Really possible to buy a Thorn in the USA?

[roycowherd]

Boy, I've made four phone calls to two "supposed" dealers in the U.S., and two to SJS, sent one fax to SJS, and two e-mails to SJS, and I haven't heard a thing here in New York.  

The Rohloff hub would take off like lightning in the U.S. if only a few people had them here first, but you wonder how many phone calls, faxes, and e-mails you have to do with Thorn, SJS, and Harrs Cycles of Massachusetts before you could actually buy one, even if you have ready cash burning a hole in your pocket and you're headed for another long cruise in Asia in three months.

This is frustrating.  SJS and/or Thorn literally won't take my ready money or answer any kind of communication.

Roy Cowherd
New York

[pdamm]

I live in Australia and bought a Raven Tour over the phone to SJS.  Rang them during their opening hours, worked through the spec of the bike, gave them my credit card no, confirmed the order via e-mail and the bike was shipped over no trouble.  

There is a local guy who imports frames but SJS tell me they didn't have any dealers as such anywhere.  After hearing that I thought I would deal direct with SJS.  Try calling SJS during their opening times so you actually speak to a person not just a machine.

Peter Damm

[simonsydney]

I'm also in Australia, and emailed and phoned with SJS and spec'd and ordered my bike direct from them. The process was detailed and very easy.  I received follow up emails and shipping status emails, and was/am very happy with their service and bike.  
From memory it was a week after my first email query when they got back to me, then we talked and emailed daily for a few days while we finalised spec's, etc. then one email a week later with a status update (they said from the date of order it would be two weeks before the bike shipped), then another email when the bike shipped, then another email with final invoice.

As Peter suggests, maybe try them during their office hours and phone them and speak with a person. I wonder how many enquiry emails/faxes/phone messages they get. Must take them some time to process them all.

I am sure they want your money and to see you riding one of their bikes. Keep trying, the bikes the fantastic, you won't be disappointed.

cheers,
Simon

[Robin Thorn]

Hi Roy, Robin Thorn here, I'm the CEO as you guys like to call it. I've carried out a full investigation, i was all ready to shoot one of our guys as an axample to the others but i've realised it WASN'T OUR FAULT (a thing my son just loves to say!). I've copied here Adrian's reply to your email, i've blatted out your email address for ovbious reasons, but be assured i've checked it and it IS the same as the forum registration address.
As to the fax, it's not been received, we have faxes to a PC so there's allways a record, 3 were received yesterday, none of the you'rs, just one of those things. I expect Adrian's mail is somewhere in the spam folder or lost in hyperspace.
Please beleive that I DO want your money! Feel free to provide me by email (faxes don't get looked at more than once per day) your phone number and i'll call you back, it will need to be during our working hours, we are 5 hours ahead of you. Here's his original reply mail:
--------------------------------------------------------------
-----Original Message-----
From: Adrian Dunne [mailto:adriandunne@sjscycles.com]
Sent: 06 February 2007 09:46
To: XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
Subject: RE: THorn Raven order

 

Hello Roy,

 

 Thanks for your e-mail. I should point out we do not have any dealers for our bicycles. However independent bicycle shops such as Harris Cyclery can purchase our frames to build up for customers. I am sorry you have experienced difficulties obtaining a Thorn Raven Tour bicycle.

 

 Your best option would be to order direct from us – we sell bicycles / tandems all over the world from our store here in Somerset, England. Raven Tours start from £1199.00 ( inc. VAT  - this will be deducted for non EU countries such as the USA, ( simply divide the total by 1.175 to deduct the VAT value. ) ) We also offer various specification options – our downloadable brochure : http://www.thorncycles.co.uk/raventour.html  lists all the options. All bicycles are assembled to each individual customer order.

 

 Delivery cost to the USA is £120.00 for a solo bicycle. Delivery time from receipt of order at the moment is 4-6 weeks

 

 

Regards

Adrian Dunne

Thorn Cycles Ltd
91-93 St John Street
Bridgwater
Somerset
TA6 5HX
Tel: 01278-441500   (Int ++44-1278-441500)
Fax: 01278 431107  (Int ++44-1278-431107)

mailto:adriandunne@sjscycles.com
http://www.sjscycles.com

[roycowherd]

This is all copacetic now and it actually appears to be a pretty easy process once you go directly to SJS.  

There was a missed e-mail from SJS, eaten by AOL, that would have cleared everything up.  Prior to that, however, there were two shops in the U.S. that held themselves out as Thorn dealers when in fact all they could do was order frames -- and after so many phone calls, e-mails, etc., they said they didn't even do that anymore and I was "wasting my time" trying to order a bike directly from the U.K. and it was "impractical", "cost prohibitive," and "the bikes always get damaged." So when the first e-mail response from SJS got lost, I was sort of primed to be * * *ed and give up.

Harris shouldn't be advertsing stuff it doesn't sell.  And the shop in Texas, whose name escapes me, that offers to sell complete Thorns -- and also won't pick up the phone or take a message -- you have to wonder what's up with that. Now those guys from Harris, who seem nice enough, are obviously trying to dissuade people from buying complete bikes from Thorn instead of letting them (Harris) build one.  In the end, they argued against even using a Thorn frameset and wanted me to have a local "friend" build one from scratch.  Sorry for the tone of the post, but put yourself in my perplexed position at that point.

[eblair]

I live on the West Coast of the US and recently bought a Thorn Raven direct from SJS. The process was painless and worked perfectly. The bike arrived safely, packed in two boxes, at my house exactly three weeks after I settled on a specification and placed the order. Adrian at SJS was completely reliable in replying to emails, telephoning at agreed upon times, and answering questions.

[n/a]

"wasting my time" trying to order a bike directly from the U.K. and it was "impractical", "cost prohibitive,"

I'm in NYC too and have a Thorn bike on order.  Compared to US custom frame builders I checked out,  a Thorn Rohloff specific frame built up in the UK and shipped here is, suprisingly, even including shipping, very competitively priced.  Don't forget to deduct the VAT when pricing.
Maybe see you around.
L.E.S

[ahconway]

I'm in Boston with my Raven, though I bought it when I was living in London. If I had to buy another bike tomorrow, I'd absolutely do it again, even from here. I've been riding my Raven AT lots over the past few weeks and enduring all manner of bad roads and freezing weather, and there's really nothing availble in the US market that compares.

[eriecommuter]

I'm going to jump on the 'buy it direct' bandwagon, too.  When I decided to buy a Rohloff equipped (and my love said 'go for it'), I went to my favorite (domestic) bike shop and told him to build it.  We both started researching and I found Thorn and showed it to him.  He said no way could he put something like that together from scratch so buy it complete.  I still priced it out several ways and believe it or not there's no way to buy it cheaper than complete direct from SJSC.  Plus, all the little details are included like just the right spacers where the fenders pass under the frame. My order and delivery experiences were as good as the other guys'.  The only glitch was the stem got lost and some paint got scratched (probably during the customs inspection).  Touch-up paint was included in the box and SJSC promptly sent me a replacement stem (my favorite bike shop lent me one until it came - bike people are the best).  My Raven's worked great for two years of commuting through NW Pennsylvania winters as well as summer family bike tours.

[ahconway]

Slightly off-topic, but I was in Harris Cycles the other day, and they've got one of the first-generation Raven frames hanging in the shop - it's one of the day-glo green monstrosities with the Celtic striping. They're going to set it up as a demo bike for Rohloff hubs, which they apparently sell lots of.

[roycowherd]

Well, it all turned out well, I've got my Raven Tour and will probably buy another one for my girlfriend, so I was impatient amid my frustration -- but on the topic of Harris, they've had that same frame in there for years and they say they can't order any more, etc.  

I think, in the end, Harris and the Texas outfit that also says they're a Thorn dealer, but apparently aren't, should either start selling them or take them off their web sites.  Of course, living just 1.5 hrs from Boston, I was hot on "going local," even if it was from Coventry actually.

[Bill]

What shipping company does SJSC use to ship across the pond?

I once shipped a touring bike home from NZ to Canada and the only reasonable way to do it was by sea, it cost a pretty penny and to top it off I had to pay customs duty on the bike I had imported years before -but couldn't prove.