Reasons to buy a Bob Jackson part 42; my experience of a repair under warranty.

before i leave the UK (not for a couple of years yet) i'm planning to get a custom BJ road frame built. my dad bought a BJ touring frame in 1977 when he lived here, and rode it nearly every day until he died in 2001.

I figure a road bike is a better option for me than a track bike, because I can see myself riding it for the next 25 years, and it's more flexible than a track bike, considering this is the sort of bike that you never get rid of. I've always had a soft spot for Bob Jackson's work and it's good to see the bikes have got plenty of fans.

Thats a bobby belter bobby j.

On the bob jackson subject,
anyone know who owns this?..... http://velospace.org/node/3007

I met him last year at the millportpoloco race in glasgow.

Tings a beast!

Don't Know who owns the Jackson above, But IMHO it's not quite as sweet as mine.
VB got it about right in his earlier post.
Vinz, my BJ is probably the best bike I've ever ridden, built for me 20 odd years ago (admittedly by someone who probably no longer works there). It was the Bike I wanted then, and if I were thinking about having another frame built now, then Jackson would certainly be near the top of my list of builders.
I think there are probably more than 5 BJ owners on here, Ben's problems were never about the build quality.
So Vinz, as vb said, start a poll and I'll be happy to vote.

Don't Know who owns the Jackson above, But IMHO it's not quite as sweet as mine.
VB got it about right in his earlier post.
Vinz, my BJ is probably the best bike I've ever ridden, built for me 20 odd years ago (admittedly by someone who probably no longer works there). It was the Bike I wanted then, and if I were thinking about having another frame built now, then Jackson would certainly be near the top of my list of builders.
I think there are probably more than 5 BJ owners on here, Ben's problems were never about the build quality.
So Vinz, as vb said, start a poll and I'll be happy to vote.

My old Lotus Beater Bike was built in the mid 80's. It rode beautifully and had no discernible faults so emphasizing that your bike has lasted 20 odd years is irrelevant. Any mass produced steel frame (Edit: in the same price bracket) will probably do the same.

Nimhbus got my point. Its not that I dispute that Bob Jackson has made some beautiful frames. My issue is that they should not be praised for fixing a problem that is obviously a product of their own poor workmanship (Edit:In this case).

I wasn't emphasising that it had lasted twenty years but that my love for it had lasted that long.
A subtle, yet important difference.

I agree that they should have fixed it since there was clearly a problem, but they seem to have done it pretty quickly and with minimum hassle to the owner, which I think is pretty good and worthy of some praise.

I suppose the reason why it deserves some praise is that adequate, let alone good, customer serviceis seen as an exception rather than the norm. Not a great world to live in perhaps, merely one of the negative outcomes of short term, flawed, capitalist approach to running a business.

So, well done to BJ for doing what they should do, when so often our experience of customer service is difficult, dispiriting and damnable.

I suppose the reason why it deserves some praise is that adequate, let alone good, customer serviceis seen as an exception rather than the norm. Not a great world to live in perhaps, merely one of the negative outcomes of short term, flawed, capitalist approach to running a business.

So, well done to BJ for doing what they should do, when so often our experience of customer service is difficult, dispiriting and damnable.

I think that this hits the nail on the head. They have just done what they should and that's not all that common any more.

The failure could have been fatal for the rider, that should not be overlooked, human error or not, it is quite a massive error really, forgetting to finish welding one of the lugs completely...

That said, being a BJ owner it is encouraging to know that they take their warranty promise seriously.

even coming on the forum and admitting their error.

when did this happen?

other thread:

Hi There,

Just a quick introduction and reply to adoubletap, My name is Paul Kirk (Kirky) and I am the retail manager at Bob Jackson Cycles. If you would like to contact me on 0113 2559844 I will arrange to have the frame and forks collected and returned to us at Bob Jackson Cycles.

As Donald has kinda mentioned, we are a small UK custom builder and we takew pride in our product. With regards to this we offer a 5 year guarentee on all our frames wether off the peg or custom. We take any warrenty claims very serious and hope we can resolve the issues you have asap.

Look forward to hearing from you soon,

Regards.

Kirky!

ahhhh...thats sweet,i heart bob jacksons!
thanks.

My old Lotus Beater Bike was built in the mid 80's. It rode beautifully and had no discernible faults so emphasizing that your bike has lasted 20 odd years is irrelevant. Any mass produced steel frame (Edit: in the same price bracket) will probably do the same.

Nimhbus got my point. Its not that I dispute that Bob Jackson has made some beautiful frames. My issue is that they should not be praised for fixing a problem that is obviously a product of their own poor workmanship (Edit:In this case).

I would have expected a new frame . . i have an 06 Langster, when i originally bought it i noticed when i got it home that the threading for one of the bottle cage mounts was fucked, and the thread spun within the frame - i took it back to Evans, who essentially told me to f off and it was cosmetic, so i told them to f off and phoned Specialized. Specialized arranged to havr it collected, and had a new one couriered to me the next day.

Fine its not a hand made frame and they probably had a few lying around in a warehouse somewhere, but thats good customer service.

EDIT - I'm not slagging the bob here, its just i would expect that sort of response to be the norm rather than the exception.

+1 me too Aidan, just waiting for the Langster to break and I'll get one ;O!

....er, not such good service from Evans though.

I suppose the reason why it deserves some praise is that adequate, let alone good, customer serviceis seen as an exception rather than the norm. Not a great world to live in perhaps, merely one of the negative outcomes of short term, flawed, capitalist approach to running a business.

Agree with the first part.

But surely the capitalist approach should mean that those with crap service lose custom as they can go elsewhere? Pre Credit Crunch(TM) there was too much £$£ swilling around so (generally) companies didn't need to worry about pissing off customers as ther was always another round the corner. I think we will see very different & improved levels of service appearing as retailers realise they need to outperform expectations in order to keep customers.

....er, not such good service from Evans though.

Yup they didnt give a sh!t . . . . interestingly the fulham Evans quoted me 120 quid to remove my bottom bracket the other day because it fell into their "full service" workshop charges category, although i had stripped the rest of the bike down already . . a quick trip to the LBS and a fiver later i was sorted.

120 quid to remove my bottom bracket the other day ... a quick trip to the LBS and a fiver later i was sorted.

120 quid? Even in fulham that's a lot of dorra.

Agree with the first part.

But surely the capitalist approach should mean that those with crap service lose custom as they can go elsewhere? Pre Credit Crunch(TM) there was too much £$£ swilling around so (generally) companies didn't need to worry about pissing off customers as ther was always another round the corner. I think we will see very different & improved levels of service appearing as retailers realise they need to outperform expectations in order to keep customers.

Agree entirely. It was meant to imply a bad capitalist approach, not a bad and capitalist approach.

So, "capitalist approach" as a noun, rather than capitalist as an adjective.

Grrr, inadequate expressiveness of language.

In that case I agree with everything you said, Mashton.

In that case I agree with everything you said, Mashton.

Fuck me, that is a surprising thing to hear, given the shit I have been getting on a certain other thread.

Thanks Villa-Ru :-)

Just spreading the love on a sunny day!