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Main
Date: 26 Sep 2007 05:22:48
From: marian.rosenberg@gmail.com
Subject: It's HERE
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On the one hand I'm slightly miffed at the fabricator.
On the other hand I'm still so incredibly bouncy over it being HERE
that the slightly miffed is more of an acknowledgment of a state of
mind I ought to be in rather than an actual state of mind.
This would be because I lucked out and even though they did not
telephone me before shipping the frame I happened to be in the right
city at the right time, they did not send it by China Post, and the
logistics company they did send it by was willing to take a US ID card
matched with a bilingual business card that confirmed that Marian and
Yue are the same person.
(China Post will _only_ take passports or Chinese ID cards. No other
form of ID is acceptable and no amount of protesting will help you.)
titanium frame titanium frame titanium frame ... I've got a titanium
frame and it's pretty and it's Habanero and it's mine and it's custom
and it's pretty and it's here... (gee, can you tell I'm kind of
excited?)
Funny thing is it turns out from the shipping slip that I already
know the company that makes his frames _but_ if I'd bought one of
their _stock_ frames with their name on it from here within China it
would cost about the same as one of Mark's _stock_ frames costs (with
shipping, taxes, and whatnot) but would be lower down their production
values food chain.
So, even though I haven't put it together yet (got to finish anodizing
it first) and have no idea how it will feel I can say for pretty sure
that Habanero Cycles is very good value for the money.
-M
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Date: 27 Sep 2007 02:25:16
From: marian.rosenberg@gmail.com
Subject: Re: It's HERE
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On Sep 27, 1:17 am, Diablo Scott <DiabloScottNOS...@terra.es > wrote:
> marian.rosenb...@gmail.com wrote:
> > Funny thing is it turns out from the shipping slip that I already
> > know the company that makes his frames _but_ if I'd bought one of
> > their _stock_ frames with their name on it from here within China it
> > would cost about the same as one of Mark's _stock_ frames costs (with
> > shipping, taxes, and whatnot) but would be lower down their production
> > values food chain.
>
> Is this because of taxes or some other reason? Interesting that this is
> starting to happen already with Chinese goods.
To a Chinese bikergeek who does not know that the American company is
making their bikes in China or does not know how to get into contact
with someone who has the ability to arrange to have things shipped
direct the price of buying a bike direct from this fabricator would
(almost certainly) be less than American Price + Import Tax + Shipping
(back) to China.
I'm sure I've mentioned on here before why I won't buy from Trek
China. Logically I know that the bike frames are going to the US,
being assembled into bikes, and coming back but it still bugs me that
Made-in-China frame level of bike costs more in China than it does in
the US.
Mark arranged things special for me so that the bike frame would come
to me straight from the fabricator instead of going to Hainan by way
of the US. If he had not arranged things in this way then I would
have paid rather a lot in shipping costs above and beyond the standard
cost of the frame.
As it was I not only saved on shipping, but he also gave me a chunk of
discount for being his first official customer in China and because us
expats got to stick together. (Though, what with him living in the US
these days I don't think he really counts as an expat anymore.)
I got my bike from a Chinese fabricator of titanium bikes but that
particular fabricator makes a number of brands. I now know that
Habanero is one of those brands. I still don't know which other
brands that get their titanium bikes made in China are also using this
company. I could probably find out. I don't care enough to try.
Bear in mind though, even if they are using this company that doesn't
mean it is the same bike. At a glance it looks like although I seem
to have the same tubing as the friend of mine who has one of this
brand's bikes I got much nicer welds as well as a few other minor
things.
So (notwithstanding the additional discount or the fact that the
fabricator's house brand does not have custom geometry) because Mark
arranged for me to have it shipped direct I got a better bike more
cheaply than I would have gotten had I bought the fabricator's house
brand.
> I remember reading that English tax on English ale was so high at one
> point that the brewers would ship it to France where the publicans would
> buy it tax-free and bring it back to serve in England.
Heh.
-M
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Date: 27 Sep 2007 01:51:39
From: marian.rosenberg@gmail.com
Subject: Re: It's HERE
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On Sep 26, 10:49 pm, rick b <blue_...@yahoo.com > wrote:
> Sounds like you will really enjoy the ride when you get the bike on
> the road!
> Though I am not sure what you mean by anodizing a titanium frame.
> They don't need any special treatment that I know of -- the metal is
> very slow to oxidize. I just wipe the bare metal frame down when it
> gets dirty.
I'm going to make it purple.
-M
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Date: 26 Sep 2007 19:10:32
From: SMS
Subject: Re: It's HERE
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marian.rosenberg@gmail.com wrote:
> On Sep 26, 10:49 pm, rick b <blue_...@yahoo.com> wrote:
>> Sounds like you will really enjoy the ride when you get the bike on
>> the road!
>> Though I am not sure what you mean by anodizing a titanium frame.
>> They don't need any special treatment that I know of -- the metal is
>> very slow to oxidize. I just wipe the bare metal frame down when it
>> gets dirty.
>
> I'm going to make it purple.
>
> -M
>
Nah, make it black, and paint "Flying Pigeon" on it.
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Date: 27 Sep 2007 01:51:13
From: marian.rosenberg@gmail.com
Subject: Re: It's HERE
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On Sep 27, 2:30 am, m...@privacy.net wrote:
> >titanium frame titanium frame titanium frame ... I've got a titanium
> >frame and it's pretty and it's Habanero and it's mine and it's custom
> >and it's pretty and it's here... (gee, can you tell I'm kind of
> >excited?)
>
> what model did you get?
>
> road? cross? mt?
Road with custom geometry.
-M
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Date: 27 Sep 2007 10:23:06
From:
Subject: Re: It's HERE
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>On Sep 27, 2:30 am, m...@privacy.net wrote:
>> >titanium frame titanium frame titanium frame ... I've got a titanium
>> >frame and it's pretty and it's Habanero and it's mine and it's custom
>> >and it's pretty and it's here... (gee, can you tell I'm kind of
>> >excited?)
>>
>> what model did you get?
>>
>> road? cross? mt?
>
>Road with custom geometry.
>
>-M
VERY cool!!
Please gives us a review once you get the bike built up
ok??!!
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Date: 26 Sep 2007 13:30:16
From:
Subject: Re: It's HERE
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>titanium frame titanium frame titanium frame ... I've got a titanium
>frame and it's pretty and it's Habanero and it's mine and it's custom
>and it's pretty and it's here... (gee, can you tell I'm kind of
>excited?)
what model did you get?
road? cross? mt?
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Date: 26 Sep 2007 10:17:49
From: Diablo Scott
Subject: Re: It's HERE
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marian.rosenberg@gmail.com wrote:
> Funny thing is it turns out from the shipping slip that I already
> know the company that makes his frames _but_ if I'd bought one of
> their _stock_ frames with their name on it from here within China it
> would cost about the same as one of Mark's _stock_ frames costs (with
> shipping, taxes, and whatnot) but would be lower down their production
> values food chain.
Is this because of taxes or some other reason? Interesting that this is
starting to happen already with Chinese goods.
I remember reading that English tax on English ale was so high at one
point that the brewers would ship it to France where the publicans would
buy it tax-free and bring it back to serve in England.
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Date: 26 Sep 2007 07:49:41
From: rick b
Subject: Re: It's HERE
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Sounds like you will really enjoy the ride when you get the bike on
the road!
Though I am not sure what you mean by anodizing a titanium frame.
They don't need any special treatment that I know of -- the metal is
very slow to oxidize. I just wipe the bare metal frame down when it
gets dirty.
Rick
On Sep 26, 12:22 am, "marian.rosenb...@gmail.com"
<marian.rosenb...@gmail.com > wrote:
> On the one hand I'm slightly miffed at the fabricator.
>
> So, even though I haven't put it together yet (got to finish anodizing
> it first) and have no idea how it will feel I can say for pretty sure
> that Habanero Cycles is very good value for the money.
>
> -M
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