Warranty Replacements on Wear Item?

One of the given facts of owning a bike is that parts are going to wear out with use. While Muslims make a yearly pilgrimage to Mecca, cyclists take a yearly trip to the bike shop to replace things like chains, brake pads, and bearings. It only takes a look around any bike shop to realize how important wear items are to the cycling industry. Most shops will have countless drawers and skewers dedicated to all the different types of replacement parts needed. While it has always been a relatively small but reliable portion of business for shops, replacement wear items may not always stay this way. Over the last few years, I have seen more and more bike brands offer parts which would usually be considered wear items now being sold with lifetime warranties. Most notably, both Endro and Wolf Tool have come out with bottom brackets that have lifetime warranties. It will be interesting to see how the industry will adapt to these new trends.

It's not hard to understand why these companies are offering warranties like this. With an increase in the competition in the bike components space, all the products can start to look similar, with little things that a brand can do to stand out. Offering a warranty is often enough of a reason for customers to choose their product over a competitor.

This product strategy makes a lot of sense for bottom brackets because they have a reputation for wearing out and needing replacement. However, the process of servicing them is semi-complicated and requires specialty tools, so in reality, few customers will likely cash in on the warranty offer. In fact, Santa Cruz's bikes have included free replacement frame bearings, although few customers actually ever pursue this option.

It is funny to think that there are several types of products that we use every day that use the opposite strategy. For example, razor companies lose money when they sell a razor, but it buys them the opportunity to sell high-margin replacement blades to you in the future, and that's how they make their money.

I'm not sure if the aforementioned strategy would work with any cycling products… Maybe with a cheap drivetrain that uses a proprietary chain that is higher priced; kind of an interesting thought… On the other hand, the strategy that Santa Cruz, Endro, Wolf Tool, and others are using seems like a smart move. I would bet that the cost of providing warranty replacements is a better return on investment than most paid promotion campaigns. From the perspective of independent bike shops, it will be interesting to see how they figure out how to make these services profitable for them. After all, processing warranty claims and swapping bearings takes time, and I'm not sure how or who the shops should bill for this time. Hopefully, if this model of covering wear items under warranty becomes more common, the industry settles on a way to protect the shops who are actually working directly with the customers to make this strategy work.