I recently purchased a Boardman MX Sport from Halfords Edinburgh through the Govt C-2-W Scheme. I went out on it recently and ended up in Hospital compliments of one of the pins shearing off resulting in a catastrophic failure of the whole saddle system, all i can remember is hearing a large bang (thought initially a car had run up my backside) and the rest is history. Woke up sparkled on the road and knew that my lower arm was broken alongside other minor cuts and abrasions, and the usual disorientation involved in such an impact. Fortunately for me two people where passing bye-one a motorists and another fellow cyclist who checked me over before getting me to my feet and both asked me if i knew what had happened, explained to them about the seat just giving way and we checked the ground to see if we could find any of these components.
After investigation we where able to ascertain that one of the pins had totally sheared off at the juncture where this would be connected to the saddle causing the plate which holds the saddle to the seat post to fly off on one side, the remainder of this bolt was still situated in the screw and the other pin remained intact. There is no logical reason as to why this event happened as i do all my checks prior to cycling and everything was OK, even when stopping for a break i check everything before i set off again. This only leads me to conclude that there could be something wrong with these pins-the bike was new and had hardly been ridden-as i normally use my carrera.
If i contacted Boardmans i do not know if they would pass this over to the staff at Halfords. Although some staff at Halfords have come under scrutiny (and that may be justified in other cases) i can honestly say that everything was OK when i left the shop in regards to this particular bike. The bike is kept indoors all the time and like most cyclists is maintained to a high standard so it is not exposed to the elements or the possibility of someone tinkering with it, or worse half-inching it. My main concern here is to warn people in the public domain that i believe there could be something wrong with these pins, and as to why the pin sheared off remains an enigma.
I was wondering if there is anybody out there who could advise me on what to do next appart from change these pins for titanium ones.
Thanks
Tam
After investigation we where able to ascertain that one of the pins had totally sheared off at the juncture where this would be connected to the saddle causing the plate which holds the saddle to the seat post to fly off on one side, the remainder of this bolt was still situated in the screw and the other pin remained intact. There is no logical reason as to why this event happened as i do all my checks prior to cycling and everything was OK, even when stopping for a break i check everything before i set off again. This only leads me to conclude that there could be something wrong with these pins-the bike was new and had hardly been ridden-as i normally use my carrera.
If i contacted Boardmans i do not know if they would pass this over to the staff at Halfords. Although some staff at Halfords have come under scrutiny (and that may be justified in other cases) i can honestly say that everything was OK when i left the shop in regards to this particular bike. The bike is kept indoors all the time and like most cyclists is maintained to a high standard so it is not exposed to the elements or the possibility of someone tinkering with it, or worse half-inching it. My main concern here is to warn people in the public domain that i believe there could be something wrong with these pins, and as to why the pin sheared off remains an enigma.
I was wondering if there is anybody out there who could advise me on what to do next appart from change these pins for titanium ones.
Thanks
Tam
