WARNING Don't ever buy a Kronan

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jan

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As my 4 year old son and I were riding my Kronan around Copenhagen today on a nice trip around the capital of Denmark, this happened to my front wheel on my bike, as we were riding downhill, pretty fast. By luck we did not crash, but managed to stay on the bike and stop it eventhough the wheel were split in half, the innertube shredded and the tire not atached to my wheel anymore. It was an extreme unpleasant situation and my knees where shaking afterwards, I would'nt dare to think about what would have happened to my son if we crashed. I have always seen Swedish products as reliable, strong products (volvo's and Saab) but aparantly not Kronan. The same thing happened to my rear wheel back in july, but I realy thought at was something that would not happen again..
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So do youself a favour and never buy a Kronan. This one is one year old.
 
Wow...I'd be taking that up with the company for sure.

If you and your son would have been hurt by that you'd be the new owner of that company.
 
I have had similar failures on mountain bike rims from rim brakes wearing through the sidewall of the rim. Your bike does not look like it has rim brakes.
I would certainly report the failure to the manufacturer so that they can inform other owners of a potential problem. You might save somebody else from a bad crash.
 
WOW!!! That was clean straight split. Was the rim welded or crimped together at the break? (2 pieces made into 1 rim). I've never seen something like that before :shock:
 
Kronan bicycles are a cheap knock of of the swedish army bikes from the 1940.. The Real military bikes are bomb proof and built like tanks.. i have had a couple of them. The Kronan company is swedish but i dont know where the bikes are made.. They are overpriced and made up of cheap parts.. i agree, don't buy them..
 
Yes, contact the company.

I've always wanted to own one.. But got dissapointed when I saw my friend's Kronan: Very poor quality, for it was one year old and it already felt like just an old neglegted bike...

Edit: They look cool though. I think they even advertised it as: 'The original Swedish army bike'... I wanted one because of that, but mainly because of it's vintage design. As oposed to retro design.
 
Wowzers :shock: I've never heard of a wheel split like that, and it happened to you twice ? Talk about bad luck / quality...I used to own a Kronan and found nothing wrong with it (apart from not having gears), but mine was 25 years old, perhaps they let it slip over the years ?
 
Ace said:
Wowzers :shock: I've never heard of a wheel split like that, and it happened to you twice ? Talk about bad luck / quality...I used to own a Kronan and found nothing wrong with it (apart from not having gears), but mine was 25 years old, perhaps they let it slip over the years ?
Click to expand...

Hey Ace, I think you had the real deal quality bike that could have been used by the Army. (The one I really wanted... :wink: )

I suspect the 'new' ones were just cheap knock-offs sold for a high price just to fall in the 'hip' cattegory. imho. Maybe a company take-over? Or name-sell-out?

Do you have any pics of that old bike? Or did you compare it to a 'new' one? Would be cool to do a compare the two.
 
This is a the real deal..!

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The Kronan company was formed in 97 and sold refurbished armybikes then got a hold of the army speccs for the bike and started to produce it themself, i dont know where but im guessing somewhere cheap?. *cough-asia-cough
So the new bikes have very little in common with the old ones.. should you come across a old swedish army bike? buy it.. it will be heavy as **** and have no gears but it will probably last for ages..
 
Very nice K-dregg, thanks for your input. I definately didn't own one like that, that's for sure. I bought mine 2nd hand in '98 and was told it was approx. 12 years old, but I now know it couldn't have been earlier than '97. But chances are my frame was old stock before they were reproduced ? The fork is different though, sprocket is stamped sheetmetal, and I wish they would have kept those big drumbrakes ! Here's a pic of mine with Whizzer seat & bars:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/9213917@N0 ... 97/sizes/l

Never mind, the bike is somebody else's problem now. :wink:
 
I wrote to the company yesterday, but haven't got an answer yet. So I'm looking forward to see what their reply will be. I also wrote to the company last time it happened to my rear wheel, so they know it happened to me in two times since July..
 
Wow, that's messed up! Glad you and your boy are alright. You should definitely find out who made those rims, and contact them too. That's a major hazard.
 
That's a common failure on Kronan bikes :idea: At least on the newer ones Kronan produced themselves.

I've seen rims crack on Kronans many times (they're made of very bad quality steel and weren't coated or sealed properly against rust) but never seen them crack like this while riding. Also the cracked rims I saw were always on the rear :roll:

Good to hear you (and more important your son) weren't hurt. But remember: You feel most alive at the face of death :mrgreen:
 

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