New f-one bar ripped apart while riding, what to expect from manufacturer?

[stiefu]

Dear friends of kitesurfing,

I have a question for you all regarding the customer service of a kite manufacturer. I was kiting in brazil last november and went on a downwinder trip with my waterproof backpack and without a escorting pickup truck. The plan was an adventure with three of my kitesurfing buddies.

We planed everything as good as we could imagine and had spare parts available for most of the equipment. Unfortunately, the one part I never thought would rip apart and went flying and with it my kite itself. As you see in the following picture, the depower line (not sure how its called in english, the one big line where the kite is connected to) ripped apart as well as the safety line and my kite flew away.



The bar itself was almost new. I had it for one year, it was from the current collection and I flew it for only for about 25 days. As far as I see it, this should not happen to brand new gear. This might have went into a very dangerous situation. Image if this would have ripped during a high jump.

So I wrote directly to the manufacturer F-ONE and told them my story. I was expecting to have a full replacement of the bar since this issue is quite concerning and should not happen with new gear. But they weren't really friendly and sent me only the necessary spareparts to repair the bar and also wrote the following lines, quote:

We've had a few issues like yours on the first Linx prods (fortunately not many) so we modified the Hub slightly to prevent it from happening. 2019, we've redesigned it completely and changed the lines as well.

and

I understand your problem however, when you have a brake default on your car, we change the brakes, not the whole steering system.

So I was wondering what you guys think. Is this the right reaction from the manufacturer or would it have been the least to replace the full bar? As far as I see, I'm still riding with the same bar from 2018 and still fear, that the problem would occur another time on the ocean. But I'm curious what you think about that.

[Toby]

You used it 25 days before...that can cause wear.

Wanting a new bar is a bit too much in my opinion.

[dice]

The safety line broke too? Wow... I wouldn't like to use that bar anymore.

[Faxie]

Looks like both lines were cut by something...

[stiefu]

Looks like both lines were cut by something...

I was doing a kiteloop during a jibe transition with a 9qm kite in about 20kn of wind, so nothing really special. The safetyline ripped apart after the depower line ripped, it all happened in a instance. But there were not cut at all, thats why I was so surprised and I also kind of lost trust into this piece of equipment.

[windrider1]

I mean it nice to get a brand new bar for a busted line but I think its reasonable to send the broken line out only. with that being said seems these tube covered lines need to be regulary checked for wear at any point where it touches another part of the bar the cabrinha bars were doing something similar but in their case u could not see the wear at all as it was hidden at the chicken loop or tube until it snapped. and by the way ive had a safetly line rip clean apart after a release u never knw so best thing is to check your gear and replace if u see a lot of wear .

[ScoopZ]

That didn't fail on the f-one hub, but good of them to give you new parts because their replacements are not cheap.

I have had coated depower bars that were 5 years old and they never failed like that, 25 sessions is nothing.

[iriejohn]

Rebuild the bar with the new parts, sell it, and buy something that won't fail after 25 days use. Walk away. 25 days use is nothing, like others here I can use a bar that many times in a month.

[POACHER]

Rebuild the bar with the new parts, sell it, and buy something that won't fail after 25 days use. Walk away. 25 days use is nothing, like others here I can use a bar that many times in a month.

THIS.

[windmaker]

Every brand out there has some issues at one point in time whether its valves, bars, quick release etc. It's inevitable and happens in all industries.
What is important is how they deal with it. F-One admitted having this problem and replaced the defective part. Shit happens and it has before and will in the future with bars from other brands too. Unfortunately and too often some won't admit a problem and often even blame the rider. Consider yourself lucky.