Bowflex folks lied to me
I’ve owned a Bowflex for about 5 years. Love it. Absolutely the best home gym available. Believe me, I’ve had quite a few different brands and styles over the years, and the Bowflex is the best, bar none. In fact, I liked the product so much, I also purchased the SelectTech Dumbbells. Another great invention for health and fitness.
A couple years back, I noticed that the Bowflex “power rods” weren’t keeping their shape. What I mean is that, when purchased, they are straight and rigid. After use, they lose their straight shape and acquire a casual bend. So what is normally completely straight, is curved a bit from bending them during workouts.
To me, the permanent bend meant that not only were the power rods not keeping their shape, but they were also losing their “power”. So, it made perfect sense to me that when new you would get an optimum workout because the rods retained their documented weight equivalent, but after time (when they started retaining a bend) they would lose their overall weight equivalent. Seemed logical. The Bowflex folks have always had great support, replacing broken pieces for free several times, sending out re-engineered parts for safety reasons, stuff like that. So, I decided to call them about the power rods losing their shape and power.
On the phone, they told me that the Bowflex is engineered against any defect like this and that the power rods were designed to never lose their power. Of course, this didn’t make sense to me so I tried to explain the finer points of engineering and why nothing lasts forever. Instead of agreeing with me (what product company really would?) they suggested that I wasn’t maintaining the Bowflex the way I should, yet I’ve always maintained the unit just like it was new. In fact, you won’t find a spec of dust on it today.
It was a lost cause, so I accepted their story and left it alone. Until today…
Both of my Bowflex hand grips have cracked (which, by the way, I was told were designed not to crack), so I was out on their web site to see if I could order replacements. Looking through their online accessory catalog, I couldn’t find a way to order replacements, yet I found this:
Bowflex® Power Rod® Rejuvenator™ – Helps ensure your Bowflex® Power Rod® resistance rods perform just like new, every time you use them! Keeps Power Rod® resistance rods neat and organized when not in use!
Hmmm…might be time for another call to Bowflex. Wonder what they’ll tell me now.