Quoted message said:But, the poster appeared annoyed that CycleArt took longer than they said it was...most frame
builders as well
I'm the original poster and this was quite an extreme case. I sent the bike in before Thanksgiving
and was told it would be done around Christmas time. Didn't arrive, mid-January the same, keeps
going. When the start of March came, they hadn't even started it. I todl them I was going on
vacation in the start of April and they promised me it would be ready. I ended up missing my
vacation (it was a cycling vacation) because of this.
I've had other dealings with custom shops and it's never been on time. Good hearted, well
intentioned people, but...don't expect things to come on time.
There has been two times that when getting custom work that after several delays, I've said to them,
"If you can't guarantee it will be done by this time, that's ok, but tell me." They told me so and I
took my parts and went elsewhere with them.
In my case, I only own one high-end bike (go ahead, laugh at me), so when my bike is
non-operational, I only have my junker that I use to go to the store to ride. I have patience, but I
can't be without a bike for months.
I don't mind delays, just be open and realistic with me. In short, I'm agreeing with the other
posters at the vagaries of the custom work.
Given the nature of custom work it is very important to get references. In one case, where I didn't
get references, a guy didn't follow directions. It was very clear what I wanted and he admitted he
didn't even look at the drawings I gave him. He wouldn't fix it and short of going to court, there
was nothing to be done.
In another case, where I had several local references, the guy did totally [censored] work. The custom
airbrushing looked like a cartoon done by a high school art student. Even the people who made the
references agreed, one saying, "It certainly isn't the best work that he's done."
My few suggestions: Get references, be patient.
