# After sales



## Biker man (6 Oct 2021)

What is the best make for service and warranty, follow up.


----------



## Sittingduck (6 Oct 2021)

You may as well ask which are the best brand of tea bags. You will get 10 different responses from 10 different posters, depending on anecdotal experiences. Which type of bike are you specifically interested in, maybe narrow down the question a bit and it will help with a slightly more useful set of replies? Just my thoughts.


----------



## vickster (6 Oct 2021)

What can you get hold of in the required style/size.
Warranty usually only for original owner so if buying used it’s not relevant.
It’s mostly the big global manufacturers with lifetime frame/ fork warranty (assuming failure not crash of course). But you’ll pay a premium usually over eg Planet X who have shorter warranties typically (except Decathlon who are cheaper and have lifetime on frames).
Aftersales, I’d say that’s more down to the selling LBS as much as the manufacturer (although most LBS have a fairly narrow range of manufacturers). If really interested on the manufacturer side, I’d ask the LBS for their exoeriences (although the pandemic has messed up availability and supply so delays to say a replacement part might not be down to lbs or manufacturer).


----------



## Biker man (6 Oct 2021)

Sittingduck said:


> You may as well ask which are the best brand of tea bags. You will get 10 different responses from 10 different posters, depending on anecdotal experiences. Which type of bike are you specifically interested in, maybe narrow down the question a bit and it will help with a slightly more useful set of replies? Just my thoughts.


Kalkhoff is the bike I have at the moment and I find them excellent I had a Byocycle before they were good also but emailing a couple of makes they refused to answer a question ,so you draw your own conclusions.


----------



## Sittingduck (6 Oct 2021)

So the insight requested is specifically around e-bikes?


----------



## Cycleops (6 Oct 2021)

If you were to take this at face value then the big retailers like Decathlon and Halfords would seem to offer the best deal. Decathlon offer a lifetime frame warranty plus one year on parts and Halfords would Like to be seen as a dealer defending its reputation as a being fair and offering good service. However we all know this doesn’t always tell the true story, it’s all about the experiences of customers and what sort of service and expertise they receive.
Your LBS might best bet as they are on hand to sort out any problems you might have and know that a good reputation is paramount in maintaining a good local customer base.


----------



## Biker man (6 Oct 2021)

vickster said:


> What can you get hold of in the required style/size.
> Warranty usually only for original owner so if buying used it’s not relevant.
> It’s mostly the big global manufacturers with lifetime frame/ fork warranty (assuming failure not crash of course). But you’ll pay a premium usually over eg Planet X who have shorter warranties typically (except Decathlon who are cheaper and have lifetime on frames).
> Aftersales, I’d say that’s more down to the selling LBS as much as the manufacturer (although most LBS have a fairly narrow range of manufacturers). If really interested on the manufacturer side, I’d ask the LBS for their exoeriences (although the pandemic has messed up availability and supply so delays to say a replacement part might not be down to lbs or manufacturer).


I think they play the covid card bit to much.


----------



## Biker man (6 Oct 2021)

Cycleops said:


> If you were to take this at face value then the big retailers like Decathlon and Halfords would seem to offer the best deal. Decathlon offer a lifetime frame warranty plus one year on parts and Halfords would Like to be seen as a dealer defending its reputation as a being fair and offering good service. However we all know this doesn’t always tell the true story, it’s all about the experiences of customers and what sort of service and expertise they receive.
> Your LBS might best bet as they are on hand to sort out any problems you might have and know that a good reputation is paramount in maintaining a good local customer base.


A friend gave me Kalkhoff s number in Germany they weren't to pleased when I phoned them .🤔


----------



## Cycleops (6 Oct 2021)

Biker man said:


> I think they play the covid card bit to much.


I don’t think it’s so much to do with Covid but the big rise in demand for bikes plus the production problems Shimano are having.


----------



## Biker man (6 Oct 2021)

Sittingduck said:


> So the insight requested is specifically around e-bikes?


Yes


----------



## Ming the Merciless (6 Oct 2021)

Van Nicholas were good when I had a frame crack


----------



## Cycleops (6 Oct 2021)

Biker man said:


> A friend gave me Kalkhoff s number in Germany they weren't to pleased when I phoned them .🤔


What made you think that?
if you bought in the UK your contract is with the supplying dealer there. It’s up to them to deal with any warranty or other problems.


----------



## Biker man (6 Oct 2021)

Cycleops said:


> What made you think that?
> if you bought in the UK your contract is with the supplying dealer there. It’s up to them to deal with any warranty or other problems.


They weren't they took the word of someone who said they would do a software update them didn't check up to see if he had follow it up.


----------



## Drago (6 Oct 2021)

All of them are suffering due to parts supply issues. Hellfrauds, who have an otherwise pretty poor rep, were known to be generally quite good with Carreras, swapping parts and even whole bikes without demur due to a rich supply of parys and bikes from the importer, but parts shortages has knocked that on the head.

Therefore it's a lottery - even the most dilligent shop/distributor are liable to leave you dangling a long time for repairs or warranty work at the present time, and there is little prospect of that changing in the foreseeable,p.


----------



## ebikeerwidnes (6 Oct 2021)

A couple of years ago I bought a Raleigh ebike from the LBS
Turned out they had recently made a small change to the system - which caused me loads of problems
The LBS were great about it - great support
But Raleigh were excellent in helping the lbs sort out the problems at no cost and, after a few months, fixed the whole problem by upgrading my bike totally so as to fix my problem and the LBS's problem at the same time

So - a good LBS is the place to look for good initial support - but if the manufacturer is rubbish then the LBS can be limited in what they can do


----------



## Alex321 (6 Oct 2021)

Sittingduck said:


> So the insight requested is specifically around e-bikes?


He did post in the ebikes subforum


----------



## Biker man (6 Oct 2021)

Alex321 said:


> He did post in the ebikes subforum


The whole site is called cycle chat so what is the problem Alex


----------



## figbat (6 Oct 2021)

Biker man said:


> The whole site is called cycle chat so what is the problem Alex


I'm not sure I see a problem - I infer that @Alex321 was suggesting that since the question was asked in the e-bike area, the scope of the request must for for e-bike feedback. Is this what you wanted? If so, no problem. If you wanted wider cycle experience and feedback then a small problem exists, but it isn't with Alex's post.


----------



## Sittingduck (6 Oct 2021)

Pretty sure it was originally in a different part of the forum and has been moved. Just sayin'.


----------



## Scoosh (6 Oct 2021)

*Mod Note:*
Thread was originally posted in Bikes and Buying Advice – What Bike?
It was Moved because it is referring specifically to eBikes.


----------



## carpiste (6 Oct 2021)

ebikeerwidnes said:


> A couple of years ago I bought a Raleigh ebike from the LBS
> Turned out they had recently made a small change to the system - which caused me loads of problems
> The LBS were great about it - great support
> But Raleigh were excellent in helping the lbs sort out the problems at no cost and, after a few months, fixed the whole problem by upgrading my bike totally so as to fix my problem and the LBS's problem at the same time
> ...



It appears you have the answer to your original question


----------



## Alex321 (6 Oct 2021)

Biker man said:


> The whole site is called cycle chat so what is the problem Alex


No problem at all.



Sittingduck said:


> Pretty sure it was originally in a different part of the forum and has been moved. Just sayin'.





Scoosh said:


> *Mod Note:*
> Thread was originally posted in Bikes and Buying Advice – What Bike?
> It was Moved because it is referring specifically to eBikes.



I didn't realise it had been moved to this subforum, I thought it had been posted in it initially.


----------



## CXRAndy (6 Oct 2021)

I bought my ebike from China, knowing that anything major it was down to me. Unless the frame cracks, then expensive item is the motor and battery I've got a spare battery part of the purchase. A complete motor kit will cost $600. So not the end of the world


----------



## youngoldbloke (6 Oct 2021)

If your ebike is out of warranty as is mine, or as I did, you move 100s of miles away from from the original dealer you purchased from, Google dealers that sell your brand of e-bike in your area. When I did this I was pleasantly surprised to find an e-bike specialist that dealt with Orbea relatively close, and received excellent service, although I hadn't purchased the bike from them originally.


----------



## Biker man (6 Oct 2021)

youngoldbloke said:


> If your ebike is out of warranty as is mine, or as I did, you move 100s of miles away from from the original dealer you purchased from, Google dealers that sell your brand of e-bike in your area. When I did this I was pleasantly surprised to find an e-bike specialist that dealt with Orbea relatively close, and received excellent service, although I hadn't purchased the bike from them originally.


Yes I didn't go to the original dealer because the original wanted to put the bike in quarantine for 2weeks before they would look at it .


----------

