Formula has announced that it will now offer support for all its products for at least ten years. Formula has promised that every product it makes will have a decade of parts, spares, and support available. The best bit for existing Formula customers is that the same commitment will also be back-dated to every product made after 2017.
For new customers, Formula has a new two-year transferable warranty. Formula says that "buying a used product shouldn’t come with a penalty in terms of warranty or repairability", so second-hand products under two years old will still be covered by the manufacturing warranty.
Formula is an Italian motorcycle and mountain bike component brand and while it claims to be accredited with creating the first MTB-specific hydraulic disc brake, it hasn't always had the reputation of being the best mountain bike brake when it comes to reliability. Formula hopes that this new commitment to servicing and support will offer confidence to the customer and bolster its reputation.
The 10-year support promise doesn't just cover brakes, it includes Formula's mountain bike forks, rear shocks, and mountain bike wheels too. Formula has also designed component compatibility into its range allowing parts to be upgraded or modified as a rider's needs change. For example, brakes can be changed from two-piston to four-piston, fork travel can be altered, and an air-sprung fork can become coil-sprung. Formula says these changes are all possibly by a home mechanic (assuming you have the tools required and can bleed brakes) and are also reversible.
Formula isn't the only brand thinking about the lifespan of products either. Exposure, Hope, and Chris King are well known for long product cycles and continued support allowing customers to service their products. Exposure goes as far as to claim that its repair team can repair products 15 years and older.
If we want to look at cycling product sustainability, cycling clothing and soft goods are arguably leading the way. Although green credentials are rarely able to be properly verified, many use the approval of third-party organizations like Bluesign, Oeko-Tex, and B Corp to give guidance and certification based on sustainability best practices concerning supply chains, materials, and working standards. Brands like Rapha, Velocio, Apidura, Alpkit, and 7Mesh all offer product repair services to extend the life of their products.
For a reasonable fee, Alpkit will even tackle other brands' products, so if a zip has given up or the taping on the seams of your favorite jacket is coming off it can be sent off to the Alpkit Repair Station to be fixed.
Ortlieb is another brand strong on sustainability and garnishes its products with a five-year guarantee and spare parts remain available for at least ten years after an item has been taken out of the collection.
Formula's pledge to support customers with spares is a positive step forward and hopefully, something that we start seeing more of in the bike industry.
