In one famous scene of the classic British sitcom Only Fools and Horses, the slightly slow, ‘village idiot’ character Trigger receives an award from the cash-strapped council for his outstanding thriftiness. After 20 years as a janitor, Trigger claims to be using the very same broom as the day he started. The only caveat, as Trigger proudly boasts, is that “this old broom’s had 17 new heads and 14 new handles in its time.”
The well-read amongst you might recognise Trigger’s Broom as a reworking of Theseus’s Paradox – the question being, how often can you replace the component parts of an object before it stops being the same object?
Philosophical wranglings aside, Tailfin has always thought that Trigger might well be onto something. And what he is getting at, in a very roundabout way, is the design principle of modularity – the idea of designing things in such a way that component parts can be easily and seamlessly replaced.
Making our products easy to repair and replace is a key part of the Tailfin ethos. We recognise that there’s nothing more irritating than gear that you can’t service yourself.
For this reason, if any part of your Tailfin product ever wears out or needs replacing, you can order exactly the component you need from our Spares page. What’s more, you’ll unfailingly be able to fit that component using a standard set of Allen keys. This saves you money on replacing the whole product and time fiddling with proprietary tools, and also makes cycling that little bit more eco-friendly. Perhaps Trigger was onto something, after all.
That’s not to say that we’re expecting our gear to fall apart on you – all our equipment is built to last, and if it doesn’t, then you only need to get in touch for us to put it right. Our 5 Year Guarantee covers all Tailfin products against faults arising from manufacturing defects, giving you total peace of mind.
Sometimes, however, it doesn’t matter how many guarantees we put in place, or how serviceable we make our products. The reality of cycling – especially cycle touring in far-flung places, on the edge of your comfort zone – is that sometimes things can go wrong. We want to be ready for that when it happens – which is why we offer the Tailfin Crash Replacement Service.
If your Tailfin product is damaged as a result of a crash, then you are entitled to purchase a replacement at a 30% discount. This applies to both replacing the entire unit, or if you wish, just replacing the damaged component. Sadly, no warranty within the cycling industry will completely protect you from damage caused by a crash, but we hope this goes some way to protecting you from worst case scenarios.
Tailfin Care: our 5 Year Guarantee, a Crash Replacement Service, and the design principle of modularity. Trigger would be proud.