Jerald Sulky: Bad Company to deal with

[Bicycle808]

If they are not able to make the investment in getting large qty's ordered from Asia, then maybe I should. I have money to invest and am looking for more products to add to the ten I have. If anyone knows the source, convo me.

And ya, what Steve said. If your inventory is low, and you haven't placed a new order, you'll run out. It takes three months to get product from China or Taiwan.

In all seriousness, you ABSOLUTELY should look into that. Just make sure you got your liability concerns addressed. I think there's a lot of ppl on this site and similar sites that could very well help with some free but valuable product development, plus you can see what's in demand/what isn't better than an "outsider" would.

Kinda dissimilar but totally related: a MTB company called Niner bikes went from rags to riches really quickly, and all the original advertising and product development seems to have been done on the MTBR.com forums. Dude got lucky, being active on those forums just as 29" mtbs were about to hit the tipping point and I guess he had enough initial investment capital, but dang, that's a pretty big/influential company now. RRB is obviously smaller and far more niche than mtbr has ever been since its inception, but still.... I think someone with deep enough pockets would do well to offer 2 or 3 different cruiser/stretch/"kustom" frames, some hott forks, and some decent wheelsets and rubber, all made in Taiwan or wherever is most feasible from a price:quality perspective. Beyond that, they could stock up on and sell the typical fast-selling cheap crap that we all know, love and buy from time to time. It could do quite well!

 

[Bicycle808]

About time!

It happens more often than you might think....

 

[CRASH]

I've ordered 2 of their 26" at different times, one as recently as this last June and it arrived within a week of ordering it. Tim, I believe, is the one who's come on RRB talking about his tires. He even made positive comments on my build during the last MBBO about how I used his tire. The last time he posted on RRB he was talking about introducing a 20" slick which got the muscle bike community and fans all excited... then nothing.

I hope there is nothing too serious going on with their company. I know we are a niche to them, but to us Jerald has been an important part of many builds.

 

[Ichoptop]

Though I don't disagree with many of these points, business is business. You don't offer a product, give someone the ability to order it then leave them hanging for weeks with no contact. It has been over a week since I was told "I will check into tomorrow and let you know" I also have a small business restoring and building custom bikes. I have several project going on at once and still find the time to send weekly emails with pictures of what's going on with customers projects. People pay me to do this so its the least I can do to show them what they are paying for and how it is going. I also won't take a new project if I can't complete it in a timely manner or make sure it is well known that a customers bike is going to hang in the rack for a month before I get to it. It's just showing some respect to customers which is greatly lacking in all industries these day.

 

[pick]

Ichoptop, you are exactly right. I wasn't defending them as much as trying to find some explanation in there shortcomings. Failure to reply and continuing to take orders for out of stock products is inexcusable.

+1

 

[Jamie825]

Me to ^ You know when I did call and got ahold of them the woman that answered seemed a little agervated at me because the prepaid credit card I used refunded the money that I had tried to purchase the tire with I don't know how all that works but I ordered the tire and paid with the card and then while waiting for it to be delivered I got a email from the card saying that the order had expired and the money was back on the card that is how I found out that it wasn't going to happen she was agitated cause she thought that I was the one that took the money back I explained what had happened and she said that was the first time it had happened that she had several peoples money on hold and there cards did no such thing ?

 

[ifitsfreeitsforme]

So how do I go about finding his source? Or should I leave it alone for now?


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[Rat Rod]

So how do I go about finding his source? Or should I leave it alone for now?

I question whether there's really enough money to be made off of a tire like this. As with all things bike related, you have to sell thousands of them to get a return on your investment.

Most people who buy this particular tire are putting them on bikes that don't get much seat time. They are horrible to have on the front of a bike so it ends up limiting you to running one of them.

I have feeling if there was an opportunity to make a lot off of this tire then Tim would be doing it already.

 

[Bicycle808]

Steve's prolly right, but there's evidence that Cheng Shin Tires (CST) is kinda the knock-off specialist for tires.... but, the minimum order for such a thing would probably be pretty massive.

 

[yeshoney]

At this point the mold development cost has already been incurred. All thats needed is capital to fund an initial order (@Ian). How hard can it be?

 

[user 135]

Most people who buy this particular tire are putting them on bikes that don't get much seat time. They are horrible to have on the front of a bike so it ends up limiting you to running one of them.
.

Yep....most people always order 2 Felt, Schwalbes or whatever tire so selling one at a time would be double the work for shipping and such.

 

[Rat Rod]

I would recommend speaking with Justin at Porkchop BMX to find out what you'd be in for investment-wise on ordering tires from overseas. He's had plenty of experience dealing with the manufacturers there and knows the order threshold that these companies usually require to fulfill an order. I do know that most of them ship them by the container load so many times you'd have to fill a container in order to make it worth their while.

 

[ifitsfreeitsforme]

I have experience ordering items from China and Taiwan. Ya, it costs me in the thousands as far as minimum buy quantities, but we're not talking container size orders. I have boxes shipped to my house and I make sure they send a truck with an elevator. It's usually a few dozen boxes. I also have a customs broker.

So I'd like to talk to the manufacturer. Joe is right, the mold exists, they'd rather use it than see it rust. If they will make me a few hundred tires, it would be worth it. You have to look at the long run with these investments. You don't make your money back right away, and that's fine with me. It's all about cash flow as my step dad used to say. The profits I'm getting from the last couple year's products will fund the next ventures.

I'll call Porkchop.

 

[SCHWINNRAY69]

I have experience ordering items from China and Taiwan. Ya, it costs me in the thousands as far as minimum buy quantities, but we're not talking container size orders. I have boxes shipped to my house and I make sure they send a truck with an elevator. It's usually a few dozen boxes. I also have a customs broker.

So I'd like to talk to the manufacturer. Joe is right, the mold exists, they'd rather use it than see it rust. If they will make me a few hundred tires, it would be worth it. You have to look at the long run with these investments. You don't make your money back right away, and that's fine with me. It's all about cash flow as my step dad used to say. The profits I'm getting from the last couple year's products will fund the next ventures.

I'll call Porkchop.

I'll buy your first one!

 

[Jerald Sulky]

Hello everyone!

I certainly apologize for not keeping up on here and certainly hate to see messages like this when I do get on here.

I apologize for any inconvenience that this delay with tires has caused anyone as we rely on our vendors to keep up with what supply we have forecasted for the year. I certainly SHOULD have put that they were delayed/backordered on our website, but I guess I put too much trust in other people to take care of that sort of thing for me.

I'm not sure where some of these orders are going, but I will make every effort I can to get them all out this week as I will be up there (If I answered an email and let it slip I certainly hope I can regain your respect by giving you my word that it will get better. I try to get up there when I can (living over 2 hours away), but with 2 and 4 year olds running my schedule now it may take me longer than expected at times. I can only tell you that I will do my best to get these out much more efficiently even if it means I take care of everything myself.

I'll set up a special email account for your orders so I can get them processed much faster. At this point I would get in touch with me prior to placing any orders online to see what I can do for you.

Thanks for hearing me out!

Tim G.

 

[Jamie825]

Hello everyone!

I certainly apologize for not keeping up on here and certainly hate to see messages like this when I do get on here.

I apologize for any inconvenience that this delay with tires has caused anyone as we rely on our vendors to keep up with what supply we have forecasted for the year. I certainly SHOULD have put that they were delayed/backordered on our website, but I guess I put too much trust in other people to take care of that sort of thing for me.

I'm not sure where some of these orders are going, but I will make every effort I can to get them all out this week as I will be up there (If I answered an email and let it slip I certainly hope I can regain your respect by giving you my word that it will get better. I try to get up there when I can (living over 2 hours away), but with 2 and 4 year olds running my schedule now it may take me longer than expected at times. I can only tell you that I will do my best to get these out much more efficiently even if it means I take care of everything myself.

I'll set up a special email account for your orders so I can get them processed much faster. At this point I would get in touch with me prior to placing any orders online to see what I can do for you.

Thanks for hearing me out!

Tim G.

Does this mean that the tires are in stock and ready to be shipped out when ordered the 24" tires?

 

[Ichoptop]

Well, it's been two weeks since Tim G. Said he would let me know the status of my order, and several days since the post above. The website still allows you to purchase the tire I tried to purchase and my order still say "processing". So the rebuttal to the above post is "shinannagans". A word that I never use lightly.


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[Ichoptop]

Interesting update. I got a box today with the tire I ordered. No note nor email but I am happy it's here. I think it will go well on a Nirve Switchblade I have that I can't seem to sell.

 

[ifitsfreeitsforme]

Good to hear you got your tire


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[Bicycle808]

Good to hear you got your tire


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Did you look into doing some tire import stuff? B/c i can think of other niches to explore....