John,
I've had Argos do two Hetchins frames for me and their work is excellent. I still have a 1938 Hetchins Tour de France with them to refinish. Call Mark at Argos directly to see what's going on. Their number is:+o11 44 (0) 117 9724730.
If you get no results, send the frame to Cleveland Bike Spray in Stockton on Tees. Their website URL is; http://www.clevelandbikespray.co.uk/
I've got a Penny Talk account and it cost me forty nine cents for the connection charge, plus I think three cents a minute to talk to anyone in the UK. I find I get better results calling directly rather than email, with less chance for misunderstandings. Just remember the 5-6 hour time difference when you call.
Best regards,
Peter Naiman
Glendale, WI USA
From: John Ferguson <xrs2@yahoo.com> Subject: [CR] Argos To: classicrendezvous@bikelist.org Date: Friday, June 11, 2010, 7:43 PM
I'm hesitant to do this, but does anyone have a contact at Argos Cycles, or know what is going on there?
Sent them a frame for a repaint ten (yes, ten) months ago...my most recent communication from them was on 4/30, saying that they're "keen to start the project, just lacking the time to look at it!"
I've requested my frame back from them, and haven't heard a thing. Am I being unreasonable? Is 10 months out of line for a repaint and minor frame work? Note that they have pushed back the delivery date from the few months initially estimated to basically whenever they feel like getting to it.
I've seen their work, it's really quite good, and they seem to know what they are talking about. Would love to have them complete the work, but don't understand what is going on...it's not like I've been e-mailing them daily, just every 6 weeks or so to see whether they were going to get to it some time this decade.
Now...if I'd sent the frame to Brian Baylis or someone similar, I could understand the wait as he's an individual in high demand. But isn't Argos a commercial operation?
John Ferguson
New York, NY