Concept2 Forum

Hi,

I have had my rower since spring of this year. I have been noticing small black pieces on the rollers under the seat since the beginning. You can see them on the attached picture. They are easy to peel off and appear to consist of black paint and metal chips that have been rolled flat by the movement of the seat.

I have visually inspected the rail and the seat (from the outside, without disassembling it) and see nothing that indicates something is rubbing or scraped off.

Have you ever seen this? I guess it's not good for the wear of the rollers in the long run.

This is the ergo sucking the life force out of you, it deposits the residue on the monorail. There's no cure except to train better.

You can mitigate against the black chips on the monorail with a good dose of Windex and a clean lint free cloth. That may be more effective than training better.

It's a constant discussion on here.

"They are a combination of dirt, perspiration, molydisulfide (a lubricant from the plastic rollers) and a very small amount of the nylon plastic that the rollers are made of." Normal. Wipe them off rail and rollers. https://www.concept2.co.uk/service/indo ... the%20rail.

But suspect above could be a cover story from the C2 lawyers for

Citroen wrote: ↑

December 19th, 2024, 11:59 am

..the ergo sucking the life force out of you

wolfl wrote: ↑

December 19th, 2024, 7:16 am

I guess it's not good for the wear of the rollers in the long run.

Don't worry, my erg is just over six years old, and I've done many millions of metres. The black stuff is a constant and I've not had to change the rollers. Just keep cleaning them regularly and you'll be fine.

I'm in the same boat, as long as I wipe it before and after a row I'm good with smooth movement.

When it gets bumpy I take a wet rag to rail and rollers. Works like a dream, always wonder why I didn't do it sooner.

Thanks to you all for your answers.

The concept2 website doesn't mention pieces of metal, though. What I see here looks like small thin shavings of metal. They are ferromagnetic (tested with a magnet), so it's not just dirt and nylon plastic. Since the rail itself is made of aluminium (uneducated guess, it's not ferromagnetic) that would mean the chips come from the axles of the seat rollers?

No one here has seen this before?

(I have tried to attach a picture, but it doesn't work. Maybe because it's a new account)

The picture limit size is tiny here - not just if you've got a new account, so host it on another site and use the img tags if you want to share.

If there's no other place for there to be any contamination of metal onto the rail, then it does seem to suggest that there's something not right some-where.

but I'd have through if there's shavings of metal then it would be really obvious too that something wasn't running smoothly.

You contacted C2 support? -thry may be able to assist with further troubleshooting.

I get black gunk on mine all the time, and I've never tested whether it is magnetic, but I do wipe the rail and the rollers down at lest once a week to reduce build-up. (used to do it more when the erg was setup in a room on carpet due to the additional dust)

I've never considered if there's small pieces of silver in there too, but I really doubt that there is.

I'd also suggest contacting Concept 2's customer service. They're fantastic with any issues.