[rideit]

In May, I bought two KS carbon Lev dropper posts from QBP.
I had four rides on it, but on a recent trip to Colorado, one of them failed completely on my second ride. Oh, well.
I sent them the post back (with an RA#), with two mini bottles of booze (which I always do for any warranties, it can be a thankless job.)
I got a nasty gram back, accusing me of sending in a much older post “due to the wear the technician found”.
I had an invoice from QBP, I had never owned a KS product)
They were assh0les about it, but eventually sent me the post with a note from the tech admonishing me to “service my post more frequently”, and that it was a “one time favor”.
Well, go fvck yourselves, the post was ABSOLUTELY BRAND NEW.
All I got out of the whole thing is that their posts can’t handle five rides without the internals failing, and looking trashed.
Left a really bitter taste in mouth...but word of mouth gets around.
I hope some product managers are reading this. It says a lot about how they view their customers.

I am posting this so if people google KS warranty, perhaps they will find this.

 

[canadmos]

That sucks, but kind of sounds like a one off incident.

But in no way should they question you, if you have proof of purchase and whatnot.

Did you get the same post back? Maybe yours got mixed up in the warranty bin with another?

Maybe the person who got your box thinks booze is the devil?

Heck, KS posts are a pain in the ass to mount anyways with the cable crimping on the bottom. Good time to switch to something a little friendlier.

 

[Kurt_80]

False accusations suck enough, but to do so when you've sent booze in (now matter how little).... f**k that! Sorry to hear that man.

 

[6thElement]

So we shouldn't have used it as a fire poker that Saturday night? Good to know.

Sucks when the product was so new that you had issues. I had to use their warranty for something years ago and had no problem. Maybe they didn't like the rootbeer flavour vodka miniatures...

 

[vinny4130]

This is not a one off, any Ks warranty I have sent to them or anyone else in our shop has sent gets a hand written nasty gram back saying similar things (Except one). Ignore the note they just send it anyway, I don’t think they keep track of warranty hence the fear tactics. However I have not been accused of bait and switch that’s shitty. Regardless I’m glad to hear someone else sends warranty items back with a little love, it is a thankless job and some people deserve a little something. To be fair Ks posts don’t fail very often.

 

[dexter]

My local shop refuses to work with them anymore due to similar run ins.

 

[kidwoo]

Did you demand to speak to a manager?

 

[rideit]

You should see my new hairdo.

 

[ZHendo]

Did you demand to speak to a manager?

KS stands for Karen Shox...i.e., they only give you the proper service if you speak (well, screech) Kidwoo's passphrase.

 

[kidwoo]

Kidwoo's passphrase.

I PAID GOOD MONEY AND I DEMAND SATISFACTION! AND YOU BETTER SMILE WHEN YOU CALL ME "SIR!"

 

[johnbryanpeters]

I find this interesting - I have been on a KS LEV since May of 2015. I sent it back for warranty service in October of 2016 and they turned it around in a week without giving me any grief.

 

[Electric_City]

I've never had any issues with KS customer service. But I've only sent one post back when it was 4yo for a rebuild. It cost $100. My buddy sent one in a couple years later and was charged $150.
My current Lev Integra has no issues either after 4 years of riding. BUT, I purchased a Brand X dropper for the hardtail that cost $100 and have a solid year on it without any problems. I'm going to have a hard time spending money on a KS any more. Plus there's so many for $250 or less that seem to get good reviews (OneUp, and PNW come to mind) that I think KS will have to lower their price.

 

[Jm_]

Why in the devil's name would you send in booze with a warranty? What if it was a recovering alcoholic or mormon? That's just crazy and probably does one of two things, makes your end result either much more favorable, or much less favorable. Like, if you were going to do something special, why not just send a couple 5s or 10s and they can go buy whatever they want. I mean, why not just give little booze bottles everywhere as tips? The hair salon, the valet, the airport bus driver, the restaurant, etc... I dunno, yes, I like having a drink, no, I don't think I should presume that everyone else needs one.

 

[rideit]

Well, I haven’t had a drink in ten years, that wouldn’t offend me, I would just give it to someone.
that said, I have NEVER been refused a warranty in 30 years of doing this, both as a shop, and as an individual.

i also always include candy, and sometimes some Advil packets.

 

[jonKranked]

Why in the devil's name would you send in booze with a warranty? What if it was a recovering alcoholic or mormon? That's just crazy and probably does one of two things, makes your end result either much more favorable, or much less favorable. Like, if you were going to do something special, why not just send a couple 5s or 10s and they can go buy whatever they want. I mean, why not just give little booze bottles everywhere as tips? The hair salon, the valet, the airport bus driver, the restaurant, etc... I dunno, yes, I like having a drink, no, I don't think I should presume that everyone else needs one.

when i was a wrench, my shop manager would rip pages out of some 50+ porno mags and affix them to frames that were going back to specialized for warranty. you must not know many industry folk.

 

[Jm_]

Well, I haven’t had a drink in ten years, that wouldn’t offend me, I would just give it to someone.
that said, I have NEVER been refused a warranty in 30 years of doing this, both as a shop, and as an individual.

i also always include candy, and sometimes some Advil packets.

Why not a few rubbers too?

Shoot, a fella could have a pretty good weekend in Vegas with all that stuff!

 

[FarkinRyan]

Out of interest; what was the mode of failure and what kind of state was the post in when you removed it from the bike? Clean and with just the grease you installed it with or covered in the oil that was supposed to be inside the post?

 

[johnbryanpeters]

I think that the nickle nips was tacky.

 

[rideit]

Out of interest; what was the mode of failure and what kind of state was the post in when you removed it from the bike? Clean and with just the grease you installed it with or covered in the oil that was supposed to be inside the post?

Clean.

 

[rideit]

Why not a few rubbers too?

Funny you say that. We had a ‘warranty gift war’ with Marzocchi, , those guys were the best. We sent them a condom with cream cheese in it (INSIDE of the fork), they sent us a fork box full of live stink bugs. Who the fuck knows where they got them.

 

[slyfink]

when i was a wrench, my shop manager would rip pages out of some 50+ porno mags and affix them to frames that were going back to specialized for warranty. you must not know many industry folk.

i'm confused whether this is a good thing or a bad thing. if I received this, I would still be confused whether it was a good thing or a bad thing.

 

[fwp]

when i was a wrench, my shop manager would rip pages out of some 50+ porno mags and affix them to frames that were going back to specialized for warranty. you must not know many industry folk.

I knew they didn't come up with the "Swat Box" idea all on their own.

 

[englertracing]

I bought the lev ci in June 2018 (had to go carbon on carbon as my old bike had the post get stuck). Inmediately began scratching the stancion.

Decided to send it in at the 1 year point. For the scoring... got the note about it being filthy and I need to grease it more often... um yeah ok it started scoring the first week dudes...

Had a nasty crash november 2019 broke the "carbon mast" they replaced it.

I always send a copy of the original receipt.
Never had a problem.

But you could probably strip it and grease it and they would send you the note with "dirty" service more frequently

 

[Cerberus75]

I've never had any issues with KS customer service. But I've only sent one post back when it was 4yo for a rebuild. It cost $100. My buddy sent one in a couple years later and was charged $150.
My current Lev Integra has no issues either after 4 years of riding. BUT, I purchased a Brand X dropper for the hardtail that cost $100 and have a solid year on it without any problems. I'm going to have a hard time spending money on a KS any more. Plus there's so many for $250 or less that seem to get good reviews (OneUp, and PNW come to mind) that I think KS will have to lower their price.

I have the OneUp. Its more finicky than the KS. Its nice you can adjust travel, but there are better options if you dont need that feature.

 

[canadmos]

I have the OneUp. Its more finicky than the KS. Its nice you can adjust travel, but there are better options if you dont need that feature.

What's finicky about it?

 

[jstuhlman]

What's finicky about it?

was gonna ask the same. other than removing to collar to re-lube (v1) every once in a while, and maybe adding a bit of air once a year, mine's been great.

 

[canadmos]

was gonna ask the same. other than removing to collar to re-lube (v1) every once in a while, and maybe adding a bit of air once a year, mine's been great.

Yeah same here. The only finicky part is that the cable housing moves and not the cable, but other than that it's been great. And they changed that on the new one...

 

[Nick]

I had a V1, replaced with a V2? That housing movement was the Achilles heel of the original, at least in my RFX frame. The new one works flawlessly.

 

[Cerberus75]

What's finicky about it?

Needs to be lubed up way more often. The bushing and wiper wear quickly. The air spring in both mine and my wife's have needed replacing in less than a year (KS and 9.8 lasted 3 years) the parts are cheap to buy and its way easier to work on. So there's trade offs.

 

[eric strt6]

so weird I have a 2014-5 KS Dropzone remote that I have never done squat to and it still works perfectly and I am no fly weight rider. I guess I just got lucky. I just break a frame every ten years or so and destroy rims every couple of years

 

[Jm_]

Whenever I've been in the market for a dropper I always see some version of the KS posts on some crazy cheap sale. I'm always skeptical of that, as in it'll break and not be able to repair, or repairs cost the same as the post. I did pick up a cheap PacNW components one a few months ago for the fatbike. It was like $130-150 or something ridiculous, and the quality is pretty much in line with the price. It has a lot more side-to-side play than any of my other posts, ones that have been used for around 5 years (bikeyoke) and has only been used a few months comparatively. It started out feeling pretty nice, but quickly went to feeling "meh".

 

[HardtailHack]

when i was a wrench, my shop manager would rip pages out of some 50+ porno mags and affix them to frames that were going back to specialized for warranty. you must not know many industry folk.

From a selection of over fifty magazines, or the people in the magazines were over 50?

 

[englertracing]

From a selection of over fifty magazines, or the people in the magazines were over 50?

Only milfs and gmilfs

 

[DaveW]

Bummer, without a good local agent any brand can be a shit experience.
KS in NZ pretty much fall over themselves to get it sorted, awesome team I love working with them.
There's a bunch of other well regarded brands that I really really wish I could say the same about, but alas no.

 

[bagtagley]

Is anyone doing 210mm drop other than OneUp? That was reason enough for me, the comparitively low price, solid build, and good CS were just gravy. The downside is that I'm spoiled, 170mm feels like the seat is in the way now.

 

[FarkinRyan]

@Jm_ Almost everything KS make is no longer user-servicable as they now centre-punch the threads of the cartridge after installing the sealhead to prevent it backing out and dumping the contents of the cartridge into your frame; something that used to be a common occurrence. Internally the Lev/Integra level stuff is close to a copy of the Reverb internals just with improved seals. Given that you can't service a new one these days and what they charge for a replacement cartridge I think they've fallen behind other manufacturers for sure though. I've personally owned an Integra that dumped it's cartridge contents within the first week of owning it, second cartridge on that post has been solid for several years.

 

[Udi]

My current Lev Integra has no issues either after 4 years of riding.

Same here, 5 years and going strong. It's a decent product in my experience.

@rideit guys I ride with seem to rate / choose the bikeyoke these days, if you want a good alternative.

 

[rideit]

I only strayed from the reliable Transfer(s) because I was enticed by the siren song of low weight...

 

[Flo33]

@rideit guys I ride with seem to rate / choose the bikeyoke these days, if you want a good alternative

This.

 

[toodles]

Same here, 5 years and going strong. It's a decent product in my experience.

@rideit guys I ride with seem to rate / choose the bikeyoke these days, if you want a good alternative.

BikeYoke Updates & Extends the Revive Dropper Post - Pinkbike

The BikeYoke Revive 2.0 is available with up to 213mm of travel.

www.pinkbike.com

I've had BikeYoke Revive 160mm posts on both my bikes now for about three years. I've run them in ridiculous conditions and only recently rebuilt them. The only problem I had was with one early post where the head developed play where it meets the stanchion and the whole post was replaced under warranty no questions asked. Now the V2.0 is one piece so that can't occur, and they've made reliability upgrades to the most reliable post on the market. Plus, they're offering free updates to anyone with a V1.0 post.

Unfortunately, they aren't available for triple the price just because they have a wireless AXS actuator. Damn.