Bl4d3

It unfortunately happens fairly often in the customer service industry, whether a restaurant, clothing store or any retail outlet for that matter. I've personally been on the receiving end of screaming, belittling, and sometimes even threats. A rule thats good to apply when you're about to lose it is "would I want to be treated like this?" or "would I want my son or my daughter to be treated like this?".

On the insurance topic, as many have said, a good broker is a game changer. My bike, cycling computer, etc, is all through my house insurance under all risk with Renasa. I have never had a single issue claiming from them from my carrier that got damaged when a taxi rear ended me, to my Elemnt Roam that failed outside warranty, they covered in full each time (less the excess, which was very little). I've dealt numerous times with bike specific brokers, insurers and assessors, and it scares me how these people lie to their customers and get away with it. More recently, a well known assessor and repairer told a customer that they are an authorized repairer for the brand (they were not) and that the repair (a complete cracked through chain and seat stay) will have no impact on their life time warranty of the frame. This failure is typically an entire write off of the frame. Further to the above, the chaps rear wheel took a hard knock in the accident, which caused some noticeable delamination of the carbon layers. You could pop the carbon in and out. The repairer said this is perfectly safe to continue riding on, and redid the decals. A couple weeks later, the chaps Di2 shifters started to fail because said repairer quoted to replace, but never did, instead did some MacGyvering to repair the chaps shifters.

10/10 would recommend the Orbea. I ride an Orca and its amazing. After-sales is also great from Orbea. Their warranty is also world wide and not region locked like some other brands, you would just need to go to an Orbea retailer.

As a licensed firearm holder, having encountered several moments where I was all most knocked off intentionally, grabbed, forced off the road by a taxi driver, etc. Carrying a firearm is a big no for me. First of all, printing, no way to conceal a firearm effectively UNLESS you are commuting and can put it in your backpack. Even then, this is a massive risk. If you get knocked over and unconscious, we live in a society where nobody will stop and help while your possessions get ransacked, therefore, you will lose your firearm. Secondly, should you decide to use a firearm designed holster for cyclists, thats just a massive ad and screams "LOOK, I GOT A GUN", which paints a moerse target on you for would be opportunists. Granted, carrying like this is legal, however extremely stupid. On a bike, you're an easy target, 1 swerve from a car and its game over. I want to lower my chances as much as possible of getting hit. If safety is a concern, change routes and insure your gear. Most thieves just want the bike, computer and cellphone. If they get caught, its a light slap on the wrist and they'll be free due to how congested the courts are. They dont want to murder you, thats a long jail sentence and they dont want that.

If you haven't already done so, I recommend reporting it to the team at Cycle Lab. They take these complaints very seriously and don't just shrug it off.

Cycle Lab are the Fizik agents.

Being fairly experienced in cycling warranties, having managed a brands warranties for a number of years, and even having written some policies myself, I can not stress the importance enough of reading and understanding warranty policies BEFORE buying a product. There are many brands out there, if not most, that pretty much have a no questions asked warranty policy, their goal is to keep the customer happy and riding their brand. I can only assume that Scott has enforced this blanket policy due to past experience, likely from seized bearings. On that, this is an important record to keep, even a proof of purchase for some bearings, just to prove that they're services / replaced regularly. Most brands will also allow you to service the bike by where ever you want, some big brands even provide their service manuals to the public. Take Orbea and their blue papers as an example, which even offer tips and tricks on certain assemblies. Nevertheless. Step 1: Read and understand the policy. Understand what your limitations are within the policy. Step 2: Buy bike if you're comfortable with the policy. On the lifetime thing, most brands policy is lifetime of the company and/or user. I have dealt with a brand who reopened a mold on a 15 year old carbon TT frame as the bike was sold with a lifetime warranty. Customer got a fresh replacement out of Europe 1 month after logging the claim.

A criminal investigation first, then the punishment.

Sure, but should this not be tied to a criminal investigation? Putting something out in the open like this without having substantial evidence can open CSA up to being sued, quite heavily in fact. However, should they react by giving a ban in reaction to a criminal proceeding that found him guilty is a completely different story. This is a private entity with 0 criminal investigation experience who have just created a ton of **** for someone and if they can not substantiate their claims, they are in deep ****. I would trust an actual criminal investigation over that of a private entity. In saying this, I do not condone any form of abuse what so ever. Should what has been said about him be true, he should suffer the consequences. I do however think a criminal investigation should've been run.

So a way around it that most EU assemblers follow is to have the frames painted in the EU. This finishing of the frame acts as a loop hole which allows them to consider the frame as made in EU. They are however limited on the amount of alloy frames they can import into the EU due to antidumping policies. I know several brands who do this, having also worked for one of them. Bikes are expensive because many just pay the 15% duty to avoid the **** show that recently happened with SARS against several brands/distributors with the millions of Rands in fines dished out, I've seen and read several of these orders. Ridiculous shipping prices, Transnet delays, a weak Rand, and increasing shipping prices to the EU from Asia have pushed prices up horribly. I'm sure all bike shops will agree that the margins are insanely low, even for the big players, as everyone has been trying to absorb these increasing prices and minimise impact on the customer, hence why there are bikeshops closing weekly, it's just not profitable / worthwhile.

However, EU regulation changed some years ago to allow product that is mostly assembled in the EU to be noted as "Made" in EU, this has then allowed manufacturers to issue EUR1 certificates. What most EU brands do, especially on higher end product, is import parts and assemble in Europe. These are then considered as "Made in EU" to which they are eligible to issue the certificate.

Correct to an extent. Fully assembled bikes out of the EU carry no duty if you supply the previously mentioned documentation. That tariff heading I showed there is for complete bikes Out of Asia, they do not, as Asia fall under "General". Bike parts on the other hand carry no duties, which is why most brands that come from the far east ship their bikes as parts. Fees are FOB times exchange rate at time of arrival in SA + 15% VAT + what ever clearance fee that has been quoted / negotiated with your courier / forwarder.

Contrary to popular belief, there is in fact NO DUTY out of the EU, IF..... the supplier notes their EUR1 details on the invoice and supplies a copy of the EUR1 certificate. This is just to certify that the bike is made / assembled in the EU.

As a Roam V1 user, I cant really recommend it. Got mine 2 months before the massive price drop, which hurt some what. Its a relatively dumb unit and falls short on some aspects. I've had instances where I've charged it over night, start a ride with 100% power with it only to die 20min later. Intermittently of course, so hard to prove a warranty claim. It also doesnt connect with Discovery Vitality, so you have to download the .FIT file from Strava, use fitfiletools to change the device, then upload to Garmins site which syncs with Discovery. A pain, but a necessity if you have Vitality. The Edge 530 is a solid unit, it is better than the Wahoo V1 or V2. The only thing the Roams have going for them is the large, non-reflective display that has good viewing angles with the ability to zoom in on the fly

Enduro, no, won't be suitable in my opinion. Some people ride hardtails in enduro events, but for really you'd want something with a longer travel, at least 140mm IMO. Look at something like the Titan Skyrim LT, but this is way out of your budget, they start at around R25k. What about financing? Some outlets offer finance options over 12 - 48 months? If you go this route, just make sure you can afford it and what the total amount is you'll pay back.