Originally Posted by
Ron Damon
Nope. BF (and most Dahons) is too expensive for me to consider its bikes seriously. It's not a problem of affordability, but rather of value. Sorry, I ain't a First-World-bubble spendthrift. Customer service? 😂 Do I sound to you like someone who wants to pay for being spoonfed, babied, held by the hand and advised on my world tour bike by some geezer in Oregon who probably doesn't even have a passport? 😂😂 GMAFB.
Oh I agree with you, there are better values out there now than BF.
Customer service: I also do my own service, and carry a lot of weight in tools, even local; I don't mean on the road fixing advice, although probably that too. I mean if the frame cracks, the fork cracks, etc, or even one of the components they don't make fails, they back up their stuff, and honor the component warranty themself, they don't blow you off and tell you to contact Shimano or SRAM. On frame and fork, 10 year warranty, and from what I've read online, they don't blow you off or make you jump through hoops. No long phone holds or being handed off to other departments 3 or 4 times, which happens with other things like problems with my health insurance billing, with a call center in central america or the phillipines, based on the time of day. They're a small shop, you get service right away, customer service is seconds away from where they build the bikes. They know people do serious traveling with their bikes and heavy touring, and they try not to let people down. That's rare these days. And if other parts of the trip were costing a whole bunch of money, I'd want a reliable bike and good maker support, that may be the much smaller cost versus a ruined trip. Also, their frames are custom-size on request at no additional charge. I think there's a reason BF has survived despite many more folders on the market now. I'm not a shill for BF and do recognize some shortcomings in the design, but not the company itself, from what I can see.