Mapdec banned by Shimano

[mcteague]

More juicy goss on the Shimano crank recall debacle. Guess they really brought it on themselves by telling all on YT they just forward cranks to Shimano without an inspection. However, seems they were trying to avoid the legal burden in the event they said a crank looked good and it later broke... as one did. Discuss!

We Got BANNED By Shimano! Here's What Happened
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h-7TO3i6TYI

Tim

[peanutgallery]

I have yet to actually "inspect" one. They have all gone back upon being presented to me, a 12 minute video and quiz does not a metallurgist make. Yet to have one denied. Shimano is a publicly traded company that sold a crank for like a decade that was adversely affected by sweat, water and degreaser...that's on them, not the retailer.

In the past, broken 6800 ultegra cranks were rejected by shimano, they only warrantied dura ace. Handful of customers lost teeth and skin. No more for anyone I deal with.

I've shared this with my shimano rep and he hasn't pushed back

Mapdec is 100% in the right. Just because you're a retailer for a company it doesn't make you a cuckold for their shareholders

[vertr]

Shimano's poor handling and responses during this entire crank recall make me wonder why people still trust them so much. Throw in their power meter problems and the recent security issues of Di2, why would you pick them over SRAM? SRAM has had a few recalls but every time they went above and beyond.

[David in Maine]

I asked my LBS to send my Ultegra crank to Shimano even though the mechanic didn’t see any obvious problems. Hopefully I will get a new crank,, since I would hate to have a failure in the middle of a 300k brevet.

David

[rice rocket]

Originally Posted by vertr

Shimano's poor handling and responses during this entire crank recall make me wonder why people still trust them so much. Throw in their power meter problems and the recent security issues of Di2, why would you pick them over SRAM? SRAM has had a few recalls but every time they went above and beyond.

Almost like religion at this point.

After my second SRAM Red RD wore out in 4000 miles, I stopped giving them my money. There is no warranty coverage , there are no service parts, you just throw it in the trash.

[openwheelracing]

Mapdec rubs me the wrong way. They seem quite arrogant and elitist. Their way for the high way. Whatever they sell is leagues better than others. Weird obsession against Giant as well. The guy seems like a decent mechanic at least.

[benb]

I have my 6800 cranks sitting on the bench waiting to decide what to do with them. I got some D/A cranks that aren't affected in a different length.

This makes me want to just throw them in the trash.

This is just one more thing that will make me get SRAM on that bike if any other component fails... partly cause it's going to be harder to install Di2 than SRAM anyway, but this was yuck.

Mapdec is on YouTube... there are very few channels on Youtube that manage to not come off arrogant/elitist/whatever, I wouldn't hold that against them.

[vespasianus]

Originally Posted by rice rocket

Almost like religion at this point.

After my second SRAM Red RD wore out in 4000 miles, I stopped giving them my money. There is no warranty coverage , there are no service parts, you just throw it in the trash.

I am finding the SRAM stuff to be meh as well. Always had issues with the older MTB SRAM stuff as my RD would always break - never had a problem with Shimano and went back to them.

The SRAM stuff on our Diverge - granted it is mostly Eagle Axs stuff -does not seem robust. Less than a year in - with less than 1000 miles and we need a new chain and new BB. Brakes squeal like SRAM brakes always have, but otherwise work fine.

And that Mapdec seems like a douche. Something about all the British bike guys that just seem like people I want to punch.

[Nomadmax]

I ride Shimano because I don't want a 1X. And I want FD that works.

[prototoast]

Originally Posted by benb

I have my 6800 cranks sitting on the bench waiting to decide what to do with them. I got some D/A cranks that aren't affected in a different length.

This makes me want to just throw them in the trash.

Don't throw them in the trash, throw them in a bucket of salt water and bring them to a shop once they show visible signs of failure.

As for the original video, I think this is what you get. I think they could have said something like "we look at the cranks, and if we have even the slightest doubt, we send them to Shimano because we don't want to put somebody back on the road with something that's going to fail. As a result, we've sent almost every crank we've seen back to Shimano." I think that gets received much differently than them saying that they send them along without even looking.

Shimano has rules for participating dealers, and there's a lot of subjectivity in that, but you can't say publicly on a high profile YouTube channel that you're ignoring those rules and expect no consequences.

[buddybikes]

Why isn't campy eating the market?

[vertr]

Originally Posted by prototoast

Shimano has rules for participating dealers, and there's a lot of subjectivity in that, but you can't say publicly on a high profile YouTube channel that you're ignoring those rules and expect no consequences.

The whole video is a bit of a troll because they aren't actually 'banned' by Shimano for the crank recall. They can still recall all the cranks they want, they said they were getting paid 35 GBP per 'inspection' by Shimano and the ban is that they no longer get the bounty. So they were kinda taking advantage if they weren't even doing the inspections and just collecting the cash for every crank that came into the shop. Shimano should have just been recalling every crank anyway though.

That said I don't mind their channel and pretty much every bike youtube has been caught doing something a little off, I think the egregious comments elsewhere in this thread attacking them are out of line.

[vertr]

Originally Posted by buddybikes

Why isn't campy eating the market?

Because they ate themselves.

[openwheelracing]

If Mapdec says in their video they simply send them to Shimano without doing their due-diligence, then yes they are in the wrong. Aren't they getting paid for inspecting these cranks with very specific instructions?

Shimano technically didn't have to do this recall. It is voluntary as far as I know and it is drawing much needed foot traffic to local bike shops. Say what you want about the Evil Shimano empire, no one is being forced to sell Shimano stuff.

[peanutgallery]

Shimano deserves everything they get on this topic

They're trying to displace responsibility. Mapdec is 100% in the right. Youtube doesn't matter, as much as shareholders dislike the concept...free will is a thing. Being a dealer is a 2 way relationship. Put a poop product on the market for a decade and don't expect to be called out...joke's on you

Originally Posted by prototoast

Don't throw them in the trash, throw them in a bucket of salt water and bring them to a shop once they show visible signs of failure.

As for the original video, I think this is what you get. I think they could have said something like "we look at the cranks, and if we have even the slightest doubt, we send them to Shimano because we don't want to put somebody back on the road with something that's going to fail. As a result, we've sent almost every crank we've seen back to Shimano." I think that gets received much differently than them saying that they send them along without even looking.

Shimano has rules for participating dealers, and there's a lot of subjectivity in that, but you can't say publicly on a high profile YouTube channel that you're ignoring those rules and expect no consequences.