Re: Bosco Bars

[Peter Morgano]

I haven't ridden alot with them, anyone experience this first hand? I did have them on my AHH for about 30 miles before I sold it and I am at 250lbs, not experience any issues personally.

On Jun 18, 2012 6:32 PM, "Rivendell" <jo...@rivbike.com> wrote:

Hi Bosco Bar Buyer-Rider,

We’ve ridden our own Bosco bars cruising on smooth roads and bouncing down bumpy trails without incident, but two riders have complained that their bar slips in the stem, and that’s what this letter is about.
We don’t want, and NITTO especially doesn’t want any faint whiff of a problem, and so want to call this to your attention, and offer some options going forward.

Option 1: Return the bar for replacement (you’ll have to wait a bit).
.
Being riders and bike-workers ourselves, of course we know that it’s not a simple matter of boxing up the bar. You may have to strip stuff off the bar; maybe even cork grips. You may have paid a local guy to rig up your bars, and now you’ll have to do that again. There’s a limit to the complication, but even minimally, it is not nothing. We recognize that and will compensate you a way that seems fair to us.

If you want a new bar and can wait a month or six weeks for it, do this:

1.      Send us back your bar. We’re not going to send you a box or packing material; you’re going to have to do that part yourself. You pay the freight, but before you let your blood boil, read further and see how we’ll compensate you.
(Alternatively, send us a digital image of the bars sawed in half. This would be a shame, since the bars are still super, but it’s an option, and no points off for taking it.)
2.      When we get the new Bosco bars in, we’ll replace them. It may be a month. It may be six weeks. It may be less than that, but give us up to 6 weeks before calling, please.
3.      If you also bought and glued on cork grips, we’ll replace them. Other grips will likely be removable without destroying them.
4.      For your trouble and our own penalty, we’ll offer you a $70 credit on your account.


Option 2: Refund (not much waiting)
 Want to go this way? Send us the bar. We’ll refund you with a check or credit. If you want a check, we’ll make it for $20 more than your purchase price. If you want a credit, we’ll make it for $40 more than your purchase price.

Option 3: Keeping it.
Since there is nothing defective about the bar, and it’s simply a matter of slight slippage if it’s not tight enough and you come down on the grips hard, this is a viable option. And it’s not a dangerous one. The bars are strong. If you ride heavy and lean hard and bouncy on the bars AND don’t snug them enough, the bar may move. Big deal---you loosen it, re-set the angle, and snug ‘er up again.

The thing with bicycles and mechanics is that anybody with a wrench can get in the game. Some people are careful, some are the opposite. You learn not to break bolts by breaking or stripping a few, and you learn to tighten enough by not tightening enough. It’s really the only way. But IN the learning there is risk, and we want to eliminate as much of that as possible.

You know yourself better than we know you. If you’ve greased the bar bulge or stem, we’d say wipe ‘em off. In the old days, and even in some books, the word was to grease  the connections. We don’t do that anymore, unless there’s a creak, and creaks are rare.

There are about 80 Bosco bars out there now. Statistically, we expect five of the 80 customers to think our offer isn’t generous enough. We understand that ideally, we’d be able to make this happen for you while you slept or at ice cream; but that is impossible—and so we’ve come up with options that sound fair to us. If none sound fair to you, please contact us directly and let us know what we can do, and we’ll try again.

We’d like to wrap this up soon, so we’re asking you to respond by June 25.
But why not now? Think it over. All options are winners. If you delay, you may forget.



If you choose to send back a bar for cash or credit send to

BOSCO RUBBE
Rivendell Bicycle Works
2040 N. Main St. #19
Walnut Creek, Ca 94596

Include your name and if possible invoice number from your bosco order. Please also write a note explaining which option you’d like and any other pertinent info.

Also include your shipping address. There will be no invoices, just sticking labels on the boxes.

Please send responses to jo...@rivbike.com.



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[Marc Irwin]

I had a problem with it under certain conditions, like if I got clumsy and leaned all my weight on the ends of the bars.  I wasn't too surprised.
The sweep on those bars creates a lot of leverage.  I have retightened them a couple of times.  The last time, I increased the leverage of the Allen wrench by using a steel tube over it to give me 2 feet of additional leverage.  I was able to ease another 1/2 turn to the bolt beyond what I could by hand.  I doubt that I will have any other problem.  Like I said, I wasn't surprised those bars create a lot of leverage and simply need to be tightened more than others. The comfort is well worth the extra turn of a wrench.   If I was worried about it, I would go to the Bullmoose.

Marc

[Peter Morgano]

I guess next time I offer them up in with use my ratchet set to get more torque than I usually put into bike stuff.  I doubt it will be an issue long term.  Hate to waste an awesome set of bars.

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[Garth]

My opinion, one should not need to resort to "extra torque" in order to get the bar to stay in place ! Proper torque is one thing, extra is not better !

If the bar is slipping from not being the proper diameter , ie some "defect" , if one uses a stem with a open face 2 or 4 bolt design, this issue is moot as these stems are not dependent on a perfectly fitting bar.  Yes, I know many are attached to their traditional stems, but it is an option. I for one was a "traditionalist", but got over that and love using stems with open faces. I've used my Albatross bars with a 26.0 stem and zero issues for years. Like the Bosco, these can produce a lot of leverage.

Or, try shimming your current stem with some aluminium can shims.

So, if your bars are slipping, don't just excuse a possible defect in the bar and rationalise it by thinking your making it slip. Proper bar and stem fits do not slip.

[Bill M.]

I doubt many Boscos have been installed with a torque wrench.  Does anyone have a torque spec for a Nitto stem bolt anyway?  What is the 'proper' torque?

A little friction paste (aka assembly paste or carbon paste) might be all that's needed to keep the Boscos in place.  If they are so loose as to need a shim then they are truly off-spec and should be recalled.  I doubt that's the case.

Bill

[Mark Chandler]

This stuff will usually stop slipping components:

http://www.universalcycles.com/shopping/product_details.php?id=30551 

[Robert F. Harrison]

Unfortunately my bars arrived well before my bike will arrive. I've got a Hunq shipping July that I'd planned to put the bars on. That'll be well after the deadline of June 25. I'm undecided on whether I should take one of the options or simply let it go and hope for the best. It sounds like most folks can get them tight with some extra tightening. 

Maybe I'll go with the option of forgetting, then shrug and get over it when my bike arrives. :-)

Aloha, 

Bob

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[Marc Irwin]

Bob, 

    I would just call John and let him know, they are really reasonable to work with.  I don't have a problem since I re-tightened them on my Hillborne, but  if I wanted to use them on my Hunq for any rough stuff, I would consider the Bullmoose option, extra weight, extra leverage, rough terrain...you see my point.

Marc

Bob

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