Posted 24 March 2009 - 03:23 PM
I'm new to the forum, and am the father of an eight-year-old with spina bifida. We shopped around for a couple of months, trying to find the best handcycle option for him. Surprisingly, it's not all that easy to find a handcycle dealer in Southern California. We looked into the Lightning model made by Dr. Franks in Thousand Oaks (handcycle.com), but he was so nasty and pushy that he immediately turned us off. We know that a lot of people use his bikes, but we didn't want to have to deal with such a cruddy person in buying one, much less having to come back for repairs and maintenance. If you're seriously interested in a Lightning, I'd suggest getting one through some sort of distributor instead of having to deal with Dr. Franks directly. I've never seen someone who was so clueless about customer service. He practically ordered us to have a cashier's check ready if he was going to drive all the way out for us to try one of his bikes. Big news, Dr. Franks: interested customers are NEVER an inconvenience.
On the opposite end of the coin is Intrepid Equipment, which I see you were discussing. We ended up ordering an Intrepid tourer for our son because we were impressed with their quality of construction *and* their customer service. Graham Butler, the designer and builder of the bikes, met us at the shop with his brother. They went over every intimate detail of the bikes with us, let us take things apart and practically flog them to test their strength, and pointed out the specific design issues that would help our son use a handcycle to his best advantage. We especially liked the hellaciously strong coupler that can be disengaged to compact the bikes for transport, and the wide range of adjustability that would enable the bike to grow with him. Then the Butlers packed up half a dozen bikes into the trailer, and we followed them out to Mission Bay where everyone in the family was given free reign to ride the handcycles for more than an hour. There are worse scenarios for trying out a product, let me tell you!
I will freely admit that we know next to nothing about bike components, so all the technical discussion about those things goes over our heads. We did talk to a number of owners online who really liked the parts that Intrepid puts into their bikes, so apparently they're not using cheapo knockoffs. The main reason that Intrepid's handcycles are so much less expensive than many others is that they don't deal with outside distributors. Everything is handled in-house, from manufacture to shipping to repair, which means they can avoid the 40-60% markup that distributors require. As someone who works in the publishing business, I know all about the butt-rape that distributors inflict on people who are trying to sell products, so I greatly appreciate that Intrepid avoids that whole web. I would *highly* recommend looking into Intrepid for anyone who is seeking a handcycle. They might not meet someone's particular needs, of course, but they are really a wonderful and conscientious company with a fine, fine product.
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) and I figure it'll give me a chance not only to exercise but be able to do it out in nature.
Yong, on Mar 21 2008, 01:57 PM, said:
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