Near Lethal Product Failure on Grubee GT1

[Irish John]

ATTENTION ALL OWNERS OF GRUBEE GT CRUISERS
Today on the busy Pacific Highway in far northern NSW a 3 week old Grubee GT1 cruiser suffered catastrophic failure in the steering head nearly causing the death of my customer who got the GT1 & G4 Grubee kit that I reported on elsewhere.
The alloy that is inside the steering head tube completely fractured and the only way the rider maintained some steering ability was by pressing the failed tube downwards to get some purchase between the broken parts. The only thing stopping the handlebars from falling right off was the head bolt that was allowed the rider to get a little steerage to avoid veering head on into oncoming traffic. The attached photos show what snapped. I reckon this is so serious that the authorities will probably demand a total product recall.
This is on top of the 11T freewheel failure after 120 kms and the new 11T will fail at the same mileage because it cannot withstand the forces that the gearbox applies to it. I think this justifies my frequent complaints about dangerous quality fade and attrocious quality control. The rider is ropeable with anger and wanted to fly down to Sydney and see the wholesaler but the wholesaler has just left for Thailand.
Suffice to say I was totally justified in bagging this whole product package. I hope you are reading this Biketec because the crystalline alloy in the sheered tube clearly tells us that the problem is unsafe weak alloy mixes being used on applications that absolutely demand quality control. The whole head design is a fatality waiting to happen and blame will need to be laid squarely at the feet of the manufacturer. I stated in another thread appraising the GT1 that I didn't like it because it was pokey and had no fenders but that it is probably OK for someone who can't afford a decent cruiser bicycle. I will stick with the one piece Schwinn quill stem & head because they are made to the required strength and that's important when your life depends on it. I am very angry at what nearly happened to my friend and customer and I think it is justified. It really emphasises the folly of using cheap shonky bikes and this GT1 has a very very serious problem to be resolved. Personally I don't see any option other than a total product recall.

 

[Pablo]

Pure garbage!

Please explain that joint. Is the connection only made by what looks like slag/non-homogeneous filler?? And the stem and the clamp head only butted???

 

[arceeguy]

I think you probably busted it yourself.
Seems you have some personal vendetta against Grubee because all you seem to do is trash their products. Your posts reek of sabotage. You are a very small man Irish John.

 

[Pablo]

It seems like it would be pretty easy to verify......

 

[arceeguy]

I'm pretty much not going to say anymore in this thread but all one has to do is to look at Irish John's posting history, and what they'll see is someone that bashes Grubee products, and everything manufactured in China. That is his "contribution" to these forums. While he claims a 98% failure rate on Happy Time type engines, literally thousands of people are installing these engines on some pretty cool custom frames and enjoying what he calls garbage. Sure there are a few that have problems, but the vast majority don't.

 

[nsideus]

I think you probably busted it yourself.
Seems you have some personal vendetta against Grubee because all you seem to do is trash their products. Your posts reek of sabotage. You are a very small man Irish John.

I understand Irish John's frustration with Grubee products. From personal experience quality has faded way beyond acceptable. Arceeguy, what is your experience with the products Irish speaks of?

 

[arceeguy]

I understand Irish John's frustration with Grubee products. From personal experience quality has faded way beyond acceptable. Arceeguy, what is your experience with the products Irish speaks of?

Have you looked at Irish John's posting history?

Do you actually think that he would ever give a fair and truthful review of a Grubee product or anything made in China - EVER?

.......I once set off downhill from home in my sarong which got caught in the back spokes and totally locked the wheel, stripped my sarong off me and throwing me off the bike hard onto the coarse chipped asphalt knocking me totally sensless. The neighbours, hearing my scream before I bit the road, came out and found me lying on the road naked except for a pair of badly torn underpants exposing all my wedding tackle......

Do you trust the rantings of an old Irish guy who wears a sarong riding a motorized bicycle? (Maybe that's what Aussies wear?????)


As far as my experience goes with Grubee and other products made in China - they seem to go exactly opposite of what IJ claims. He caught my eye several months back when he was continually trashing the Happy Time style 2 stroke bike engines. I have sold dozens of them, from various manufacturers, and can safely tell you that they are not as troublesome or dangerous as IJ claims they are. To me, everything this guy posts regarding products made in China are suspect. And everyone reading his opinions should keep his posting history in mind and form their own opinion.

 

[Irish John]

I think you probably busted it yourself.
Seems you have some personal vendetta against Grubee because all you seem to do is trash their products. Your posts reek of sabotage. You are a very small man Irish John.

It isn't my bike to break for a start - it belongs to someone else and the fact it carries my logo on the tank does me a lot of damge and you Arceeguy must be blind as a bat! I can tell from your ugly missive that the truth really hurts you.

 

[Pablo]

Originally Posted by Irish John
.......I once set off downhill from home in my sarong which got caught in the back spokes and totally locked the wheel, stripped my sarong off me and throwing me off the bike hard onto the coarse chipped asphalt knocking me totally sensless. The neighbours, hearing my scream before I bit the road, came out and found me lying on the road naked except for a pair of badly torn underpants exposing all my wedding tackle......

Oh my...I just spewed expensive coffee on my monitor.

 

[Irish John]

Have you looked at Irish John's posting history?

Do you actually think that he would ever give a fair and truthful review of a Grubee product or anything made in China - EVER?



Do you trust the rantings of an old Irish guy who wears a sarong riding a motorized bicycle? (Maybe that's what Aussies wear?????)


As far as my experience goes with Grubee and other products made in China - they seem to go exactly opposite of what IJ claims. He caught my eye several months back when he was continually trashing the Happy Time style 2 stroke bike engines. I have sold dozens of them, from various manufacturers, and can safely tell you that they are not as troublesome or dangerous as IJ claims they are. To me, everything this guy posts regarding products made in China are suspect. And everyone reading his opinions should keep his posting history in mind and form their own opinion.

But note this Arceeguy - you sells kits in a carboard box and I sell a finished product with a 12 month unlimited warranty. I stand by what I sell and I don't lie about my goods. I tell it as it is and after riding 34,000 kms on motored bicycles if I say a product is shonky is more than likely is. The warranties offered on the best HTs are 30 days and on the others you would have to seek recompense in a court because you won't get it from most kit suppliers. A warranty of 30 days is not much better than useless. I include one free fix on the freewheel shaft key on the standard Grubee gearbox because I allow customers the chance to learn that it's fragile by making the mistake of snapping it. That is the only problem my bikes have.
I wonder how happy your customers are with all the junk you include in that box. I buy plenty of Grubee stuff and quite a lot of it works OK and quite a lot of it goes in the bin. At least my product will go for a few years without failing. As for Grubee equipment I've been buying it since 2005 and I took over the stock from the first supplier in Australia. Maybe that's how I know a bit about them.
The fact that you maker light of such a serious malfunction as this shows that you can't bear to face the truth about what those pictures show and you are probably very capable of looking your customer in the eye and saying "just an exception, don't worry I'll replace it with another one",
I'm not the sort of person that can do that. That head\stem failure is probably not an exception and peoples lives are at stake. It sickens me to read all you suppliers patting each other on the back and trying to mask the seriousness of the problem. Catch yourselves on.