DOS

I have a many years old Topeak Joe Blow Sport pump. This week it stopped working; it seemed like something was blocking airflow because I could not depress the plunger.

My first theory was that the o-ring in the plunger was bad, so I sent an email to Topeak’s US distributor, a company called Todson Inc. in Massachusettes, asking where I could get one. They responded almost immediately, asked which version of the Joe Blow Sport I had (I,II,or III), and then sent me one same day, free of charge.

Well an o-ring is no big deal, but upon further evaluation, I discovered my problem was not the o-ring. Apparently I overheated the pump while experimenting with whether a tire, which had been pierced by a giant screw, could be saved. Who knew you could overheat a floor pump? But, apparently,you can by pumping up a tire with a hole in it over and over again. In overheating the pump, I damaged the “check valve“, which is the part that the hose attaches to and which controls flow to the hose and pressure gauge. I sent another email to Todson with a picture, and they are sending me a replacement, again, free, even though similar parts for newer model pumps are available for sale and the fact that mine failed was due to my own incompetence.

masi61

Good to know! It is very confidence inspiring when you can rest easy knowing that your older pump still has and will continue to have replacement parts available.

UKFan4Sure

That's good to know. I've been debating on a tail bag and it looks like the MTX DXB might have just won out due to your post.

In my opinion, there is nothing like good customer service, whether it's blenders or bike parts.

Digger Goreman

I bought a used Explorer rack with basic MTX trunk bag, a few years ago. Around the same time, acquired a used medium wedge pack off flea bay. Added a bottle cage last year.... All still with me and performing flawlessly.

I even miss-threaded the trunk bag couple years back: held only by it's bar latch. Bag was still on, miles later, when I stopped and noticed.

Troul 

I can say from my own experiences, that Topeak's customer service is great. They're one of the very rare businesses that keep me believing that true, honest, & good places still exist!

Now if they could just take my idea in making the under stowage tray slightly wider & longer from my last suggested product to offer, they'd be even better!

hokiefyd 

My local bike shop told me a story about one of their customers having one of Topeak's MTX trunk bags for many years, when one the zippers started to fail. Topeak sent him a completely new bag (these are near 100 bucks!) at absolutely no charge.

leob1

I've had the opposite experience with my Joe Blow. I did blow out an o-ring. So I contacted Topeak, they had no replacement available, nor could they tell me the size of the o-ring I needed. I had to hunt through the o-rings at a local Ace hardware to find something that was close enough.

Eric S.

I think I had the same problem with a Joe Blow I had for ~12 years. In trying to get into the barrel to see what was going on, I broke the plastic top "cap", so that was it for that pump. Been using a Serfas for about 6 years now; doing fine.

unterhausen

my experience was they charged me $10 for 50 cents worth of parts. Hopefully they have changed their ways since then

DOS

So here is how the story ends (happily).

Two days after my original post, the replacement the valve arrived. It was immediately apparent that it was not the valve I needed (if anyone has a Topeak Joe Blow Max pump that needs a valve, I have one). I was hesitant to send yet another email, figuring I had asked enough of Todson, they had done their customer service due diligence, and so I was inclined to just surrender. But, a few days later, I sent email explaining that valve was not correct. They asked a couple of clarifying questions about my pump and then said, “you need a whole new gauge assembly, which we will send you free of charge”. The assembly arrived today, I swapped it onto the pump and its good as new.

So, to sum up, over the course of two weeks, they sent me an o-ring, check valve, and gauge assembly all free of charge, all shipped within hours of my emailing them, and all of which arrived within two days of the exchange.

See pic: from left to right or bottom to top depending on how it posts, new gauge installed, old gauge assembly, failed valve from old assembly, incorrect replacement valve they sent.