Broken limb

[RGrahamSmith]

Just had a disaster - for no apparent reason the lower limb of my KAP Pro-style bow just snapped! I've only had it 3 months.
It has never been mistreated in any way - always used the correct string etc (someone here said they'd checked with the KAP website and it said it was OK to use Fast-Flight). It's never been knocked, dropped, stored in extremes of temperature, left strung/assembled when not in use, or anything that could have caused damage.
Bowsports have said to send the limbs back (done) and they will replace them, but I wondered if anyone else has had similar problems and can offer any explanation.
Perhaps the only thing I do that others might not is to use the bow quite a lot - as I'm retired and have the time, I've been shooting maybe 60 or 70 arrows twice a week or so.

Puzzled.

Graham

[Rik]

Originally Posted by RGrahamSmith

Just had a disaster - for no apparent reason the lower limb of my KAP Pro-style bow just snapped! I've only had it 3 months.
It has never been mistreated in any way - always used the correct string etc (someone here said they'd checked with the KAP website and it said it was OK to use Fast-Flight). It's never been knocked, dropped, stored in extremes of temperature, left strung/assembled when not in use, or anything that could have caused damage.
Bowsports have said to send the limbs back (done) and they will replace them, but I wondered if anyone else has had similar problems and can offer any explanation.
Perhaps the only thing I do that others might not is to use the bow quite a lot - as I'm retired and have the time, I've been shooting maybe 60 or 70 arrows twice a week or so.

Puzzled.

Graham

Sometimes limbs break. You get manufacturing flaws, or problems with materials. It's no big deal so long as no injury occurs and your supplier takes the correct action. It would only really be a problem if they continued to break...

For reference, I would probably classify 140 arrows a week as low to normal usage. 3 or 4 sessions a week of a hundred arrows each would be starting to get closer to "heavy".

[bundy]

Don't worry. It's not you - its the limbs themselves. As a uni club we've got about 8 of the things and we've had to take 3 back so far.

There was a thread about this sometime ago, but I believe they've altered their design somewhat so the problem isn't so bad - it may be you had an older set of limbs.

We're considering upgrading our kit as and when we have the money to ILF kit which is more reliable and with the KAP t-rex kit cheaper than ever. You might want to do the same unless you don't mind the occasional hassle.

Helen

[archer_thom]

The word on the street (archery field?) in France is that some of these "Korean" manufacturers now use factories in China, which has caused a dramatic drop in build quality. *** Discaimer: This is only a rumour, albeit one which is accepted as true by the dealer network here. The manufacturers which it is said may be affected are KAP, cheaper W&W products, and Seb Flute. Please don't kill the messenger. ***

[Eclipse]

Originally Posted by archer_thom

The word on the street (archery field?) in France is that some of these "Korean" manufacturers now use factories in China, which has caused a dramatic drop in build quality. *** Discaimer: This is only a rumour, albeit one which is accepted as true by the dealer network here. The manufacturers which it is said may be affected are KAP, cheaper W&W products, and Seb Flute. Please don't kill the messenger. ***

Indeed! Some limb boxes now bear the legend "Made in China" whereas others from the same manufacturer still read "Made in Korea"

[Tropicalshot]

Originally Posted by RGrahamSmith

Just had a disaster - for no apparent reason the lower limb of my KAP Pro-style bow just snapped! I've only had it 3 months.

Graham

oh the joys of owning your own equipment surface, as others have said it is not your fault and a good dealer will replace for you and then clain the warranty for you.

i try and put through 300 arrows a week on my samick limbs, i have never had a samick failure but i am sure others have.

keep shooting and dont let it put you off

[RGrahamSmith]

Thank you all for the responses. I'm looking forward to getting my replacements. I can't afford to upgrade just yet, and apart from this mishap, I've been very pleased with the Pro-Style. The box it came in said "Korea", I'm sure, but I can't check because it's that box that I've used to return the limbs.
I'll let you know how quickly Bowsports send replacements.

Graham

[RGrahamSmith]

7th July

Contacted Bowsports 23 June. Told to send limbs back.
Posted limbs back 24 June.
So far - no response.
6 July - emailed asking why no response. Waiting for reply.
I didn't expect the replacements to come all that quickly, but I did expect Bowsports to at least let me know what is happening.

In the meantime - I find that the 68", 28lb limbs (i.e. same specs as KAP's) from my defunct Decathlon "Geologic" bow seem to fit the KAP riser, though they are just a millimetre thinner at the root. Do you think it might be worth trying them, or not?

Graham

[archer_thom]

That's really rather poor customer service.

I'd suggest putting the Decathlon limbs on the riser and seeing if they sit in place comfortably - if they don't move about then it should be ok to shoot.

[mf78]

Those Pro-style limbs are terrible. Me and a friend got ourselves Pro-style risers and limbs when we started archery last year as we couldnt justify the cost of ILF gear at the time. One limb broke in the shop as we were trying them out, but we figured it was just a one-off. Between us we had 6 broken limbs in the last year of either 28 or 30lb sets. The dealer was great about it and replaced every one, but I wouldnt recommend anyone touch these things with a barge pole. Our bows have since been passed on to other beginning archers (and 2 more limbs have cracked, though still replaced without any questions as the bows were still under a year old).