On Tuesday, May 19, 2020 at 4:00:24 AM UTC-7, wrote:
On Tuesday, May 19, 2020 at 12:02:35 AM UTC+2, Andre Jute wrote:


After a while there is nothing magical about any frame material. It is all about fit, position and geometry. According to the latest reports my new frame for my gravel bike will be shipped next week after almost 6 months after the initial order. Murphy struck big time with this.

Lou

Man, I would long since have had my money back, and ripped the whole supply chain all the way back to the manufacturer a new asshole. You must really want that bike. No point in being a trick publicist if you don't swing the club.

Andre Jute
That's why I like dealing with the Germans and the Dutch: if they promise something, it happens

I made the choice for that after long deliberation. Sold both my ATB's and one of my road bikes and I trade in another road bike. So this bike replaces four bikes, so yes I really want that bike. After the initial order I expected/agreed on a lead time of 2-3 months. I'm not the person that bothers the LBS during that time, but after 2.5 months I made some inquiries. After 4 weeks of several vague answers and promises I demanded a answer to what was going on and on the cc list of all the emails to and from the manufacturer. Than I got this Email (April 7) from the manufacturer (names replaced by 'LBS'):


Lou,


First off I want to sincerely apologize for the issues.

We originally received an order for a 55cm Routt 45 from 'LBS' on December 9. At that time we had a 55cm Routt 45 frameset on the shelf for immediate delivery after receiving payment, this was clearly communicated to the shop. We held the frame in good faith and sent John frequent reminders, after weeks of no reply from 'LBS' we had to assume that the shop no longer wanted the frame and we sold it. Despite dozens and dozens of call and emails we did not hear anything from 'LBS' until March 17th asking if we still had a 55cm Routt 45 in stock. I informed him that we did not, because we had not be able to get in contact with him for 4 months.

On March 30th 'LBS' emailed asking about ordering the 55 RT45 complete build that was listed on our webstore. Based off our previous experience we did not hold the bike for him. On the evening of March 30th someone purchased the complete build off our webstore BEFORE we received the payment from the shop on the morning of the 31st (in the US) . With our mandatory ‘stay at home order’ from the State of Colorado we have all been working a limited number of hours; when 'LBS' asked to order the Black Decal 54cm Routt 45 it was also purchased off our webstore before we had a chance to process his order.

At the end of the day our goal is not to assign blame, it is to get you happy and riding on a bike you love. But if 'LBS' would have replayed to ANY of our contacts we would have had this frame to the shop in early December..

The 3 options we have for you at this time are-

A 55cm Routt 45 frame/fork/headset on the shelf. It has a 1cm taller headtube, polish panel finish, & Etap shift routing w/ internal brake. We can discount this frame for you.
We have a 54cm Routt 45 for Di2 that is pretty far along in production (I will have to check with our team on an exact ETA we can deliver the frame in)
Or we start a new order with an estimated 11 week lead time.

Please let us know how you would like to proceed.

Again we can’t apologize enough, this is highly unusual for us to have issues like this with any of our dealers. We hope you and your family are healthy during this crazy time we are all going though,


After that I lost a night sleep you can understand. I decided to go for option two and take control myself.

Lou

The demand for bicycles in the USA over the last several months has grown so large that no one has been able to keep up with the demand. So remember that you're on a list.

I guess I will keep my two Treks and my Colnago and sell the Basso, the Lemond and the Redline. That's two bikes with Campy 10 speed and one with Di2 11 speed.

I will then have enough room in my garage for my collection.