Tony Karklins: What Happens To Your Carbon Bicycle When Broken? Nothing good until now.

At ALLIED CYCLES WORKS we believe that carbon fiber is the optimal material for high performance bicycles, but what happens to to your bike if it’s damaged?  Nothing good until now.

I have been in the bike industry for over 3 decades and have seen a mountain of damaged bicycles.  In the 80s and 90s, it was not such a problem.  Steel bikes are tough as hell.  You can wreck them, pick them up, dust them off and be back on your way.  Repairs for steel are relatively simple.  Then aluminum came out.  Not as durable in an accident, but still repairable and if not, then easily recyclable.  Then when carbon came out, it wasn't so simple.

Carbon is an incredibly strong material, it has properties that metals just cannot match, but all materials have compromise, and what it provides in stiffness and strength, it gives up in ductility and toughness.  A well engineered carbon fiber bike will last a lifetime of normal use, but we all know accidents can happen, riders crash, and bikes occasionally get damaged.  So what happens to your carbon bike if it cracks?  You take it to the local shop and most likely gets one of these two outcomes;

1. Crash replacement.  Most brands offer consumers a crash replacement if their frame is broken outside of the standard warranty offer.  This means the consumer is offered a discount if they turn their broken frame in.  This is the typical path and that broken frame ends up in the dumpster somewhere because carbon fiber is not easy to recycle.
2. 3rd party repair.  This has become a very common practice in the bike industry as it is usually much less than the cost of a crash replacement.  This is a better option for the environment, as it keeps the frame on the road, but it voids any warranty from the original manufacturer forever.  Some of these repair houses are expert, but some are novice and can be dangerous for the consumer.

Neither of these options are great.  So when developing the ALLIED CYCLE WORKS warranty and after sales service policies we decided to offer repair service for all ALLIED products without voiding your warranty.  Why are we the first to do this?  Simple, because we can.  We manufacture all of our carbon frames in our facility right here in the USA, so we can repair your damaged frame using the same technicians, materials, and tools that were used to create it.

This type of customer service is not possible when your frame is manufactured in Asia, but it is when you manufacture domestically.  We are proud to introduce this level of service to the bike industry and we look forward to helping our ALLIED consumers in their moment of need.  MADE HERE.