Schuberth C3, broken, scary way!!!

[steviegasgas]

Hi, anyone had a problem with there c3??? I was half way home, stopped for petrol, back on bike, went to close the chinbar and the visor flopped down sideways. Stopped to look at the problem and the whole plastic side hinge has broken, this helmet has never been dropped or had any bashes!

Seems bizzare, the plastic hinge is attached to the helmet by three torx bolts and what looks like a rivet. Dont know if I want to drill that out and re-rivet with my heavy duty riveter, assuming you can get that part.

Bought from Helmet City at the BMF tail end last year, Me and the mate got one, phoned them up today but no joy so far, I was handed a business card with some quick scroll on the back as a receipt, of course thats been lost now!!

Still hoping they will look after me though, if not wil be posted up here!!!

 

[trebor]

Oxford are the importers for Schuberth so it may be worth speaking to them direct if you don't get any joy from Helmet City. Having said that, I've heard mixed reports on the quality of customer service from Oxford.

It may be worth contacting Schuberth direct, I've heard of people doing this when all else has failed and they've come up trumps. ISTR one case (on the VFR forums I think) where they sent a complete new helmet from Germany to someone in the UK when a slight crack developed in the shell of their S1, they replaced it with an S1 Pro, the customer was well chuffed.

 

[oldrascal]

I had exactly the same thing happen to me, steviegasgas. I was riding along with the visor up and when I went pull it down, the whole left hand side came away and dropped down. A close bit of inspection showed that the central plastic retaining screw (not a rivet) had sheared level with the helmet. It is possible to tease this out and replace it by the way but I didn't see the point of spending close to £400 just to carry out some DIY.

So I took the C3 straight back to the supplying dealer (SmartRiders in Bournmouth) who said that this was a known problem with a batch of C3s and was due to improper torqueing of the fixing screws at the factory. I refused a repair and was given a brand new replacement.

My advice is not to void the warranty with DIY but get a replacement helmet. You are covered under the Sale of Goods Act 1979 and specifically under this clause: "Wherever goods are bought they must "conform to contract". This means they must be as described, fit for purpose and of satisfactory quality (i.e. not inherently faulty at the time of sale)."

Good luck.

 

[kirk71]

I would suggest that before you part with your hard earned for a Schuberth you ask the seller where the helmets are supplied from.
main reason to ask is if they are supplied by Oxfrod products in the uk, then the helmet should be returned by the seller to them for repair / replacement as per warranty.
i know this as i sell them, along with others all day long.
i have read a prior post concerning Oxford Products and it makes no difference to myself when i say that i have yet to have any bad dealings with them since i started dealing with them seven years ago.
this is why you should buy from ANY dealer thats sells them supplied by oxford Products, so if you do have an issue, you return it to the dealer who then has to deal with the uk supplier, saving you the hassle of having to phone here there and everywhere.
The Scuberth C2 jumps to mind as i have replaced many visors on the early ones due to them De-laminating, again as it was supplied by us, oxford happily supplied free replacements as per UK Warranty !
moral of the story, well even i have been tempted by some internet or other dealer prices when it comes to expensive helmets, but to be fair if it is a legit uk supplied helmet then there should be no problems with any warranty work, hence the 5 year warranty that most helmets come with.
if the dealer has sourced his helmets from a european supplier, then it's a whole lot of hassle for them and you when things go wrong.

 

[steviegasgas]

Looking good

So far so good, Helmet City have said to send it back to them, then they will send it back to Oxford products, so thanks to previous posts i reckon it is looking good!!!

They are going to Inspect it and either fix or replace, so the guy reckons, we will have to wait and see what is offered.

At least i am not the only one to have a fault!!! Thanks for all the advice, and will let you know how i get on, fingers crossed!!

 

[the boxers]

Had this happen to mine 3 days ago. Only problems is I was in the Lofoten islands at the time . Missed the ferry as well.

Found a scooter place who gave me the name of a dealer in Stjordal, Hoy Plus. Got there and they were helpful, but could not find or arange for the part to be shipped to another dealer. There are none in the schuberth stores.

I will have to make do with the gaffer tape fix until I get it back to Helemetcity. Pics to follow in the trip thread.

At least I now know it is not a one off. Up until that point I was looking to by another as a backup as. It is the first helemt I have had that is all day wearable even on my xxxl noggin.

 

[the boxers]

Pic of my failure

The Gaffer Tape Fix

How It Should Be

How It Ended Up

Side Plate

I have larger versions of the last 2 pics that show greater detail of the break.

The failure happened whilst in the down and locked position. I am also not in the habit of riding with the flip in the up position at any speed above walking pace.

As I live not far from Helmet City I went there today. Very helpful and fitted a new side plate and also provided me with a pair of new plates just in case

They said there have been a few case that they know of and Schuberth are investigating the problem.