[QUOTE=Louutah;14286317]
Originally Posted by
halfspeed
My friend had a rear derailleur hanger trashed in a crash in a race. Between Trek and his LBS it was fixed for next to nothing. You may see no value in that, but he sure did.
Your friend "crashed", broke something on his bike and worked to get it fixed under warranty? he is what is wrong with America....not taking responsibilitiy for ones own actions and expecting someone else to foot the bill.
Of course you will tell me that Trek was happy to cover it and "crashing" is covered by their warranty.............customer service at its finest.
It wasn't a warranty repair, it's the normal service Trek provides for its Madones with non-replaceable derailleur hangers. I'm not surprised that it's incomprehensible to someone who sees no value in a bike other than the aggregate component costs, but ongoing support is part of the calculation that companies make in bringing their product to market and purchasers make in buying decisions. You're perfectly free to value that at zero and buy disposable products, just understand that not everyone else feels the same way and is driven solely by price.
As a side note, I've seen a lot of hysterical responses to anyone who might argue that there might be real reasons why decisions other than Bikes Direct might make sense, but questioning patriotism is a whole new level of weird.