Hey folks, well I had quite the scare last night. The bolt on my seat
post that secures the saddle sheared off right in the middle of the
intersection of Venice and Arlington. I came down hard with my chest
on the bare seatpost, but luckily I kept enough control of the bike
to not go down to the asphalt.

I know the general opinion of Supergo within this forum, but still
this bike is less than a year old. I would think that it's Supergo's
responsibility to replace the seatpost and my saddle that got ran
over in the intersection. They of course say they are only responsible
for getting me another stock saddle.
For crying out loud I could have been killed if there had been a car right
behind me. I would love some opinions on this dilemna.

Thanks,

Marcus.

Glad to hear that you're ok. I would also be pretty scared if that happened to me.

You might want to talk to the CPSC. Supergo had to recall a bunch of defective handlbars last year, and published reports say there was only one documented failure.

http://www.recall-warnings.com/cpsc-...-04-04220.html

I'm a dedicated bottom feeder who buys a lot of my stuff from .com store blowout sales. But this definately sounds like a situation where a LBS purchase might have provided better support. Did you buy the completed bike from Supergo over the internet or through the mail? Or did you purchase it at a brick and mortor store? Or did you mail order the saddle as a seperate component? Your options, as well as your chances for a satisfactory resolution, depend on the answers to those questions.

If you bought in person I would definately go back to that store and show them what happened. If they value you as a customer, and most LBS's do, they should do all they can to make you happy.

If you mail ordered the saddle seperately send it back with a letter to customer service. From the sound of your post it sounds like it's useless anyway, so what could it hurt to try?

If you mail ordered the complete bike you should call and talk to someone, but they might demand you send the whole thing back (which would suck) just to put you off.

DanO

Product liability being what it is in this country they are very luck that you were not seriously injured. You may want to point this out to them if they continue to balk at replacing a relatively inexpensive part.

I have a couple of questions. Your scenario that you outlined in your message could have been a part failure or one of several other scenarios.

Was the bolt holding the seat over tightended or slightly loose? As either of these situations could cause undue stress on the bolt.

Was this a Ti bolt, as over tightended Ti bolts will stretch. I know from experience and have since gotten a torque wrench.

Have you bunny hopped anything and have come down hard on the seat?

Has the bike been crashed and the seat hit the pavement?

Was the clamp in the middle of the rails? If not then cantilevering the seat over the post would also cause undue stress on the rails and the bolt

If no to all of the above, then you would have a part failure.

The bolt wasn't overtightened, no torque wrench, but I certainly didn't crank it down too hard. I also try not to bunny hop too often with such a light road bike.

This was a steel bolt on their stock seatpost with the saddle close to the center of the rails. The bike has also never been crashed. The only thing I can think of is that I was 240 when I got the bike, but am now down to 210. But this is not acceptable to me as I asked if this was a problem when I purchased the bike and was told it was not. This is a 60cm frame that should be spec'd with parts for bigger riders. Yes, this is budget bike, but not a low-end dept. store bike. I have a feeling I will be going round and round with Supergo for some time to get this resolved.

I guess I should just be happy it didn't turn out much worse and maybe spend the extra in the future to get a more top end product. My only fear is that the more you spend the lighter the parts get, not the more durable.

Spend the extra money and get a Thomson post.. I've never heard of anyone breaking one of them. They're not *super* light and they're ridden by quite a few members here.

How'd you end up with your CHEST on the seat post? That's gotta be one helluva aero position.
Did you look at the broken piece to see how it sheared off?

I am glad that you did not get hurt. If you want a strong seatpost, easy to adjust, but not cheap, I would recommend a Bold Precision seatpost.

www.boldprecision.com

for pictures go to:

http://www.boldprecision.com/bicycle.htm#seatpost

It's a compact frame and I was just starting across the intersection, seated, and pushing a big gear, and then boom, next thing I know I'm sprawled on top of the frame. I recovered all of the pieces even the end of the bolt the next morning which had ended up in a pothole. The bolt wasn't bent or anything, just cracked straight across about 2mm from where it entered the retaining plate.

It's just so wierd as I messengered for years, bunny hopping pot holes, riding down stairs and never had a seat bolt break.