Over the last few years that I have been trying to pay attention, there has been a fairly significant level of consolidation in the bicycling related industries. I may not have all of these right, but I seem to remember:
- North Castle Partners, owners of Bike Nashbar purchasing Performance (who had previously purchased and closed Supergo).
- Pacific buying Schwinn, Mongoose, GT and others.
- Bell Sports buying Blackburn (who now has electronics and trainers in addition to the racks and pumps so I imagine they bought out a couple of other companies. Bell Sports and all the subsidiaries are owned by Easton).
Replacing A Pump
At work we have a cage in the parking garage that provides more secure parking for bicycles. When the cage was built three years ago I asked a couple of regular riders to pitch in a few bucks and went to the LBS. I came back with a Blackburn Track Pump. The pump served us well, but the presta portion of the dual head has worn out.
Thinking I could buy a replacement head I called Bell Sports, the parent company of Blackburn. After explaining what I needed I was told that heads for that pump were no longer available. I told the customer service rep. that I would just go buy a new pump...
"Wait.", she said. "All our pumps carry a lifetime warranty, please hold on for a minute." When she came back on the phone she said "I have ordered a new Air Tower pump as a replacement for you."
She collected my mailing address, and eight days later the bike cage became the home for a new Blackburn pump.
I guarantee you, every opportunity I have, I will think twice before choosing another manufacturers product over one built by Blackburn.
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3 comments:
Awesome advice! I bought a Blackburn pump from backcountryoutlet.com that isn't working properly after only 2 months of use. I will definitely be calling them and hopefully getting my pump fixed! Thanks GeekCyclist
Thanks for the comment Michael. I have had great luck with the customer service at backcounty.com this weekend as well.
Post another comment when you get a response back from blackburn.
I know this post is from over a year ago, but I wanted to echo your positive experience with Blackburn/Easton/Bell customer service.
The plastic head of my Blackburn Mammoth 2-Stage mini-pump got stripped out when I cross-threaded the aluminum fitting when switching between Schraeder and Presta.
I called the customer service number, pressed the button for warranty service, and was *immediately* connected to a human being. I explained the issue, she took my name and mailing address, and said that a replacement head would arrive in 7-10 days.
Quick, easy, and painless. I will look to the Blackburn/Easton/Bell family of cycling products now whenever I can.
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