What happens to a lifetime warranty when a carbon supplier suddenly disappears?
Unravelling the mess left behind by CSS Composites
It is no stretch to say that lifetime warranties had a huge role in driving the acceptance of carbon fibre wheels in mountain biking. Offering free, or cheap, replacements transformed carbon fibre from a questionable and pricey risk into an arguably reasonable investment. I mean, who doesn’t like the idea of a free replacement for any part, let alone a very expensive one?
But what happens to those lifetime warranties when the company that backed them suddenly disappears? This is exactly what happened to customers of several brands – of mountain bike and gravel wheels – when CSS Composites announced its immediate and unexpected closure.
CSS vanishes in the night
Like many parts of the bike, carbon fibre rims are often made by one supplier for multiple brands. CSS Composites manufactured rims for several prominent brands. These included Chris King, Revel Bikes, Evil Bikes and even Trek’s in-house brand, Bontrager. While some of these brands, like Revel, no longer worked with CSS when it collapsed, many of Revel’s customers still had CSS-made, Revel branded wheels and the expectation that the lifetime warranty would be honoured.
New U.S. carbon manufacturer closure leaves major brands adrift
The twist in the CSS story is that the Utah-based carbon fibre manufacturer used a proprietary technology. When it went belly up, with little to no warning for its OEM partners, all those brand – and their customers – were left in the lurch. No other brand uses CSS’ FusionFibre, recyclable design. No other brand has stepped in to revive CSS, or its process. It’s not clear if that option was ever even on the table. That left customers uneasy and brand’s scrambling.
Finding a new way forward
In the weeks since CSS made its surprise announcement, and exit, the brands that it supplied have come up with various solutions to honour customers lifetime warranties on FusionFibre rims, in one way or another. What this looks like is different for each brand.
Revel Bikes: Keeping it rolling
Revel Bikes was one of the first brands to work with CSS for its FusionFibre wheels but also no longer a partner with the brand. The Colorado bike brand, which went through and survived its own financial difficulties recently, is partnering with Industry Nine to support any wheel warranty claims. (In an example of how complex all these relationships can be, Industry Nine’s own carbon wheels were/are built by Kamloops, B.C.’s We Are One Composites until the North Carolina brand acquired its Canadian manufacturing partner. So a Utah-made wheel for a Colorado company could be replaced with a B.C.-made wheel from a N.C. based company).
Revel’s terms include a fee for either shipping or for I9 to rebuild the wheel. “While it’s not the seamless process we’d prefer, our priority is to stand behind our customers and keep them on their bikes,” Revel said in its announcement, to explain the fee. For $175, customers can have a new I9 rim shipped to them. For $250, Industry Nine will rebuild the wheel, too. (Both prices in USD).
Chris King and Evil Bikes: Original terms, new rims (new partners)
Two other brands that were using FusionFibre rims from CSS are Chris King and Evil bikes. King’s offerings spanned from road to gravel. Evil’s Loopholes carbon wheels were made by CSS.
King announced that it is discontinuing its FusionFibre rims (ARD44, GRD23, and MTN30) “for the foreseeable future,” and that it is partnering with Vancouver Island-based NOBL wheels for warranty coverage. Evil likewise announced that Loophole wheels will be covered by NOBL.
As for cost? Both brands stated they will continue warranty service at no cost to the customer, as in the original warranty. Only the source of the rim will change. As per King’s announcement: “For original owners making a claim under the King warranty agreement, we will replace any defective rim with an equivalent NOBL rim. The rim itself and the wheel rebuild will have no cost to the customer.”K In its own announcement Evil states “Original owners will receive the same service they’ve always had – zero cost, real warranty replacement.”
King offered a further twist, though. In a recognition that aesthetics (and performance) matter to people spending thousands of dollars on wheels, they’re offering a matching NOBL wheel “at a deeply discounted cost, if the rider wants one.”
King also brings up the matter of future warranty coverage, since a lifetime can be a long time. According to the Portland brand, “The rebuilt wheel will then be cared for under the NOBL warranty.”
Another interesting note from the King example is that, while Chris King is discontinuing its FusionFibre wheels, it has and will will continue to offer pre-built wheels with rims from ENVE, Santa Cruz, HED, and Stan’s NoTubes. But it is NOBL, not any of those existing partners, that will cover the FusionFibre warranty.
Bontrager stays in-house
Ensuring lifetime warranty continuity is a bit more straightforward for Trek’s line of Bontrager wheels. The component brand only recently started dipping its toes into the world of FusionFibre, releasing the Aeolus Pro 37V and 49V gravel wheels using the material. Customers with those wheels will be covered by Bontrager’s Carbon Care Wheel Loyalty Program. While it might not be the same rim, just as no other brand is offering the same rim, it will be an equivalent Bontrager rim that customers can expect in the event they damage a FusionFibre version.
The Wildcard: Reynolds
While some companies were sent scrambling by CSS surprise announcement, Reynolds Wheels saw an opportunity. The Hayes-owned brand is offering crash replacement pricing on Reynolds rims for any customer with a CSS-built wheel. That presumably applies to any of the above brands, since there is now no brand left uncovered.
“We didn’t create this problem, but we can help solve it. Reynolds has always stood behind its riders, and when we saw the uncertainty facing owners of CSS-built wheels, we knew we could offer a fair, good-faith solution. Our priority is to keep riders rolling on wheels they can trust,” Todd Tanner, Director of Wheel Development said in Reynolds’ announcement.
That gives customers some choice, if they don’t like the brand that their original rim supplier has partnered with to replace the CSS-made product. More urgently, this is the only recourse for customers that bought wheels from CSS’ own brand, Forge+Bond. Without that, those customers are out of luck.
What’s the lesson? What is the “lifetime” of a carbon warranty?
What can we learn from this? Well, a couple things.
First, supply chains are complicated, even when buying from established brands with a focus on local production. And even in an industry as relatively small as mountain biking.
Second, a lifetime warranty is only worth it if the source still exists to honour it. While some of these brands stepped up to cover their warranty when the original supplier disappeared, customers of CSS and its own brand, Forge+Bond, don’t have anyone directly looking out for them. None of these customers are getting the same product, though a non-FusionFibre rim is surely better than no rim at all. And, if you’re a Revel customer, you now have an additional cost associated with your warranty, even if it is modest and reasonable relative to the price of a new rim.
But, regardless of details, a lifetime warranty isn’t just the lifetime of the product, or the consumer. It’s also the lifetime of the brand.