The current closure of CSS Composites got here as a little bit of a shock to many, together with us. The truth is, we had toured the manufacturing facility simply two months earlier than they introduced that they have 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, the entire lifetime-warrantied FusionFiber rims manufactured by CSS Composites on wheelsets from Forge + Bond, Revel, Evil, and Chris King now not had lifetime warranties.
Since then, there has clearly been uncertainty relating to the choices out there 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 Trade 9 to offer guarantee help for its current wheels made with CSS-made rims. That was incredible information, however what about everybody else?
Reynolds Steps In
Reynolds Biking has simply introduced that it’s stepping in to offer 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 have been broken in a crash, are out of guarantee, or they merely now not want to experience a product with no long-term help. The objective is easy: to offer 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 without spending a dime, it’s providing a really beneficiant low cost to impacted riders, which is way, significantly better than nothing in any respect. And whereas that is definitely a very good religion gesture, it’s additionally a good 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 straight or by way of a licensed vendor to confirm their current wheels and entry particular crash substitute pricing on new Reynolds wheelsets. This contains 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 just a few inquiries to get some clarification. Right here they’re with responses from Joshua Riddle, the World 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 need to be the same product? I.e, if I had a damaged gravel wheel, might I swap it for a Reynolds MTB wheel?
- JR: You’ll be able to swap for something you want/need…gravel, highway, mtb.
- BR: Do the CSS wheels need to be damaged to reap the benefits of this program? Or can they simply do it in the event that they need to strive a Reynolds wheelset?
- JR: They will definitely go for an improve. It would require the present set to be despatched in however a stable low cost on even a non-broken pair of wheels is out there.
- BR: Is that this for single wheels or wheel units solely? Each?
- JR: Single or pairs, the entire above.
- BR: I’m assuming the crash substitute value should be totally different per wheelset. Do you’ve gotten at the least a spread of pricing that we might present?
- JR: We apply the identical crash substitute low cost thresholds as we do with our Reynolds wheels; nothing totally different. North of 40% off MSRP, if I’m not mistaken.
“We didn’t create this downside, however we can assist resolve it. Reynolds has all the time stood behind its riders, and once we noticed the uncertainty going through house owners of CSS-built wheels, we knew we might supply a good, good-faith resolution. Our precedence is to maintain riders rolling on wheels they will belief.” -Todd Tanner, Director of Wheel Improvement.
Kudos to Reynolds for stepping as much as present help for the entire riders impacted by the closure of CSS Composites. You’ll be able to study extra about Reynold’s wheel substitute program and discover a hyperlink to the Hayes Bicycle help web page (the place you’ll be able to submit a request) by clicking the hyperlink beneath.
