Check the comments spotbrandbikes1/4Hello again from Spot, Reflecting on my response, yes, I agree that it may have sounded a little too defensive, particularly by word count. Alex has been very positive and friendly to us, as has Steve. We're all on the same page in that we want to find a cause so that bikes are better in the future and rider experience and safety are optimized. Please hear me out as I provide some more context that the readers may not have been aware of. -The frustration is that we had hoped to complete the investigation before he put the video up to prevent premature conclusions being formed. When I said that information had been withheld, my wording was too vague and therefore may have seemed aggressive toward Alex. Let me explain our frustration a little bit. When we spoke with Alex on the day of the event, he was definitely trying to give us all the information that may have been relevant to us, with a goal of improving product and therefore rider experience and safety. Not to say it was intentional at all, but we weren't made aware that the bike had been crashed in rocky terrain at least three times. Again, I don't think that this was intentional; he was truly trying to remember anything that could be useful in the investigation and I assume it was an honest mistake, or he didn't know that crash history with the frame would be relevant. Just seeing what happened to the Race Face bar show's that crashes cause damage. spotbrandbikes2/4-Alex was kind enough to cut a couple clips of the video and send it to us on Tuesday. He had me agree that I wouldn't distribute publicly before this video went live on Thursday. So, in terms of scooping him, he asked that we not scoop his video. Of course, we never had any intention to do so, but it gave us a glimpse into his livelihood and incentives. After he sent the clip, I asked for more complete footage and he declined. I'm not sure why. Like any investigation, you want any and all evidence. We already knew that the shock was extremely under-pressured and under-damped, so we wanted to see more footage to look for bottom-out events, O-ring position, amount of gear, etc. We'd still like to see all of the raw footage. Particularly since Alex had already crashed at least three times. And because even in a seemingly minor crash where the rider doesn't have much in the way of injuries, the bike itself can sustain critical damage, particularly if any part of the frame impacts a sharp rock or takes an abnormal load from the rider's body mass. -With the high-speed news cycle being as it is, it was frustrating to not be able to complete an investigation and get all the information out at one time. The under-inflation was a known factor from the information we received from Steve and Alex. 180 psi was in the shock, an alarmingly low number. We say on our website that for an aggressive rider on aggressive trails, shock psi should be set to 120% or riding weight (which includes you and all your gear on you and on your bike, including water bottles, bike packs, tubes, etc. attached to the bike) It also had significantly under-damped compression for that trail and aggressive riding (only two clicks from full open when it should have been at least 6). In retrospect, maybe we should have withheld this information as a high-road PR move, but like Alex's strategy, we felt it more authentic to relay the shock set-up data collected from Steve and our own inspection (it is our understanding that the shock setup was done by Steve, not Alex). It's entirely possible that we did not give Steve enough information on setup for different riders and different trails. spotbrandbikes3/4-We don't have a PR department or outside PR agency. Frankly, in our decades in this industry serving millions of customers (through Avid, the preeminent brake brand in the industry until it was sold), this is the first time we've had such a media experience. We have already learned plenty since Thursday and will learn much more from it in the future. As with every aspect of our business, we strive to get better every day. As a college coach used to always ask our team, "what are you going to do to get better today?" That still carries forward and we'll get better from this situation. We consider rider safety and experience as top priorities, and always have. -Regarding the frame, yes, it's absolutely possible that there was a manufacturing defect in that frame. We have not seen this failure before even in our destructive testing, so we're still searching for a complete understanding. We hope to know more after our lab forensics are complete. Unfortunately, Steve had to extract himself by riding the broken bike down the last 8 miles of Porcupine (somehow finishing in the top 70% of Strava riders this year for that section. Wow!). In doing so, the broken area compressed against itself and got mangled significantly, so analyzing that critical area of the frame is unfortunately quite compromised. Because of this, we may never get to the bottom of what happened in that area of the frame. However, we'll use every resource available to find the cause and we'll fully disclose our findings when available. spotbrandbikes4/4-We drove to Chasing Epic on Tuesday and presented Steve with a brand-new bike and picked up the broken bike and are analyzing it. So, regarding warranty, this demonstrated our support of the customer by replacing the bike without question. We've inspected the entire bike, including all components, but the full analysis of the frame structure will take much more time, if it's even possible considering the above. -Although our warranty process is known to be extremely forgiving, the whole industry is in a challenging place regarding bikes and their intended uses. Our current models are NOT made to be used for downhill, freeride, slopestyle, park, etc. If they were, they'd be at least 35 lbs. The industry standard that carves out intended use is the ASTM Standard Classification for Bicycle Usage. Unfortunately, the Conditions (classifications) are quite broad. Condition-3 bikes are stated to keep jumps or drops below 24". Condition-4 bikes to keep jumps and drops BELOW 48" and speeds lower than 25mph. Only Condition-5 bikes are for more extreme riding. For anyone out there wanting a bike for extreme riding, the inference is to only purchase a Condition 5 bike. -In closing, we are really, really happy that Alex is okay and was able to walk away from the final crash and ride out with relatively non-serious injuries. We're truly grateful for that. We're fans of Alex and really think that he's one tough rider! -Andrew
