Wow, looks like there's more composite experts out there than we realized! Out of respect for those who are wondering 'what went wrong' with the kickstands, I'll make just one post on this thread, with the facts, then we'll continue working with the actual R1 kickstand customers direct.
BARF is awesome for so many reasons, but there's always a percentage in every group, and the shelter of the internet just brings out the keyboard hero in some.....
So it was very sad to learn today that someone posted photos and complaints about one of our products before coming to us (without the facts and not actually being a customer
), then everyone getting very excited with their own analysis, also without the facts.
The OP intent obviously wasn't to solve a problem, it was to maximize damage to DD before we had a chance to solve the problem for
our customers. I guess I'm old school, but I still prefer person to person exhange of concerns with goodwill to set problems straight. As adults who are into bikes and business, we appreciate direct feedback. Then we have a chance to respond and set any concerns straight…..like regular intelligent adults…..person to person…..before the shelter of the internet……
So I'm looking forward to a phone call from the OP.
Meanwhile here’s the facts for 'adults only'
- This was a group buy of several custom kickstand models for an R1 forum organized by one group contact.
- The deal was for kickstands in our old style (thinner, rougher, cheaper) for $190 each, so long as we had one point of contact with the R1 group to make it efficient and we had the time necessary to make new clevises from scratch (CAD, CAM and CNC machining of a small batch is time consuming and expensive).
- We upgraded them to the molds in the new style for same price.
- New style sold for $295 plus $100 for gloss coat - $395 per stand for that quality of finish.
- We didn’t have an R1 to test fitment on, but copied the OEM kickstand samples accurately…..or so we thought.....
- Length was obviously too long after fitment by our group contact (not sure how our guy made that error), so we offered to shorten that first batch accordingly, but they weren’t returned to us for modification – they were sent out to the members by the group contact.
- The second batch was shortened before it shipped, to solve this problem. It was ready to ship last week, but the group contact asked us to wait because there were other issues we might be able to address before we ship.
- We will absolutely fix the length issue with all the stands shipped, exactly as we offered weeks ago, as soon as we learned of the problem.
- It was only TODAY that we received the list of issues the group has with the kickstands. As promised, we will work through those issues and fix what we can, according to the level expected of the $190 kickstands.
- We will also add gloss coat and an extra carbon fiber layer over the exposed back, but that would be the spec of our other kickstands for $395, so customers who want that level of finish can pay the difference to fund that level of finish.
- When we decided to take on this group job, we were worried that there would be that sad 1% of every forum who would be more interested in talking tough from the shelter of their computer than working with us direct, say when they didn’t grasp why they couldn’t have a $395 kickstand for $190…..
- As a result of this experience we’ll never take a forum order again, and we’ve cancelled kickstands from production. For $395 they were marginally worth doing. For $190 they lose a lot of money and the customers don’t like the value, so looks like it doesn’t make sense for anyone.
- We want adult customers who know how to deal with people directly, with goodwill, so we’ll stick with those higher end products that we do so well, sold through direct conversations or through dealers we can trust to explain our ‘unusual’ products.
- We make these compression-molded structural composites in San Francisco, hand-finished composites take time, and we had rapid growth in the last six months, so it was a challenge to catch up with all the back orders. We apologize for any problems our delays have caused our customers. We are nearly caught up now, and cancelling all future kickstands will definitely help us stay ahead of demand in future!
So now we'll hand over to the keyboard commandos to continue the fun here
, and we'll hang out with the adults.
Some of you guys spend the same money at a club in one night or a couple out with the boys.
