Berk PROTO-TYPE Composites

Who are you (no off-topic talk please)

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Charlichin
Posts: 21
Joined: Wed Mar 31, 2021 11:27 am

by Charlichin

Juanmoretime wrote:Anyone using a Lupina with a Darimo T1 Loop seatpost? I bought the post and plan on installing iit in the next day or so.
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C36
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by C36

Juanmoretime wrote:Anyone using a Lupina with a Darimo T1 Loop seatpost? I bought the post and plan on installing iit in the next day or so.
Had a Lupina and now a Dila installed on my T1 loop.
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by Weenie


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RyanH
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by RyanH

basilic wrote:Ryan, I understand your annoyance if several of your saddles broke, but Berk does ususally take care of his customers. It would be unreasonable to expect an 80g saddle to last the same as a saddle that weighs 2x or 3x as much.

re design, I'm more surprised at the Darimo system. The upward pressure from the post is in the middle of the rails, but the downward pressure of the cords is way off. The rails are being bent like an arch. Plus the cords cut into the rails. This cannot be optimal.
You've been on this forum as long as I have. I have had my fair share of weight weenie saddles and parts. Mcfk is my go to saddle and I have put over 30k miles on 4 of them and two have been in multiple crashes and are still going strong.

Also, I pointed out only my saddle problems and left alone the four other people I personally know that have broken Berk saddles. My experience goes beyond just the saddles too but I won't turn this into a Berk bashing rant.

General rule of thumb in cycling industry: if a lot of people say "this company has a great warranty process" then you should be concerned why so many are familiar with the warranty process. Enve comes to mind too.


AnkitS
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Joined: Wed Jan 09, 2019 5:03 am
Location: Santa Cruz, CA

by AnkitS

+1

basilic
Posts: 1028
Joined: Wed Jan 05, 2011 8:05 am
Location: Geneva, Switzerland

by basilic

Ryan, I'm not denying the reports of breakage. I was answering your demands of accountability. If the guy changes or fixes your saddle (well outside the 1.yr EU guarantee period) it shows he's accountable.
I ride Berk saddles for the comfort/flexibility, I'd buy them regardless of weight. But the movements come with stresses and eventually stuff may break. I'm sure they could make stiffer rails etc, but then it'd be another slr. I haven't ridden the mcfk, good to know you like them.

AnkitS
Posts: 1456
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Location: Santa Cruz, CA

by AnkitS

basilic wrote:
Fri Dec 31, 2021 9:06 am
If the guy changes or fixes your saddle (well outside the 1.yr EU guarantee period) it shows he's accountable.
Ryan isn't talking about accountability. Berk also replaced my ~73g lupina with a ~94g one, I love my lupinas but I can't reccomend them due to their short life span and horrendous customer service.

basilic
Posts: 1028
Joined: Wed Jan 05, 2011 8:05 am
Location: Geneva, Switzerland

by basilic

AnkitS wrote:
Fri Dec 31, 2021 9:16 am
Ryan isn't talking about accountability.
RyanH wrote:
Thu Dec 30, 2021 5:24 am
There's a certain point where we should expect accountability.

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Juanmoretime
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by Juanmoretime

Everything is destine to fail, it's just a matter of when. I too have broke 3 Berk saddles. The first a round rail and two with the 7 X 9 ovalized rails. I still ride them since they are very comfortable to me. Not sure if it's a material, assembly or design isssue and Berk seems determined to work it out. All three of the ones where replaced although the last one they requested back since the rails came loose and it was due to the top part of the saddle cracking and breaking. My most recent unidirection Lupina came in at 71 grams and is still going strong. My AX Lightness Sprint with carbon rails I rode for 10 years and them sold it and it's still going 12 years later strong. It too was 71 grams although not as comfortable as the Lupina. I'm sure MFCK and AX Lightness took a few tries to perfect what they do with carbon. I also had a THM Clavicula crank come unbonded at the spindle. Even though I was the second owner THM stepped up and sent me a warrantied crank.

Kumppa
Posts: 488
Joined: Mon Oct 13, 2014 10:05 am

by Kumppa

Did those have still valid warranty when replaced?

Another problem is that you can't never know when that failure is happening as it seems to be a really common issue. While traveling or in the worst case it can cause falling. Another thing is do we really need unnecessary waste when many other brands can make light carbon saddles which seem to last longer, at least from the rails.

I really hope Berk have solved this problem.

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Berk
Carbon Cowboy
Posts: 1100
Joined: Sat Sep 04, 2010 7:20 pm
Location: Slovenia

by Berk

Hi,
yes they all get full warranty, we also don't complicate if the saddle is older, if there is a problem we take care.
We did had some problems related to the glue (material failure) or once even epoxy. When we had an epoxy resin recall we had around 200 saddles affected and we had to get them back, before we realized that they were unfortunately already in use and some experienced multiple failures, you can imagine that it was red flags all over, that was when we realized that something wen't wrong and basicly had to throw away 2 months of work from the complete company + make all the replacements. Later the epoxy resin we used was recalled from the german epoxy manufacturer, but the damage was already done and we took care for all replacements. What we learned the hard way was that we have to inspect every new barrel of epoxy (make a sample and test it first).

We pointed all the problems and I'm really sorry and it caused me some insomnia, but we also have returning customers who made 30.000km or some even 50.000km with the same saddle and just giving our best. It is a topic that most manufacturer won't talk about, but yes, unfortunately failures happens, there is a famous wheel company that has a repair/warranty centre in Germany which is a few times bigger than our company, and still one of the most desired wheels,..so each to his own, we do took about safety and follow all the ISO standards and will continue to give our best also in the future. I am really happy that we do have great customers and we really don't want to dissapoint anyone

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Berk
Carbon Cowboy
Posts: 1100
Joined: Sat Sep 04, 2010 7:20 pm
Location: Slovenia

by Berk

Otherwise some photos of my bike slightly changed for next season. I took off the Sram/Thm/Juin F1 and replace it with an Ekar groupset.

Since I live in a hilly area I decided to give it a try, it is the 44 chainring and 9-42 cassette. Ritchey WCS alu parts and Mavic Cosmic 45 wheels. Not the lightest bike I had, but want to try out the hydraulic braking and since I'm not a fan of electric shifting I decided to go with Ekar.

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We recently made another disc brake bike:
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welchy
Posts: 458
Joined: Wed Jul 01, 2015 4:04 pm

by welchy

Berk wrote:
Fri Dec 31, 2021 4:57 pm
Otherwise some photos of my bike slightly changed for next season. I took off the Sram/Thm/Juin F1 and replace it with an Ekar groupset.

Since I live in a hilly area I decided to give it a try, it is the 44 chainring and 9-42 cassette. Ritchey WCS alu parts and Mavic Cosmic 45 wheels. Not the lightest bike I had, but want to try out the hydraulic braking and since I'm not a fan of electric shifting I decided to go with Ekar.

Image

Image

We recently made another disc brake bike:
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Hey Jure, just wanted to say that I'm loving the Berk Lupina still, I believe I am on saddle number 3 and it's still so much better than anything else i've ever used. Annoyingly we can't see your images. I've just sent you a message and email via Insta about my Lupina, if you get any chance to respond that would be awesome!

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PinaRene
Posts: 856
Joined: Mon Feb 12, 2007 12:08 pm

by PinaRene

Just received my warranty saddle from @Berk. I still ride them on 3 of my bikes. Also one on the gravelbike, and it still is going strong. For me there is just one saddle and that is Berk Lupina 132mm.

Great service- warranty and good communication, although I might not be the only one that is mailing Berk. And yes I understand if an answer takes some time.

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Berk
Carbon Cowboy
Posts: 1100
Joined: Sat Sep 04, 2010 7:20 pm
Location: Slovenia

by Berk

Hi,
thanks for your understanding! There are some crazy times and going back to normal, we are giving our best to answer as soon as possible, we are still a small team and in some cases it can take a few days to answer, so patience is much appreciated, we always take care and won't dissapear anywhere. I do know it is furstrating in some cases but really giving our best.

There is also a lot of confusion going on the social media - if there is anything please just write to info(a)berk-composites.com, we can't track the messages on Instagram, especially if there is a "XYZ123" name used on social media. I (Jure) am not answering the messages on Facebook and Instagram, our team member Teja is really giving our best and we'll always take care. Thanks!


Otherwise to put the topic alive after a few months - we are still a saddle company and we'll see what the future will bring. Already made some new products/prototypes and it might be a long way to put them in production, we'll see and I'll for sure let you know. Recently we just updated our website www.berk-composites.com where we added all possible colors and you can spin around the saddle, maybe please have a look and let me know your thoughts, thank you!

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micky
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Location: Vicenza
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by micky

Can only have good reviews for Berk as I had my fair of unluck with saddle but he was always very good/patient at sorting things out!
Im still waiting for those shoes, Jure!! :D

by Weenie


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Great Prices ✓    Broad Selection ✓    Worldwide Delivery ✓

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