Glad to hear it's still active. I have a 1953 Linhof camera which is just as tight and nice to use as the day it left the factory. In fact, it's so good I feel no urge at all to move to a later model. I also have a 1937/8 model which is nearly as good, although more of an orphaned format (but not impossible to get film for). I could say, "They don't make 'em like that anymore", but in fact, they do. Linhof are still alive and kicking, but their prices would make your eyes water.
Does the forum need a name change or change of emphasis.
- Thread starter Kudoscycles
- Start date
Hi all, I have been away from the forum for a while whilst the merger was happening wit FreeGo. I am pleased to say we are 95% there now and I am enjoying working with my new partners.
We moved from China to Germany due to continuous problems with late deliveries and poor attention to detail in the Chinese factories. The move to Germany seemed sensible at the time and we have learned an awful lot.
The parts used on the Wisper Classic bikes are mainly from Asia, the same can be said of the vast majority of bicycles "produced" in Germany. The wheels, spokes, tyres and some parts are said to be German, however on deeper investigation, there are very few bicycle parts actually made there. Parts may be designed and the tooling may be owned by German businesses but the parts are very often actually made in Asia and shipped into Germany.
It has taken us a year to get the German bike builder we are working with to build our bikes perfectly, and I must say they are now fantastic. Of course there are many advantages to having our bikes built there, but we have experienced "different" problems, problems that we didn't ever encounter in China.
The "different" problems are to do with getting anything new or changes made to the bikes in production. The factory we are working with are great, unless we need to change or tweak anything.
I spent a couple of weeks in China in December visiting FreeGo's three suppliers and must say I was massively impressed. FreeGo have an outstanding reputation for selling bikes that do not go wrong, and after seeing the factories I understand why. I now understand how FreeGo can offer a 5 day no quibble exchange policy. That is to say, if anything goes wrong with a FreeGo bike in the first year and it cannot be repaired within 5 working days, they simply give their customers a new bike in exchange for the old one. The factories were all clean, modern and very well run, they employed staff on very good wages, staff who take massive pride in their work. These were certainly superior to the factories I had been involved with in the past. The staff had and knew how to use torque wrenches and checked and double checked their work.
We also visited our new battery supplier, wow! I have never seen anything like it anywhere in the world. A brand new factory that produce hundreds of thousands of batteries a day for Apple alone. So if anyone is thinking of buying an IPhone, Macbook, or IPad. I have seen where the batteries are made! China is becoming more expensive and there is no doubt that a lot of companies will start to move production out of China for this reason. China is becoming modern and very professional.
Suffice to say we will indeed be placing orders with one of the factories for 5 new Wisper models that will be launched later in the year. The bikes will enjoy some very clever new technology. The new top of the range Wisper will look nothing like our traditional Classics and will only have three electronic components. More to follow soon. For the time being we will also continue to have the Classics made in Germany.
To conclude, there are advantages and disadvantages to using German or Chinese assemblers, we are currently trying to take advantage of both.
All the best
David
We moved from China to Germany due to continuous problems with late deliveries and poor attention to detail in the Chinese factories. The move to Germany seemed sensible at the time and we have learned an awful lot.
The parts used on the Wisper Classic bikes are mainly from Asia, the same can be said of the vast majority of bicycles "produced" in Germany. The wheels, spokes, tyres and some parts are said to be German, however on deeper investigation, there are very few bicycle parts actually made there. Parts may be designed and the tooling may be owned by German businesses but the parts are very often actually made in Asia and shipped into Germany.
It has taken us a year to get the German bike builder we are working with to build our bikes perfectly, and I must say they are now fantastic. Of course there are many advantages to having our bikes built there, but we have experienced "different" problems, problems that we didn't ever encounter in China.
The "different" problems are to do with getting anything new or changes made to the bikes in production. The factory we are working with are great, unless we need to change or tweak anything.
I spent a couple of weeks in China in December visiting FreeGo's three suppliers and must say I was massively impressed. FreeGo have an outstanding reputation for selling bikes that do not go wrong, and after seeing the factories I understand why. I now understand how FreeGo can offer a 5 day no quibble exchange policy. That is to say, if anything goes wrong with a FreeGo bike in the first year and it cannot be repaired within 5 working days, they simply give their customers a new bike in exchange for the old one. The factories were all clean, modern and very well run, they employed staff on very good wages, staff who take massive pride in their work. These were certainly superior to the factories I had been involved with in the past. The staff had and knew how to use torque wrenches and checked and double checked their work.
We also visited our new battery supplier, wow! I have never seen anything like it anywhere in the world. A brand new factory that produce hundreds of thousands of batteries a day for Apple alone. So if anyone is thinking of buying an IPhone, Macbook, or IPad. I have seen where the batteries are made! China is becoming more expensive and there is no doubt that a lot of companies will start to move production out of China for this reason. China is becoming modern and very professional.
Suffice to say we will indeed be placing orders with one of the factories for 5 new Wisper models that will be launched later in the year. The bikes will enjoy some very clever new technology. The new top of the range Wisper will look nothing like our traditional Classics and will only have three electronic components. More to follow soon. For the time being we will also continue to have the Classics made in Germany.
To conclude, there are advantages and disadvantages to using German or Chinese assemblers, we are currently trying to take advantage of both.
All the best
David
Hi David,
It is surprising what you find when you start to peel back the veneers.
I agreed with your conclusions you have to be able to be flexible in the modern fast moving markets.
Being first to market is where the money is albeit for a short time span.
I hope the move is successful for you and you can progress with the new merger backup in place, I hope your Companies attention to customer service rubs off on the rest of the UK industry.
Maybe unrestricted warranty transfers could be something you could look into, it would certainly be a first
Last edited:
Thanks very much for your kind words Shemozzle!
We do offer a warranty transfer, but the bike has to be bought from one of our stockists. This is the only way we can be certain the bike has not been misused or damaged before the transfer.
All the best
David
We do offer a warranty transfer, but the bike has to be bought from one of our stockists. This is the only way we can be certain the bike has not been misused or damaged before the transfer.
All the best
David
Hi David,
I don't know if you saw this previous thread regarding warranty policy:
http://pedelecs.co.uk/forum/threads/wisper-warrranty-online-register.16100/#post-197580
Related Articles
-
MTF Enterprises announces acquisition of EMU Electric Bikes- Started by: Pedelecs
-
Wisper 806T folding bike wins Which? ‘Best Buy’- Started by: Pedelecs
-
Sustrans calls for protected cycle lanes- Started by: Pedelecs
-
Amazon launch their first UK e-cargo micromobility hub- Started by: Pedelecs
