Re: [CR]Alex Singer - the show so far...

(Example: Framebuilders:Jack Taylor)

In-Reply-To: <opr8eyy2qyw5o8sp@smtp.tiscali.co.uk>
References: <003701c44018$51fbb660$06cea543@home>
Date: Sat, 22 May 2004 16:30:59 -0700
To: classicrendezvous@bikelist.org
From: "Jan Heine" <heine93@earthlink.net>
Subject: Re: [CR]Alex Singer - the show so far...


Bob,

I, too, was concerned when hearing about John's bike. After all, I recommend these bikes to the readers of my magazine, and I order them for people.

So I spoke to several people who received Singers in the past 18 months, and they all said their's were great, ready to ride after bars were straightened and pedals attached. That was also my experience with a used Singer, which I had overhauled at the shop before I received it. Consistently, riders in France praise Singer as the only shop today where you can get a bike without having to worry about things falling off or rattling.

So with John's bike, something must have gone wrong. It shouldn't have been that way, no question about it, but nobody is infallible. Some of the problems (the wheels out of whack) may be transportation-related - John's bike spent an extra two weeks in transit, supposedly held up in Chicago, but nobody knows what they were doing to it. I certainly believe Ernest Csuka that the rear wheel was turning freely when the bike was in his shop, otherwise it would have been hard to adjust the gears!

At least Ernest Csuka, like most makers who take pride in their work, is willing to make good on it. And I doubt it'll happen again. (If he had to pay out on every bike for other shops to redo things, he wouldn't be in business for long!)

Jan Heine, Seattle
>Jan wrote in his letter to John ;
>
>I just talked to Ernest, and he was rather surprised. He doesn't
>know what happened with your bike. I wonder whether it was sent out
>with the parts test-assembled for fit only, rather than the final
>assembly.
>
>---
>
>An interesting stance - I mean if Ernest Csuka doesn't know what
>happened who does ? is he not a one man band with few assistants ?
>Why one earth would anyone send out a bike test assembled, unless of
>course they made a mistake. All the points John raised are just
>signs of a badly built machine (any make any era), no matter whose
>name is on the frame. Disappointing I'd guess, but good to see at
>least he intends to redress the issue. In a way it's sad to see a
>great name sulied as I'm sure for every bad one that has gone out
>there would be more than ten without fault, but for a 'constructeur'
>whose supposedly selling a whole machine rather than a collection of
>parts hung on a frame - and of course charging a premium for the
>concept - as a buyer, I would be extremely concerned and wary.
>Here's hoping the rest of Johns experience makes up for the poor
>workmanship he's encountered.

>

>Bob Reid

>Stonehaven

>Scotland