It's one of those things you read about but think just happen to other people... I was out for a local ride on Good Friday when I had the thump, thump, thump of the rear brake on the rim that usually means a broken spoke, not this time;
I reckoned i couldn't make it much worse,so I slackened the brake off and carried on with the ride, another 22 miles.
Being the Easter weekend I didn't get to ring SJS till Tuesday, I was quickly put through to Robin Thorn, established the bike had come from them and I was asked if it had been crashed, a reasonable question, certainly not an accusation. I was told to send it to them and they'd replace the shell. Received an email FOC invoice by email shortly after to return with it.
I was in no hurry and had a busy week so it wasn't till the following weekend I got it together to find a box and pack it up. Sent off Monday on the 48hr Parcelforce service. Wednesday lunchtime received a call on my answer machine from Shelly to say the wheel had arrived and was being sorted. Arrived back with me Thursday morning!!! It was away from me for half the time it took me to get it together to post
Shiny new shell and what looks like new spokes, the laser graphics look loads better than the blue and yellow label, though the dull plate that isn't part of the shell now looks a bit odd.
So Rohloff owners are a pretty small club anyway, replaced shells even more elite! Would I rather it didn't happen, of course. Considering it's always going to be a possibility that something mechanical can fail, I'm more than pleased with this level of service and lack of drama. It would be pretty impressive as a warranty repair, but it wasn't. I bought this bike in 2004, five and a half years ago, so well out side even the usual generous German warranty. I remain a satisfied Thorn customer.
