[Shamis]

I just had a reminder today, not to freak out when I have to pay for shipping on items, when it's only $5-$15. So many vendors offer free shipping that we tend to get annoyed when we have to pay for it.

I have a Santa Cruz Reserve wheelset with I9 hubs. The rear hub has a lot of play, so I stripped it down thinking I would need to just replace the hub shell bearings. Turns out the bearings have no play, but the axle is moving inside the inner race of the bearings. I think this has been the case since they were new, but it has gotten to the point where I can feel it through the rear of the bike, as it is getting a little squirmy.

Emailed I9 and they were concerned enough to hear about this condition, that they would like me to send the wheel in for inspection and repair.

I'm in California and I9 is in North Carolina. Packed my wheel up in a box and went down to the post office. Cheapest option to ship the wheel was $69. Left there and went to my local UPS store and their cheapest option was $72. In all honestly, I think I can probably buy bearing and a replacement axle for cheaper and replace them myself.

Decided to email I9 to see if they will let me purchase a return shipping label through them, thinking it will be much cheaper using their business/volume discount. Hopefully they are open to this option. Otherwise, I'll just buy the parts...

 

[RBoardman]

Did you get the wheelset new?
Just blow a hole in the rims (which is super easy with (in my opinion) the worst high end carbon wheels you can buy). And get a new set in a day or two from SC.

 

[Shamis]

While I have no love for Santa Cruz bikes in general, I have had zero problems with these wheels other than the hub. And that is saying a lot since I have beat the **** out of these wheels and I weight 240-250lbs all day long. Drops, jumps, slams into the embankments.

Only mistake I made was spending the extra for I9 hubs, because I thought they were cool. I'd bet if I just went with 350's, i'd have no problem right now.

 

[hoolie]

Does Bikeflights save you any money?

 

[Shamis]

Does Bikeflights save you any money?

Wow, it does. Knocked it down to less than $30. Thanks for the tip! I thought they only did full bike shipments. I'll wait to see what i9 says and choose the best option

 

[Jayem]

Does Bikeflights save you any money?

Depends in a lot of cases, in the case of using it to ship a bike to the Prescott, AZ WOR from Anchorage (one of the busiest cargo hubs in the world BTW) it was going to be $150 one way and $250 for the return.

 

[5k bike 50cent legs]

You could also unlace the wheel and just send them the hub. Make sure the measure your spoke tension before and after you take off your tire, for reference when you re-lace it.

DT350's are hard to beat. Tried and true design.

 

[Shamis]

Good on Industry Nine. They emailed me a free shipping label this morning. Can't be that for customer service!

 

[mahgnillig]

It really gets on my nerves when companies charge $14 to ship something via UPS or FedEx that would cost less than $2 if they sent it USPS First Class. The cheaper and lighter the part, the more annoyed I get at overinflated shipping charges. Most of the time when this happens I just decide not to buy the item and look for something else, and I'm sure I'm not the only one. Any company that's overcharging in the era of free shipping is doing it wrong, and probably losing a lot of customers because if it.

 

[Shamis]

Have you actually been down to USPS to ship something lately? I really think it's dependent on how much shipping business said company is doing. Also, they are paying for a box and paying an employee to pull the part, package it, and arrange shipping.

They are also probably paying for some kind of productivity software in order to generate shipments. If not, then someone has to drive it to the post office.

Then to top it off, maybe USPS can't provide all the services that business requires, so they have to choose one evil shipping company to do business with...

All that costs money. It's why small businesses struggle so hard to make it

 

[Shamis]

So I did hear back from I9. Axle was out of round and slightly undersized. They fitted a new axle, shell bearings and a new freehub, as they seemed to think I wasn’t getting full engagement. Wheel should be back in a few days

 

[Francis Cebedo]

You could also unlace the wheel and just send them the hub. Make sure the measure your spoke tension before and after you take off your tire, for reference when you re-lace it.

DT350's are hard to beat. Tried and true design.

Unlace and relace... omg

That's doable but very time consuming and very risky. Can really screw up a perfectly good build since lacing a wheel is a precision art form.

 

[Francis Cebedo]

How is your health Shamis? Riding good now?

 

[5k bike 50cent legs]

since lacing a wheel is a precision art form.

That was true a long time ago, today, the hard work is done for you before you even start.