The recent closure of CSS Composites came as a bit of a surprise to many, including us. In fact, we had toured the factory just two months before they announced that they were ceasing operations. In that announcement, it was also stated that any previously submitted or future requests for service, repair, or replacement will not be honored. In an instant, all of the lifetime-warrantied FusionFiber rims manufactured by CSS Composites on wheelsets from Forge + Bond, Revel, Evil, and Chris King no longer had lifetime warranties.
Since then, there has obviously been uncertainty regarding the options available for riders needing warranty or crash replacements of CSS-made rims. Just a few days ago, Revel — the first to market with FusionFiber rims on its wheels — announced that it had partnered with Industry Nine to provide warranty support for its existing wheels made with CSS-made rims. That was fantastic news, but what about everyone else?
Reynolds Steps In
Reynolds Cycling has just announced that it is stepping in to provide a solution for riders left without crash replacement or warranty support. “Effective immediately, Reynolds is offering crash replacement pricing on complete Reynolds wheelsets to any rider who owns wheels manufactured by CSS / Forge+Bond or the brands that sourced rims from them. This offer applies whether the rider’s wheels were damaged in a crash, are out of warranty, or they simply no longer wish to ride a product with no long-term support. The goal is simple: to provide a path forward for affected riders – one backed by a trusted brand committed to long-term reliability and service.”
So, while Reynolds isn’t replacing CSS-made rims/wheels for free, it is offering a very generous discount to impacted riders, which is much, much better than nothing at all. And while this is certainly a good faith gesture, it’s also a great way for Reynolds to get more riders on its wheels, which also happen to be pretty darn good, in our experience.
Here’s How it Works:
“Eligible riders can contact Reynolds directly or through an authorized dealer to verify their existing wheels and access special crash replacement pricing on new Reynolds wheelsets. This includes any Reynolds complete wheel system across the road, gravel, and mountain lineup — each built with the same precision, performance, and lifetime support that define the Reynolds brand.”
This sounds almost too good to be true, so we asked a few questions to get some clarification. Here they are with responses from Joshua Riddle, the Global Marketing Director of the Hayes Bicycle Group (which owns Reynolds).
- BR: Can someone with a CSS wheel swap it for any Reynolds wheel? Or does it have to be a similar product? I.e, if I had a broken gravel wheel, could I swap it for a Reynolds MTB wheel?
- JR: You can swap for anything you need/want…gravel, road, mtb.
- BR: Do the CSS wheels have to be broken to take advantage of this program? Or can they just do it if they want to try a Reynolds wheelset?
- JR: They can certainly opt for an upgrade. It will require the current set to be sent in but a solid discount on even a non-broken pair of wheels is available.
- BR: Is this for single wheels or wheel sets only? Both?
- JR: Single or pairs, all of the above.
- BR: I’m assuming the crash replacement price must be different per wheelset. Do you have at least a range of pricing that we could provide?
- JR: We apply the same crash replacement discount thresholds as we do with our Reynolds wheels; nothing different. North of 40% off MSRP, if I am not mistaken.
“We didn’t create this problem, but we can help solve it. Reynolds has always stood behind its riders, and when we saw the uncertainty facing owners of CSS-built wheels, we knew we could offer a fair, good-faith solution. Our priority is to keep riders rolling on wheels they can trust.” -Todd Tanner, Director of Wheel Development.
Kudos to Reynolds for stepping up to provide support for all of the riders impacted by the closure of CSS Composites. You can learn more about Reynold’s wheel replacement program and find a link to the Hayes Bicycle support page (where you can submit a request) by clicking the link below.
