What Do RRB Members Think of The NBHAA

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tgriffin27

tgriffin27

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I had never been to the nbhaa website before a few minutes ago and the guy knows alot of stuff and seems to be very helpful. I sent him a letter last week after i won the auction for my prewar packard with the only 4 pics i had. Here is the letter he sent me back "
Hello...
Beware of anything said on eBay ads. Usually garbage.
We need better photos. It is certainly NOT 1933 or 1934 from what we can see. What hub does it have? We need to see the rims. We need to see good clear shots of the fender braces and the fenders... and a good clear shot of the front sprocket. Need a good shot of the rear of the frame.
This has a Schwinn badge on it, but the front fork is NOT Schwinn at all... appears to be Rollfast fork. The seat appears to be a post-WW2 seat. No telling what is going on there until we see better photos. Pressed fender braces never existed in 1933-34... and beware if they are attached with screws rather than rivets. Factory never used screws.
Send more pics and we'll tell you what we can.
Of course, we have a detailed analysis that we can do for you which requires a standard research fee.
Thanks for writing,
Leon Dixon
NBHAA.com

Seemed to really want to help me and I still didn't go to his website as i emailed him after reading a post here about how they could help me ID my frame.I emailed him the pics he asked for last night with the original email he sent me thinking that was all he needed. I didn't know that i should say hello in my email and make small talk with him before I asked for what i wanted. i thought in this day and age he would be so busy he wanted to get straight to what info i needed like the other 90 percent of the people in the world. Well I guess i should have went to his website first because this is what he says on it.
(Accompany your photos with a short letter and please use salutations in your letters. The internet has spawned a whole new genre of rudeness. If you write without even saying hello and start right in with something like, "I got a Monark and a Schwinn. Send me everything you got on them- and I need it yesterday!" This is not going to impress us and it won't do anything to get you the real information that you need and can use. Take the time to send a decent note and take some decent photos. THEN we can respond with accurate information about whatever bicycle or part you may have.")
Well now i will post the second letter i got from him.....

Let's use salutations and references in emails, huh? Otherwise we have no idea who you are and no idea what it is about. We get lots of letters every day.
Now... your bicycle is a lot of different parts from different sources all tossed in together. It never came this way when new. Do one more thing.... look on the rear hub for ALL of the numbers and letter codes on it.
A detailed identification is always best with such a bicycle. It requires a standard research fee of $18.50 + $7.50 per copy/scan of original materials. You can learn a lot from it. Fees are payable via PayPal.com and you can even use your credit or debit card thru them.
LD
NBHAA.com

I must have caught him on a bad night i guess. i am so disgusted with the NBHAA now i just think i am going to look up the info myself. i don't mind paying for the info but not everyone reads his site before they email him. he is so well known i bet 50 percent of the people that email him do so from another site like RRB. So now that I have all that ranting off my chest and hopefully you guys and ladies are still reading this.... who here has used his services and what do you guys and ladies think about the NBHAA
 
tgriffin27 said:
I had never been to the nbhaa website before a few minutes ago and the guy knows alot of stuff and seems to be very helpful. I sent him a letter last week after i won the auction for my prewar packard with the only 4 pics i had. Here is the letter he sent me back
I must have caught him on a bad night i guess. i am so disgusted with the NBHAA now i just think i am going to look up the info myself. i don't mind paying for the info but not everyone reads his site before they email him. he is so well known i bet 50 percent of the people that email him do so from another site like RRB. So now that I have all that ranting off my chest and hopefully you guys and ladies are still reading this.... who here has used his services and what do you guys and ladies think about the NBHAA
Click to expand...
No, he's always like that! There are lots of stories! Some people are just foul tempered all the time! You'll have better luck at the Classic & Antique Bicycle Exchange, aka the Cabe, which has a sweet forum and many members including myself are members there too. Also try nostalgic net for info. -Adam
 
The more you get into period correct pieces and projects, the more you're apt to run into the elitist type of thinking. Decide which side of the fence you really want to be on before you consider this. It's possible to straddle the fence but it's gonna come at a cost in one way or another.

At the Ann Arbor/Saline swapmeet, a bunch of us sat and watched in amazement as some guy happily pushed newly aquired bike past us. Seconds later he was confronted by a group of these elitist idiots. They told him everything wrong about his bike, how he probably paid way to much money for it and how much they would charge him to get it correct, all the while blocking him from leaving their little pack! This guys didn't give a rat's ... about anything other than he bought the bike he wanted! My group is by no means anywhere's close to being a bunch of thugs (heck most of them probably can't even spell "thug") but we almost had a fight break out!

I see stuff like this happening all the time. You're best bet is to find an lbs that has the right connections with bike restorers and historians and then contact them. Set up a meeting in person if you're truely interested in restoring or finding out info on your old bike. But be prepared to pay a fee. The good ones always want/need something for their knowledge.

I love the old restored bikes but how many people actually ride them and enjoy it? Most wouldn't dream of riding them and those few who do are always in fear of what might happen. BIKES ARE MADE TO BE RIDDEN! Fix your bike up to your standards and ride it into the ground, then start over again!
 
LD sounds very rude and unprofessional; horrible service in my opinion...

Oh, and on their site, IT'S SO HARD TO READ IN ALL CAPS, IT DRIVES ME NUTS!

Just a rant... :lol:
 
between here and thecabe you should have your bases covered for knowledge. I have heard many reports just like your regarding that guy.
 
in my opinion the only reason to go through all that is because you are going to sell something or want to document it for insurance or something of the like. again ... just my opinion :)
 
I am looking to restore the bike one day. Going to get it ready to ride right now and slowly find the original schwinn parts to put it back together right. I want to have fun riding it now because I know it may take years to put all the parts back on it that it needs. I am interested in knowing what year it is for when i go to bike shows and just for my sanity. My dad is like you paid how much? for a bicycle you don't even know the year of :roll:
 
If I remember correctly, didn't RMS37 give you a lot of good information on that bike when you bought it, and he did not charge you a cent. There are plenty of knowledgeable guys on these sites that do it for the love of bikes.
 
Yes he did give me alot of good information. I sent a email to nbhaa about the same time I posted a message on here asking about the bike. I was trying to get all the info i could about the bike before i spent that much money on something I knew nothing about.
 
i haven't hit them up for any info, but i have been disappointed when interesting sounding links have led nowhere.

leon dixon's articles in 'cyclist' magazine in the 80's were very good and led in part to my becoming interested in classic bikes.

i can only imagine the sheer number of babbling, stream-of-consciousness emails he receives. he has spent the better part of a lifetime in the hobby and if he wants to set a few rules? it's his website, he can do what he wants i guess....

reminds me of the guy in 'office space'- "i deal with the d***n customers, i have people skills!" :wink:
 
National Bicycle History Archive of America

One thing I've learned over the years of working around people, the ones who live for history and restore things (Historians) some times forget what year it is. Leon Dixon has lived his life for bicycles and may have forgot that bicycles were built as transportion not just for restoration, sometimes we the people of today want to do both enjoy the hobby and have a real classic, too. Leon fights for the history of the bicycle as he did the freedom of our country when he was in Veit nam. I'm not saying he has the right to be ruud to other bicycle enthusiast, it's just his way, so bad manners go both way.

So, if Mr. Dixon wants people to send him a formal letter like people did in the earlier days, maybe he sould put that out there somewhere in some form so all can see it. I read the artical about Mr. Dixon in Kick Stand Mag. and he sound like almost aprochable(set in his ways)type. I enjoy reading his information on his site and have learn from it.

Sorry but that my rant.
 
Here is the exchange I had with NBHAA today. For goodness sakes, it's just a dumb cheap bike that I'm going to use as a "beater bike" around town. I know it's not worth anything. I'm a history buff. I just wanted a response like "1978". I don't suffer fools gladly either and understand what this fellow has to deal with every day, but here I am, just an innocent and enthusiastic person looking for a tiny bit of info, and sorry not following directions and get this kind of reply? I had intended to never contact him again, so being roundfiled doesn't bother me in the least. I wish him luck. He's going to need it. I'd stake my MENSA membership on it.

Einstein, uh, Twinkle

P.S. Nice to meet y'all.

NO... YOU MAKE IT DIFFICULT FOR US. You want help from us, but you are too lazy to take simple photos and follow instructions. We have serial number lists, but if you bothered to read the NBHAA.com FAQs you would know that there are MILLIONS AND MILLIONS of serial numbers for Western Flyers and numerous companies that made them... AND many of these numbers were re-used.

Don't bother writing back, Einstein. You are now officially in our feces file and your emails will just be deleted unread.


In a message dated 8/7/10 3:47:32 PM, Twinkle337 writes:


> Gosh, you sure seem to make it difficult for people. Seems like you
> would at least have the serial number codes. Thanks anyway.
>
> No need to reply.

Hello,

PLEASE... read the FAQs section of NBHAA.com and follow instructions on getting IDs done.

We can't tell you anything just based on a description and numbers. Have to SEE what it is you have.

Thanks for writing,

NBHAA.com

In a message dated 8/7/10 10:58:28 AM, Twinkle337 writes:

> Greetings. I would like help identifying the Western Flyer men's
> 10-speed I just bought at a garage sale for $5. I'm thinking it's from
> the late '70s-early '80s bike boom. Top tube decal just says "Speed 10".
> The "Western Flyer" head badge is a decal, not metal. There are no other
> decals. It appears to be middle-to-low-end quality.
>
> The serial number near the head badge is P0112582. It appears to have
> been made in the US. A sticker on the seat tube near the crank
> references Little Rock, Arkansas.
>
> Let me know if you need photos or more information.
>
> Thank you!
>
> Twinkle337
Click to expand...
 
pulled from the NBHAA's FAQs...

"Q: How can I get identification of my bicycle or part?
A: Contact us! Since 1977 we have identified well over one MILLION old bicycles for collectors."

So let's see...that's 33 years (although I bet his FAQs were written and posted before 2010) or roughly 33,000 bikes identified every single year (based on an even 1million although he claims significantly more). Break that down even further to 80+ bikes identified every single day, 7 days a week for 33 years. Hhhhmmmm....how big is this guy's staff? He keeps mentioning the term "we" but nowhere does he really mention how many people he hires or uses to assist him.

Later on the FAQs, he mentions that
"Q: Where can I go on NBHAA's site to do my own research and look into your files?
A: Many people have gotten accustomed to "do-it-yourself" (DIY) web sites where they think they can do their own research and get quickie answers - often for very difficult issues. Quickie answers are not necessarily ACCURATE answers. "
How does he give accurate answers when he's been identifying over 80+ bikes every single day for 33 years.
 

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