Warning on Rans Rad-Locs

Today, at approximately 4 pm, I rode my new V-Rex into a WalMart parking lot, just passing through,
taking a short-cut home (1 mile to go) after a leisurely 20-mile spin. For the second time ever, I
hit a pot hole bad enough to knock my clip-on tail light out of its little homemade holder, so when
I heard the light skittering across the pavement I turned around, dodged some traffic, scooped it
up, put it in my pocket, and resolved to fix the flimsy holder when I got home. I had forgotten to
downshift far enough to accelerate easily out of traffic again. I had to mash my pedals good and
hard. That's when it happened.

Suddenly, my seat slide back with a loud "SNAP!" Luckily, my feet hit the ground to break my fall,
if only because I could no longer reach the pedals. I briskly walked the bike to safety, looked it
over, and couldn't believe what I saw.

The seat pan attaches to the urethene Rad-Loc assembly with a big hinge, the size of a door hinge
but twice as wide. That hinge is made of thin aluminum. Mine is mangled almost beyond recognition.
The metal is fatigued and ripped completely in two along the line of the screw holes that affix it
to the bottom of the seat.

Obviously, aluminum is nowhere near sturdy enough to tollerate the stress of my pedalstrokes -- and
I'm no Hercules.

I called Calhoun just a few minutes before their closing time, and they'll be closed all day
tomorrow, so I won't get any service or satisfaciton until Tuesday. But I did find out that all
Rad-Locs have the aluminum hinge, and I suspect that this is a common problem, else why would they
have a drawer full of spare Rad-Locs?

This is a new bike. It's a 2002, but I bought it just last month on closeout, and I've only put 160
miles on it. I did wipe out on ice once, but it wasn't even bad enough to scuff the seat cover. In
retrospect, I think there have been signs of metal fatigue for several days leading up to this. I've
felt strange little "clunks" on occasions when I pedaled hard, which I thought were due to my wobbly
underseat padlock bracket, but they were really "clunkier" than a mere wobbling weight. It never
occurred to me to inspect the seat hinge. Why would it? Bikes are supposed to be built to ride!

Has anyone else experienced a catastropic failure of this hinge? Does anyone else see signs of metal
fatigue on their's? I'm hopping mad about this right now. The hinge is really, really, ridiculously
under-engineered.

 

Hugh Johnson wrote: [...]
> Has anyone else experienced a catastropic failure of this hinge? Does anyone else see signs of
> metal fatigue on their's? I'm hopping mad about this right now. The hinge is really, really,
> ridiculously under-engineered.

This was discussed some last season. The first generation of these were subject to failure. IIRC
heat treating was tried and that didn't help, so now there is a heavier, machined hinge available. I
don't think it will be a problem to get this replaced NC.

John Riley

 

John Riley wrote:

>
>
> Hugh Johnson wrote: [...]
>> Has anyone else experienced a catastropic failure of this hinge? Does anyone else see signs of
>> metal fatigue on their's? I'm hopping mad about this right now. The hinge is really, really,
>> ridiculously under-engineered.
>
> This was discussed some last season. The first generation of these were subject to failure. IIRC
> heat treating was tried and that didn't help, so now there is a heavier, machined hinge available.
> I don't think it will be a problem to get this replaced NC.
>
> John Riley

Yea, well this NEVER should have occurred. The part fails, rider hits his head, sues Rans, Rans is
history. Sounds like typical corporate complacency. "Test it? Naaaaa. We just KNOW."

mc
--
Replace "crap" with "warnerm" in my email addr

 

"sues RANS" this is why nobody wants to do business in our country, and maybe killed off Bikee. This
country sucks when it comes to sueing. Shit happens, and if a company stands behind the repair, an
didn't do something totally negligent that should be good enough. IF we ever lose a "RANS" type
recumbent manufacturer, God help us all.

Mike Warner wrote:
> John Riley wrote:
>
>
>>
>>Hugh Johnson wrote: [...]
>>
>>>Has anyone else experienced a catastropic failure of this hinge? Does anyone else see signs of
>>>metal fatigue on their's? I'm hopping mad about this right now. The hinge is really, really,
>>>ridiculously under-engineered.
>>
>>This was discussed some last season. The first generation of these were subject to failure. IIRC
>>heat treating was tried and that didn't help, so now there is a heavier, machined hinge available.
>>I don't think it will be a problem to get this replaced NC.
>>
>>John Riley
>
>
> Yea, well this NEVER should have occurred. The part fails, rider hits his head, sues Rans, Rans is
> history. Sounds like typical corporate complacency. "Test it? Naaaaa. We just KNOW."
>
> mc

 

Funny how everyone hates attorneys until they are the victim of negilgence. Then they seem to do a
180 and the shark becomes their best friend...........