Be cautious with any imitation A-bike

[Binch Shin]

Hi thatsme

I live in Korea.
You can refer to this advices first. :: AbikeCentral advice before buying

And this is my opinion about your question.
is it much cheaper?
I'm contacting with DAKA to find a mail address through that Japanese can keep in tough with the A-bike service team(purchase or A/S). Please wait and ascertain later.
also the imitations, still it is something to be worried, are those imitations as good are the real mckoy?
Here is an opinion of the inventor, Alexander Kalogroulis ---
I was horrified when I saw the photos of the imitation bike, it looks like a very poor quality copy. I fear that the quality of materials will also be inferior and people buying it could be hurt if it fails whilst in use. I would be very surprised if the copy had ever under gone any of the international bicycle standards tests. I have passed on the details to the UK and European distributor as the copy clearly infringes our intellectual property rights (patents and design registrations). 3rd December ---
riding it on weekends when i go out shopping.
Not suitable for the shopping.

It is certain that if you buy and ride A-bike then you would be more and more happy as time goes on.

Good Cycling

[thatsme]

Hi thatsme

I live in Korea.
You can refer to this advices first. :: AbikeCentral advice before buying

And this is my opinion about your question.
is it much cheaper?
I'm contacting with DAKA to find a mail address through that Japanese can keep in tough with the A-bike service team(purchase or A/S). Please wait and ascertain later.
also the imitations, still it is something to be worried, are those imitations as good are the real mckoy?
Here is an opinion of the inventor, Alexander Kalogroulis ---
I was horrified when I saw the photos of the imitation bike, it looks like a very poor quality copy. I fear that the quality of materials will also be inferior and people buying it could be hurt if it fails whilst in use. I would be very surprised if the copy had ever under gone any of the international bicycle standards tests. I have passed on the details to the UK and European distributor as the copy clearly infringes our intellectual property rights (patents and design registrations). 3rd December ---
riding it on weekends when i go out shopping.
Not suitable for the shopping.

It is certain that if you buy and ride A-bike then you would be more and more happy as time goes on.

Good Cycling

hi,
i guess there is not so much time difference.
as for the shopping, of course i wont carry any bags, i meant it as just going out.
anyway, as for the imitation, thanks for posting the article.
what do you think about the long distances?
do you think thatt the a bike can handle it? provided i have extra parts eg wheel etc...
also on my previous post, i asked if it is worst to wait until a distributor for a bike will get in japan, or rather just buy it on line from the uk?
i remember i asked this question to the daka brnach in japan, they told me that it will be a while before it will be on japan market, since is not that clear, i just buy it.
anyway, i gather you also have an a bike, how often do you ride it?
and thanks for the prompt reply.
what are you doing in korea?

[thatsme]

Hi thatsme

I live in Korea.
You can refer to this advices first. :: AbikeCentral advice before buying

sorry i must be drunk.
i noticed this now.
i will be reading it and come back to you for other enquires.
cheers

[JJ]

thasme, I wanna play a game....

Living in Japan, especially the same city in Tokyo, I can confirm that riding A-bike in the city does not have much trouble. I mean "not much trouble."
But, as you probably know, a lot of times sidewalks and sidewalks in Tokyo are just terrible in terms of surface condition and width with many obstacles such as bicycles and motorcycles left behind.
There also trees growing along the roads and in some cases their roots make the roads very bumpy. You may see this very often.
There are special yellow blocks for the handicapped and they also make your ride difficult to some extent.
Apart from these facts, you can ride an A-bike with ease. I personally use my A-bike every day except for weekends. Average distance a day is about 7-8 km. Having used for 3 weeks, there has not been a serious trouble in my case. But be careful for yours. Other users in Japan have had serious troubles resulting in sending the bike back to HK and has paid as much as 12,600 yen to ship it. Another asked the HK shop to send a new spare parts for his broken wheel only to get a wheel with scratches and some deformations, apparently taken from an already assembled A-bike by a layperson.
In addition, the HK shop first announced that they will sell all sort of spare parts and even dared to say they will ship all the items for free. Now the time has come and the shop never starts to sell what it promised. We as customers are now really screwed. Most seriously damaged users got contacts and let the shop repair their bikes, but most of us have to order spare parts from the UK shop, because the HK shop simply does not open the cart!
As for DAKA Japan, I also confirmed that your experience is right. I got the same response.

Now, you have three choices as a customer bound in Japan, I think:
1) Go buy from the HK shop at least expensive cost ($340+2500 yen for taxes and custom) and get worst service.
2) Go buy from the UK shop at most expensive cost (nearly 60,000 yen including taxes) and get moderate service (perhaps unavailable from Japan).
3) Just be patient and wait for unpromised shop launch in Japan.

Live or die. It is your choice. Now, let's begin the game...

[JJ]

To JJ and any other Japanese A-biker

Today, I have received an reply from the DAKA designs Ltd.
-- My mail --
I sent a query to your info-desk yesterday but didn't receive any reply.
So, although I know you are busy, I forward this mail to you.
Please let me know what the Japan distributor of A-bike is.
__To: <info@daka-designs.com>
__Dear gentleman
__Some Korean and Japanese A-bikers tried to make contact with Mayhem UK via mail but didn't receive any replys after September.
__Probably, they are not supplying the after-services to other countries' customers any more and there seems be own distributor in each country now.
__We know the Korea distributor is the Gil trading Co., Ltd.
__Then what is the Japan distributor?

-- Reply --
Apologized for my belted reply. Please refer to us any Japanese enquiry and we will handle with thanks!
----------------------------------------------

I can't understand the exact meaning of this reply.
Now, I am going to send a message again; "Please let me know the one email address for Japanese A-bikers. I will inform it on AbikeCentral."

Regards

Thanks Binch Shin for asking them in place of us.
Actually, I got a response from DAKA Japan recently, that they are now negotiating with a distributor in Japan and will soon announce its opening. The question now is "when is it and how soon is it?"

As for DAKA in HK, I sent my messages including legal issues about immitations to every possible addresses, yet I have not got any response from them. I sent them to joey_at_daka.com.hk (sales),
sam_at_daka.com.hk (new idea), jess_at_daka.com.hk (press), and info_at_daka.com.hk (customer service & other) of course.
I used web interface of theirs and email client as well.
I used both accounts from Japan and from gmail.com.
I have no idea why they keep silent even to legal issues.

JJ

[JJ]

I have just sent my previous messages once again to DAKA in HK.
I got immediate response from the postmaster.
According to the messages, sam_at_daka.com.hk and jess_at_daka.com.hk are no longer available.
Does this mean DAKA no longer collect "new idea" and announce to "press"?

You can see what I am talking about to see below:
http://www.daka-designs.com/contact/

Code: Select all

then view the source and find:
function  setMail() {
   var myType = (document.form1.type.options[document.form1.type.selectedIndex].value);
   var myRegion = (document.form1.region.options[document.form1.region.selectedIndex].value);
   var mailHK = new Array("joey@....

The whole email addresses are listed there.

[Binch Shin]

Hi JJ and other Japanese A-bikers

Now, the one chief officer of DAKA is looking at these posts.
Probably, he will inform a reasonable solution after punishing some lazy guys.

Happy Cycling

[thatsme]

thasme, I wanna play a game....


Now, you have three choices as a customer bound in Japan, I think:
1) Go buy from the HK shop at least expensive cost ($340+2500 yen for taxes and custom) and get worst service.
2) Go buy from the UK shop at most expensive cost (nearly 60,000 yen including taxes) and get moderate service (perhaps unavailable from Japan).
3) Just be patient and wait for unpromised shop launch in Japan.

Live or die. It is your choice. Now, let's begin the game...

hey, thanks for the advices.
i read the post saiyng that soon they will sell it in japan.
that is a great news!!
even though i really want it now, i rather wait.
as for the hk shops, can we black mail them by saying we tell the newspaper about riping off the clients?
that might scared them off!!

wher do you live in tokyo?
also have you had any problem to carry it on the train, of course inside the bag?
i know they could charge estra, but if it is in the bag should not be a problem.
any experience on that?
btw, i even started a thread on gaijinpot.com regarding the a bike, quite good responce, i should be the a bike sales person

[Binch Shin]

To thatsme

Oh, I omitted an answer to your question.
You asked what are you doing in korea?
I am an engineering designer and a mechanics enthusiast at the same time in Korea. I have a plan to develop a boat next year and love all products designed by Alexander Kalogroulis. I am writing some posts here because I hope to learn English. In Korea, we have a huge A-bike community that has about 4,200 registered members and the number is increasing day by day(but all posts only use Korean language). This is amazing!. We can find all information about A-bike because our members are bringing news from everywhere on this planet.

Regards

[thatsme]

To thatsme

Oh, I omitted an answer to your question.
You asked what are you doing in korea?
I am an engineering designer and a mechanics enthusiast at the same time in Korea. I have a plan to develop a boat next year and love all products designed by Alexander Kalogroulis. I am writing some posts here because I hope to learn English. In Korea, we have a huge A-bike community that has about 4,200 registered members and the number is increasing day by day(but all posts only use Korean language). This is amazing!. We can find all information about A-bike because our members are bringing them from everywhere.

Regards

cool,
your english is better than mine, no even need to keep studyng it.
as for your project that is very nice, unfortunately i am not into that field, i am a manager for a small tour operator in tokyo.
amazing how popular has became the a bike in korea.
i think it is a fantastic invention, just the bicycle i always wanted, easy to carry, very light, easy to fold, and you can ride it!!
what else can you ask for?

if everything goes ok, when my kid will get old enough i will buy for him too, he is almost 4 years old.
for camping and traveling is the best.

anyway i also would like to push the aka in japan, see if an extra pressure may help a bit to move quicker.

cheers.
p.s have you ever been to japan?
i have been several time to soul, great time!!!

[Binch Shin]

I tried to receive a reasonable solution for 'the purchase queries or A/S in Japan' from DAKA. My request was not great. I just want to receive an email address for Japanese A-bikers. But it seems to me that they think 'Binch, you are in Korea. Why do you have an interest in Japan?' They are right. It is not suitable for business but I have no relation about the A-bike business. Anyway, I failed.
Through about 5 times of mail exchanges, I acknowledged new 3 email addresses of them. But what mail address is prepared for Japan? I don't know yet. Please understand that I can't open their mail list on this post. I think it is their information.

Anyway, I made a solution by myself. Let's make an Asian Network.
As I told before, there are huge A-bike community in Korea.
001. 4,200 members but about 300 owners.
002. many peoples of us have 2~5 bicycles including A-bike.
003. most of us have good talents such as engineer, programmer, journalist, designer...
004. all of us are very active and like to help our friends.
005. the translation machine between KR and JP are working very well.
So we can supply every information to Japanese A-bikers in fact.
Step one : Mailing. If you send a mail to me about Usages, Self-Repair tips or Trouble shooting then I will reply absolutely. Of course, you can write in Japanese. My open mail address is dynafeel@lycos.co.kr
Step two : Japanese page on our site. We will improve our site links more friendly and open more posts to unregistered members.
Step three : Asian Network. Before next spring, probably we can make a Japanese community combined with Korean community in Japan. We can supply every sources of useful posts such as information texts, photos, videos by HTML. And I think we can enjoy two countries' sites, also we can exchange various information about all sorts of bicycles. (of course, mainly about A-bike)
How about my solution?

[Binch Shin]

Hi thatsme

I have not been in Japan.
But I have been in Japanese internet sites.
That's Great!! Especially Leonarhodo's blog.

Happy Cycling ^(^

[CapiCapo]

AMJZ

I bought the bike you posted, unfortunately I Believe it is a Fake.

Can't go further than a block with it.

Very tough to get moving in the bike.

Capi

[ABK]

What does this indicate? That the Sinclair A-Bike is over priced? That the real A-Bike has been rolled out to new markets too slowly? The companies producing the copies wouldn't do it unless they thought that they would sell, so perhaps it is a kind of compliment to the A-Bike design.

I am not sure whether there is any way to protect the A-Bike from being copied. The A-Bike frame itself is the same shape as the Strida. As for the method of folding, how many folding bikes have we seen that effectively have the same single fold method as a Dahon. Even Brompton has been copied now, but I think the 25 year protection a patent gives must have passed by now.

Maybe all folding bikes in the future will be A-frame folders. A-Bike could be the first of a new breed.

Jonathan

I felt that A-Bike had not planned it's business strategy well. And I agree with Oritatami that A-Bike has been slow in introducing their product to new markets.

Today we are living in a borderless world with information spread very fast round the world. Those who wants it would want it quick.

Another thing, the pricing of A-Bike is overly high. If those who imitates willing to take business risk and lower their price to more than 300% compared to the original, A-Bike should be over-charging the consumers.

While I agree that IP should be respected, yet the majority of the consumers will turn 'victim' if IP is being abused too. Imagine that the inventor of paper clip had IP protection or windscreen wiper is IP protected.

Ultimately, the government is the one that makes tonnes of money giving out IPs rights.

There are many events pointing to A-Bike's bad business strategy and the consumers are not having enough information to start with.

For example, in the country I live in, I get to know about A-Bike only from it's so call imitator and distributors who spend marketing dollars. Perhaps, A-Bike might be "making use" of these imitators to market the product for them then to claim as original?

[SG Man]

Hi there,

Greetings from Singapore. Im interested to get afew a-bikes for my family. Appreciate if anyone could refer to the right party. Just went to a- bike. co. uk seems like it's soldout.

From the pics this thing looks so cool and handy

THanks in advance.

Cheers!

brucetan (at) yahoo (dot) com