Recumbent - Actionbent seat broken...Again

Hey guys,
My seat broke again, the same place. I spoke with Steve at actionbent, well spoke is a nice term. I told me " I don't know how much farther up your ass I can go" and " I don't give a flying **** about the forums or what people say on them."
They're going to send me a new seat, great just so it will break again in two months. I'm going to take it immediately to the welders and get it built up a bit more.

After this incident I will never ever buy anything from Actionbent or recommend their product to anyone ever again. I'm going to also call and speak with Randy about this. He should not employ people with such terrible communication skills or customer service skills.

Mike

Hey guys,
My seat broke again, the same place. I spoke with Steve at actionbent, well spoke is a nice term. I told me " I don't know how much farther up your ass I can go" and " I don't give a flying **** about the forums or what people say on them."
They're going to send me a new seat, great just so it will break again in two months. I'm going to take it immediately to the welders and get it built up a bit more.

After this incident I will never ever buy anything from Actionbent or recommend their product to anyone ever again. I'm going to also call and speak with Randy about this. He should not employ people with such terrible communication skills or customer service skills.

Mike

Gee Mike, everybody tells me just how great these bikes are :rolleyes: . I think your post says it all, and proves a point, but Nooobody wants too listen, I've said it before and I' ll keep saying it, There bikes are low end stuff and not of good quality. Spending a dime now so you can save a dollor only too spend two later isn't a good deal, and that's what you do with AB. You get what you pay for.

Hey Mike, Which bike did you have

Ric, If I hadn't bought my Jetstream II USS, I would not have been able to buy a recumbent. I paid 625 dollars for my bike and it was already on the outside edge of my budget. This is the only problem I've had with my bike. Every machine has a flaw, no matter how lovely the design is. With some assistance from my friendly neighborhood welder-man I'll get this fixed up in a jiffy and the problem will be fixed. Despite how much I try to will more money into my bank account somehow it just doesn't work. Actionbent did give me the ability to afford a recumbent, despite their service flaws. Some of us just can't afford Bacchettas,Catrikes, or Greenspeeds.

Also note that this broken seat issue is a known flaw on older metal-frame seats. The newer FRP seats that ActionBent and I use on our bikes have no such flaw, and are actually quite sturdy.

Good to hear. I will make sure to get the FRP seat instead. With the open cell pad.

Ric, If I hadn't bought my Jetstream II USS, I would not have been able to buy a recumbent. I paid 625 dollars for my bike and it was already on the outside edge of my budget. This is the only problem I've had with my bike. Every machine has a flaw, no matter how lovely the design is. With some assistance from my friendly neighborhood welder-man I'll get this fixed up in a jiffy and the problem will be fixed. Despite how much I try to will more money into my bank account somehow it just doesn't work. Actionbent did give me the ability to afford a recumbent, despite their service flaws. Some of us just can't afford Bacchettas,Catrikes, or Greenspeeds.

Please don't get me wrong, what you want to ride, buy or want to budget for your recumbent is up to you. I've rode with people who own everything from AB to Greenspeed to Homebuilts. I don't believe there is a bike or recumbent on the market today that a person can't purchase if they have the desire to do so. Although I have too admit the lady at the Credit Union thought I was nuts when I took the loan out for my GTT :) There are ways it just comes down to how and what your willing to spend.

If you want an AB goe for it, but don't complain as so many have when as with you, you go through seats that are faulty or when you get the bike it has parts missing, or things don't line up correctly when you try to assemble the thing or frames are bent and so on, and then try and tell me that ABs compare to anything else out there on the market ( I don't think so ) and don't chastise me as I feel so many others have for what I own and ride, I've paid for all my toys and that's the point, and I've said it before you get what you pay for, and please I'm not getting down on you, or your post or trying to start a war here, it's just the subject that ticks me off.

Hey guys,
My seat broke again, the same place. I spoke with Steve at actionbent, well spoke is a nice term. I told me " I don't know how much farther up your ass I can go..."

After this incident I will never ever buy anything from Actionbent or recommend their product to anyone ever again. I'm going to also call and speak with Randy about this. He should not employ people with such terrible communication skills or customer service skills.

:eek:

Mike, thanks for posting this. I don't blame you a bit for not doing future business with a company that treated you so unprofessionally.

I pressed Actionbent about my broken seat, they sent me an FRP seat at no charge. I gave Randy high marks for that. But there is no excuse the customer service rep treated Mike that way.

(Note: in another thread, I mentioned I had modified my standard metal framed seat. This is because after trying the FRP seat, I found the older design more comfortable. So I bypassed the metal frame issue by attaching the plastic seat bottom directly to the frame using the mounting brackets that came with the FRP seat. The metal frame still does it's job of keeping the seat structure solid, but now the metal frame no longer takes the stress of my weight or road vibration. I'll be posting more info about how this holds up in the future.)

Can you post some pictures of your seat-mod or an illustration? I'm confused about what you did.
Thanks
Mike

In the past, I've recommended first-timers buy used, and I'll do it again. All you cost-conscious buyers can check forums and get on lists. For instance, I have postings in my mailbox right now for a homebuilt 'lightweight aluminum quad' for half an AB price. That'd be perfect for the uber-geek at heart! Likewise some poor widow has been trying to sell her deceased husband's homebuilt for several months. Then there's the Bike-E for $350, the Rocket, a couple of trikes... you get the idea. They're not all at AB prices but many are. Mind you, those are just local listings for the metro Detroit area. Widening the search to the whole country would make it much more likely you'd find something you like for a good price. If given the choice between buying a cheap bike or buying a lightly-used name-brand bike for cheap, well, that was my choice when I bought my first V-Rex and I've never been sorry for going the way I did.

Can you post some pictures of your seat-mod or an illustration? I'm confused about what you did.
Thanks
Mike
PM me if you want clarification on this:

The standard seat is made up of the metal frame and a plastic "shell" (basically what you sit on) under the foam padding and the vinyl upholstry. All you need is a "seat back bracket" (I call it a "mounting bracket") with mounting screws & washers* (see link below, FRP seat assembly instructions**) from Actionbent, the rest is from the hardware store: about a dozen small wood screws (about 3/8" long,) two thin metal reinforcement plates (about 1/16" thick, 2" X 3 1/2",) a flathead screwdriver, a Phillips head screw driver (for wood screws,) and an electric drill.

(*NOTE: if you don't get washers from Actionbent, get them at the hardware store.)

(**FRP seat assembly instructions:

http://actionbent.com/ASSEMBLY_MANUAL/FRP_Seat.htm)

Remove the seat from the bike. Using the flathead screwdriver, remove the heavy-duty staples from the bottom of the seat, starting where the seat frame attaches to the bike, working toward the nose of the seat. This will allow you to peel back the vinyl upholstry at the seat base only, so you can see the foam padding. Keep the vinyl upholstry intact so you can re-cover the seat later.

Under the foam padding is the plastic seat "shell." Carefully peel back the foam padding to expose the plastic seat shell, keeping the foam intact, also. Locate the exact placement position underneath the seat where you want the mounting bracket to go. Make sure the new mounting bracket is positioned as close as possible to where the previous mounting hardware was located. (The part of the mounting bracket that attaches to the bike is curved; make sure the curve points back towards the rear of the bike.) Using the mounting bracket as a template, mark the plastic seat shell exactly where the two mounting holes will be drilled underneath the seat. Remove the mounting bracket.

Using a small drill bit, carefully drill two holes where marked, being very careful to drill through the plastic, but not into the foam padding. The foam padding should be restrained far enough away from the seat shell so the drill won't touch it when it comes through the other side of the shell. Follow with a 5/16" drill bit. Again, using the mounting bracket as a template, repeat this procedure to drill two holes into each of the two thin metal reinforcement plates, centered as much as possible.

Sandwich the plastic seat shell between the two metal reinforcement plates, one on top, the other on the bottom. Place the mounting bracket on the second reinforcement plate under the seat (the curved part of the mounting bracket points toward the rear of the bike.) Screw the mounting screws downward through the top of the seat shell and the two reinforcement plates (making sure the washers are in place between the top reinforcement plate and the screw heads,) and into the threaded holes of the mounting bracket. Tighten as firmly as possible without overtightening or damaging the screw threads (a little grease on the threads can help.)

Reposition the foam pad over the seat shell. Reposition the vinyl upholstry over the foam and the seat. To fasten the upholstry back down, stretch the vinyl tightly in place with one hand***, and drill one tiny starter hole through the vinyl and into the plastic seat shell (being very careful not to run the drill into the foam on the other side, which might twist and rip the foam.) Still holding the vinyl in place, screw a small wood screw into the hole to fasten the vinyl down. Repeat this fastening procedure all around the seat base, stretching one section of vinyl upholstry at a time over the spot where it belongs, drilling a small starter hole, and screwing the vinyl down with a wood screw, until the upholstry is in place.

(***NOTE: there is a small plastic fastening strip used to hold the vinyl down which runs around the perimeter of the inside of the base of the seat. This plastic strip must also be held in place over the vinyl as you stretch the vinyl back in place, and when you drill each starter hole, you must drill through this plastic strip so that the wood screws will fasten this strip down over the vinyl.)

The main idea is to let the plastic shell of the seat, which is surrounded by the metal frame, take the shock from road vibration, instead of transmitting it to the "weak underbelly" of the metal frame. I don't think the plastic shell will fail, it's very strong, while somewhat flexible. Also, the reinforcement plates on either side of the plastic shell, along with the mounting bracket, should keep the screws tightly in place.

I'll let you know how well it holds up, I'll be checking it every so often for signs of wear.

I was just crusing the recumbent groups on Yahoo and ran across this newly formed group, started Nov. 20th 2006 http://sports.groups.yahoo.com/group/Actionbentcomplaints/ There are actually three of these groups for you owners of ABs.

I was just crusing the recumbent groups on Yahoo and ran across this newly formed group, started Nov. 20th 2006 http://sports.groups.yahoo.com/group/Actionbentcomplaints/ There are actually three of these groups for you owners of ABs.
I signed up on this Yahoo group so I could read messages from AB owners with complaints. After signing up, I discovered that including me, there is only one other person who is a member, and there are no complaints or messages listed.

I am always reading with interest the pros and cons regarding Actionbent. I also bought from them because of price. I was intending on buying a carbon Trek, lower end for about $1500, but decided to go recumbent after scaring the pants off of myself on a mountain pass on my old aluminum Trek. I took a chance on AB with the LWB Manta Ray, and have been riding since July without problems, other than my own squirreliness (is that a word) on the bent. As far as my own experience, I haven't had any problems, the retro styling is kinda cool, and other than getting a rear rack installed that took some engineering, the bike has been great. Perhaps I will have problems later on, but right now I'm very happy with it. The dual mirrors that I had installed look pretty good too. No seat bracket problems yet, and I weigh 220 pounds. Is the problem more with the SWB models?

The Manta has a completely different seat configuation and mounting than the other AB bikes. Different ball game!

............jim

My seat broke also and I'v heard of others braking. The best thing to do is get epoxy putty, warm the can before using it or it will be very difficult to get out. and if you want to read about what else there is to fix on this bike, read this: http://funnyfarmart.com/actionbent.htm or this: http://www.actionbent.blogspot.com

They were rude to me also and I'm sure they would not sell me anything agian after writing this article that was in Recumbent cyclist news.





Hey guys,
My seat broke again, the same place. I spoke with Steve at actionbent, well spoke is a nice term. I told me " I don't know how much farther up your ass I can go" and " I don't give a flying **** about the forums or what people say on them."
They're going to send me a new seat, great just so it will break again in two months. I'm going to take it immediately to the welders and get it built up a bit more.

After this incident I will never ever buy anything from Actionbent or recommend their product to anyone ever again. I'm going to also call and speak with Randy about this. He should not employ people with such terrible communication skills or customer service skills.

Mike

Hey, they all have flaws. My EZ Sport's handlebars were 4.5 inches too short and the wrist angles were all wrong. I had to have new ones bent up the way I wanted them. Cost; $220.00. Then I had to recable for the longer bars. It's just the way it is. However, it does pay to know someone who is good at metal fabrication and welding. Handy folks they are. bk

Oh, MAN... who dreged this old post back up??? Simple fix... call Actionbent and they will either: 1. replace the seat at no cost within the 3 year warrantee period, or 2. make you a great offer on the FRP (fiberglass/plastic) upgrade seat. It may well be that Actionbent has extended the warrantee of the stock metal seats (used mostly on older/cheaper bikes) since they do have a history of cracking.

Disclaimer: I do not work for nor receive any compensation from Actionbent. I am an active USER FORUM MEMBER of the Actionbent Yahoo group where it seems ALL actionbent gripes are aired. For an importer, Actionbent is still an impessive company. As a technical support company... go to the forum!

If you want an AB go for it, but don't complain when things go wrong, when you go through seats that are faulty or when you get the bike it has parts missing, or things don't line up correctly when you try to assemble the thing or frames are bent and so on.
The reason the people (Actionbent personnel) are rude is because they know what they sell is a inferior product and they don't want to deal with the public, they just want the money and could care less about the product they sell. There feeling about the whole situation is when you deal with Actionbent you get what you pay for.

It's a bit harsh, but Ric is essentially correct. Most people who get Actionbents know they're getting a cut-rate bike at a cut-rate price, and when problems arise they understand that they should expect to deal with it themselves. One reason AB is cheap is because you're not paying a dealer to handle your problems. If you want a refined product with better warranty support, etc, expect to pay more for it.

It's a bit harsh, but Ric is essentially correct. Most people who get Actionbents know they're getting a cut-rate bike at a cut-rate price, and when problems arise they understand that they should expect to deal with it themselves. One reason AB is cheap is because you're not paying a dealer to handle your problems. If you want a refined product with better warranty support, etc, expect to pay more for it.

This is a problem with the bent community in general. I read post after post on forum after forum about the lack of entry level priced bents. Well they are out there, BUT then I see post after post complaining about "The poor quality of the components". What do you guys want? Full Campy and titanium for $299.00? If you want to see cheap go to X-mart and buy a Xagna. And yet they have no problem selling them by the 1000's. No dealer support at all, assembled by someone who probably hasn't a clue what they are doing. Well they do come with a warranty and X-mart will probably give you some kind of a refund (if you kept the receipt) but only because they are so big you really don't count for much and they just want you to go away.

Even entry level bents are not cheap, but if the bent community would be realistic and stop bad mouthing the manufacturers (who are doing the best that they can) more people just might buy into the bent thing. More sales = better prices.

YOU WANT TO SEE SOME REAL CHANGES ? Get on USCF's case about their rules excluding bents in racing. Racing drives the market. Would Trek be as popular if Lance hadn't won the TDF riding one? There is not much of a bent racing community because races for bents are few and far between. Not every high school kid who lines up on Sunday morning will go on to win the TDF, but if Lance hadn't had the local races to win he would have never won the TDF 7 times. We all sing the value of the Recumbent, but since the 30's we have been banned by UCI and so never have been able to show our stuff.

Couldn't have said it better.


This is a problem with the bent community in general. I read post after post on forum after forum about the lack of entry level priced bents. Well they are out there, BUT then I see post after post complaining about "The poor quality of the components". What do you guys want? Full Campy and titanium for $299.00? If you want to see cheap go to X-mart and buy a Xagna. And yet they have no problem selling them by the 1000's. No dealer support at all, assembled by someone who probably hasn't a clue what they are doing. Well they do come with a warranty and X-mart will probably give you some kind of a refund (if you kept the receipt) but only because they are so big you really don't count for much and they just want you to go away.

Even entry level bents are not cheap, but if the bent community would be realistic and stop bad mouthing the manufacturers (who are doing the best that they can) more people just might buy into the bent thing. More sales = better prices.

YOU WANT TO SEE SOME REAL CHANGES ? Get on USCF's case about their rules excluding bents in racing. Racing drives the market. Would Trek be as popular if Lance hadn't won the TDF riding one? There is not much of a bent racing community because races for bents are few and far between. Not every high school kid who lines up on Sunday morning will go on to win the TDF, but if Lance hadn't had the local races to win he would have never won the TDF 7 times. We all sing the value of the Recumbent, but since the 30's we have been banned by UCI and so never have been able to show our stuff.

Hey, they all have flaws. My EZ Sport's handlebars were 4.5 inches too short and the wrist angles were all wrong. I had to have new ones bent up the way I wanted them. Cost; $220.00.

RANS uber-adjustable bars are less than a hundred. They wouldn't have worked?

...bla...bla...bla...

.ditto.

http://www.bikesnob.com/images/bike_snob.jpg x2

[couldn't resist!] :p

Well said, Leaky Duck.

In the past, I've recommended first-timers buy used, and I'll do it again....
Buying used makes sense for almost everyone. You save a fortune, often you get practically new equipment -- particularly with bents. Many 40 somethings buy a bike, ride it a few hundred miles (or less), and then dump it at a huge discount.

I have two bents, a Catrike and a Challenge Seiran -- both bought used. I think the Cat must have had about 150 miles on it. The factory tires looked virtually new, and I paid the same as I would have for an AB. The Seiran weighs the same as a carbon Bacchetta Aero, looks better, and I paid about $3K less. That bike was also in mint condition when I got it.

A great used bike can almost always be had for the same price or less than a new cheap bike.

http://www.bikesnob.com/images/bike_snob.jpg x2


No doubt about it, I like nice stuff. But I get what I can afford, which is typically used. I don't whine that what I want costs too much, and I don't get something cheap and then complain it's not high-enough quality to suit my tastes. Heck, an AB is high quality compared to the bike I used for riding around the campus at Hilly Hundred this year:

http://i38.photobucket.com/albums/e135/blazingpedals/bike%20pics/J-Rex.jpg

Taking a close look at that bike (and the build site HERE (http://www.biketcba.org/TRICORR/projects/hiracer/junkbike.html)) I could swear that's an Actionbent FRP seat... no?

It's an Optima seat, patched up after showing cracks while on my Baron. The rear/sprint braces are mounted by drilling a hole through the ribs and attaching with big steel bolts. Probably stronger than the Optima method, but pretty heavy. It started as a concept bike, and I wouldn't want to ride it long distances, but I think the experiment was a success and I may make a follow-up someday.

I like the bike... maybe go for a mid-drive in the *spare* bottom bracket hole to simplify the boom and clean up the chainrings.