me a new part within a few days.

 

Interesting experience. I, too, love Ergon grips. I have four pairs of their grips and their BD1 backpack. Great products, but I will disagree with their customer service. I bought a pair of grips and had issues with one of the clamps as well (not my fault, seeing how I used torque wrench and set it to less than their published specs). I emailed Ergon and asked for new clamps. They didn't even respond to my emails. I ended up sending it in for warranty through the vendor, which cost me another $12 in shipping charges. $12 to warranty a $20 set of grips and not even a response to my emails. If their products weren't awesome, I'd be waving the anti-Ergon flag right now. That said, any future grips I use without bar ends will be Crankbrothers.

 

I gotta give Hydrapak a big thumbs up.
I bought one of their packs and after only a few months of use the bite valve began leaking through a seam in the plastic. This may have been my fault as I had been using a great deal of force to take it off the hose a couple days prior. Anyway, after a few uses I became annoyed by the constantly dripping water and finally decided to just buy one when I noticed that Hydrapak has a pretty good warranty policy. I emailed them, told them my bite valve was leaking and that it might have been my fault. I got an email the next day asking for my address and 3-4 days later I had a brand new bite valve. I wouldn't hesitate to buy another one of their products