One bloody thing after another.......(long)

[oldrascal]

It was such a stunningly lovely day down here on the South Coast that I earmarked a few hours this afternoon for a bimble around the Downs. It was so damned warm that I even took the linings out of my newly acquired Bikers Suzuka kit . Ah, that felt much better.

So it was off and away with the raised bottom part of my new Schuberth C3 allowing the warm breeze to play around my smiling face. Paradise.

Then it was onto the first good bit of straight near Goodwood, a quick flip of my left hand to convert the open-face into a full-face and, well feck me, the bloody visor mounting disintegrates on one side leaving the visor and facebar flapping crazily.

Sod it, says I and I pull into a layby for a quick reassemble. So its off with the gloves, take off my driving glasses and rest them on the handlebars and proceed to remove the helmet. Sod me, the bloody fecking pivot has sheared and the damned thing is now completely useless as the pivot also supports the chin bar. Bugger, I will need to get home to change into the spare helmet.

So, having removed the visor, its on with the helmet and gloves and off and away. Five minutes later, I realise that I am not wearing my bloody expensive prescription driving glasses. Sod it. So its back to the layby to see where they have fallen and there's no sign of them. This is getting epic.

So now I am heading homewards on a small lane across the back of the Goodwood estate when 5 deer bolt flat out across my front wheel. Woooooh. No time to do anything except wonder how I missed them. Things really aren't getting any better.

So its back home and off the bike. Then I notice something wedged under the downpipes and caught on the undertray. Yup, my sodding glasses welded to the pipes. Feck and double feck.

So I tread my weary way into the house and telephone those great guys at Smart Riders in Christchurch who supplied my helmet. It seems that this is a known problem and they have the spare part and they can shove it in the post to me for Monday morning. Fantastic.

"How do I fit it?" says I. "Undo the central pivot with an Allen key" was the reply, "...but you are going to have to use a lot of force because it is very tight".

So its into the toolbox for my longest Allen key, fit it and start to give it some torque............'kerbang', the bloody key shears at the pivot. Great. So once again I telephone and the upshot is that Smart Riders is open tomorrow and they are going to fix it or replace it.

Still, its going to be another stunning day and I will head back through the New Forest so it should be all worthwhile.

Anyone fance a bimble, Chichester(ish) to Christchurch and back?

 

[Tim Cullis]

I was surfing for the C3 today, think I'll hold fire and wait for the System Six.

Get either a replacement or a refund--if you accept a repair and anything else goes wrong you have lost your rights to a refund/replacement.

Tim

 

[oldrascal]

Tim,

Wise words indeed..........is this advise derived from the Sale of Goods Act or just from bitter personal experience?

 

[chrisjk]

How I hate those days!

One thing rings very loud bells. If that pivot can shear "by itself" and it holds the chin bar in place, what use would it be in a crash when some force might actually be applied to it?

 

[DaveGSCymro]

What was the outcome?

 

[oldrascal]

Follow-up...........

I arrived at Smart Riders in Christchurch about 10:00 on Sunday morning and showed the broken C3 to Chris, the highly knowledgable and sympathetic guy who runs the shop.

After a few minutes inspection and some deft work with a set of pliars, he managed to get the sheared section of screw and plastic out. His view is that the Schuberth assembly worker had his/her mind elsewhere for a few moments and gave the power driver a bit too much welly.

As another of Chris's customers had suffered the exact same problem a few days earlier whilst near the shop, Chris had cannabalised a new C3 from stock to get him riding again. Which meant that, having satisfied himself that there was no other damage, he was able to fit the other side of the stock helmet's new assembly to return mine to a fully-functioning mode.

But with Tim Cullis's advice ringing in my ear, I questioned the situation for any on-going problem with the helmet. Just let's say that I have no worries whatsoever about dealing with Smart Riders with any future problems. Truly a top shop.

But there is a twist.

Because whilst the helmet was being sorted, I had a wonder around the shop as one does. And I came across this:

This is the new UVEX Enduro Carbon which has just come on the market. It seems that UVEX also make BMW's new carbon enduro as below:

Apart from some minor cosmetic changes the main difference is price - over £1,000 for the BMW helmet (I think) versus £550 for the UVEX. And the UVEX is extraordinarily light.........just amazing at only 1150 grammes................ as well as super comfortable.

Now I think that the Schuberth C3 is a great helmet with just 2 major criticisms. One is the weight, as it is a lumpy old beast. The second is that its acclaimed silence comes at the expense of a slight feeling of claustrophobia as you are completely 'fenced in' with curtains and seals. Of course you can always flip up the face part but that is not always practicable at highway speeds.

So as I was thinking of getting a lighter helmet for the warmer weather coming our way soon, I suggested that Chris send the C3 back to the distributors with a request for a full customer refund as the helmet is only 8 weeks old. Then I think that I might just go and buy the UVEX Carbon.

But the helmet is so new that I can't find any reports for it, which is a bind. So has anyone heard or read anything about this new helmet?