I certainly didn't mean to imply that David is the only American framebuilder worth buying from. I simply stated (or tried to state!) that he appears to do good work, and you can REALLY talk to him about what you want and what you will get. I have recently received 2 custom frames from overseas. I had problems. A friend recently received his custom frame from overseas, he had lots of problems. Yet another friend has had a custom frame on order from an American builder for something like 3 years now and has only recently began talking to this builder about the soon to be built frame.
My point is there is nothing like a great line of communication bewtween you and your builder, and that your odds of ultimately getting what you want are greatly enhanced if you buy from someone you can actually talk to.
My personal preference when buying another custom frame is I will not go thru a dealer. I will contact a builder directly and we will come to an agreement about what will be built. Ideally, I would bring my favorite bike to this builder and we would go for a ride, discussing what I like and don't like, what I'm looking for, etc. Then the builder could sit down and take my measuremnets in person. Again, this is just my preference.
Just my 2 cents!
Cheers,
Rod Kroneneberg
Fort Collins, CO
> on 7/1/04 8:40 AM, rodk3d@comcast.net at rodk3d@comcast.net wrote:
\r?\n>
\r?\n> > I have also talked with David Kirk via the phone and thru e-mail. I second
\r?\n> > Tom's opinion of David. He is young, hungry, talented, and very enthusiatic
\r?\n> > about what he is building. If one lives in America, you also cannot beat the
\r?\n> > fact that he is accesible and speaks English. There is no middleman, foreign
\r?\n> > language, or time zone barrier involved. His prices are very reasonable and
\r?\n> > you can actually get one of his frames in this lifetime.
\r?\n>
\r?\n> Mr. Kirk's frames certainly look beautiful. However, I'm not sure that
\r?\n> being an American framebuilder makes him that unique. There are lots of
\r?\n> talented American framebuilders who are accessible, speak English, don't
\r?\n> have time zone barriers, etc. Your comments make it sound like his only
\r?\n> competition exists overseas, and that does a disservice to the many talented
\r?\n> builders here in the US.
\r?\n>
\r?\n> As far as pricing, dealing direct and not having a middleman is both good
\r?\n> and bad. His price is close to what a single color Waterford sells for.
\r?\n> While Waterford is larger and you don't have the same relationship with the
\r?\n> builder, they do have dealers where you can go see a frame and even test
\r?\n> ride a bike before buying. In this regard, Kirk makes a lot more money on
\r?\n> each frame than Waterford does. Whether having a local dealer is important
\r?\n> to you is another matter.
\r?\n>
\r?\n> I face this issue all the time as I could certainly sell Herons cheaper if I
\r?\n> sold direct. However, for me, the extra value added by having a dealer
\r?\n> network is worth the extra cost.
\r?\n>
\r?\n> Todd Kuzma
\r?\n> Heron Bicycles
\r?\n> Tullio's Big Dog Cyclery
\r?\n> LaSalle, IL 815-223-1776
\r?\n> http://www.heronbicycles.com
\r?\n> http://www.tullios.com