Wow, it has been a long time since I have had time to blog. It has been a BUSY year here at NEXT. So much happening on so many fronts, I don't even have time to write about SCS anymore... gosh I miss that! We've been busy launching our road wheels, followed by road disc wheels, testing prototype MTB product for 2018, and even producing one of the lightest disc time trial wheels on the market! Oh, we also put our considerable financial weight behind the fantastic CCB UCI road team and providing them with road racing and training wheels. Phew!
All of that has delayed my writing about our Rim Replacement Plan. I think this is really one of the most unique things about NEXT. We are a wheel company bred from racing. We participate in and love all forms of bike racing, and starting the club was really based upon supporting the growth of RACING. Riding bikes is great, and popular, and we love riding bikes, but racing bikes is special and unique and something we want to help to promote.
What does that have to do with the Rim Replacement Plan, you ask? Well, racing breaks stuff. Racing is expensive. Race bikes and entries and gear is expensive. Our wheels are racing wheels and are admittedly a pretty serious investment, as is any quality carbon wheelset. But then you take these beautiful precision built wheels and run them recklessly over bombed out roads and trails and cyclocross races while seeing starts and tunnel vision from oxygen debt, all while grimly clinging to the wheel in front of you irresponsibly closely.
BOOM. You have just run over a landmine. You scrape yourself and your uber expensive bike off the ground. Oh man, your boutique custom racing kit is shredded ($$$). Your bars are bent and the shift levers are roached ($$$). Saddle torn ($$$). Looks like you cracked your carbon fork as well ($$$). Oh dear, someone's foot went right through your front wheel, and then you slid into a curb. Your rim is smickled. That's not gonna buff out. $$$.... BUT WAIT! We feel your pain. Racing is hard on equipment and equipment is expensive to replace. We don't want to make that burden worse.
Enter the Rim Replacement Policy: for $250 dollars, we will replace a broken rim and send it back to you in a sweet NEXT Cycling heirloom quality box (we really love our custom wheel boxes, that happened this summer as well). Is this an insurance plan you buy when you purchase the wheels, you ask? Nope. You just buy the Rim Replacement item AFTER YOU BREAK YOUR WHEEL. Does the damage need to be proven to be a defect in workmanship or manufacturing? Nope. Any breakage, for any reason. But what if the rim broke in a crash, clearly not the intended use of the wheels? Then it doesn't apply, right? Nope. Any breakage, for any reason. Certainly though this is only valid for the original owner of wheels, right? Nope. Any breakage, for any reason, for anybody.
"So wait, let me get this straight - any breakage, for any reason, at any time, by any owner, and I don't have to make up a plausible sob story of how I was JRA and the wheel broke, even though I was being super careful and not doing anything irresponsible like, say, racing thru trails on my road bike, at night?" Hmmm, let me think.... nope, no problem. Any breakage, for any reason, for anybody.
How does it work? You break it, you buy it. Simple. Break your wheel, buy the Rim Replacement item in the store. Shoot us an email to let us know it's coming. We may ask the context because we like to improve our product and this is great data. You get the wheel boxed up (hopefully you kept your slick NEXT custom box that the wheels came in) and ship it to us however you like. That shipping cost is on you and not included in the price we charge. We get the wheel and replace the rim with the same rim, or the current version of that rim (logos change, models get updated, so on and so forth). Then, and this is the best part, WE SHIP IT BACK TO YOU FOR FREE (in a slick NEXT custom wheel box).
How the heck can we do that? That makes no financial sense? Well, we can do it because we subsidize it (big word, google it). Consider it like sponsoring your rims. We eat part of the cost of every rim replacement because we want to support the racing community and we understand that racing breaks stuff and you don't want to have to worry about it. It is as simple as that. In a small way, we are sponsoring every rider on NEXT wheels. It's cool, we are happy to do it. Really, it makes us happy to make your bad day better. You're very welcome.
-J