Folding Bikes - Fraud Alert: MomoVelo/Kai Matsuda

MomoVelo, the former eye-candy SS/Fixie shop in Berkeley is now an online shop on Yahoo.

Dahon stopped shipping folders to MomoVelo's owner, Kai Matsuda in the summer of 2004. Yet Matsuda continues to "sell" the Dahon Speed P8 online. http://store.yahoo.com/momovelo/speedp8.html.
and Dahon's electric folder, ROO El. http://store.yahoo.com/momovelo/rooel.html

:roflmao: :roflmao:

So you are saying mr Matsuda is taking money and not delivering product?

Or are you alleging that is he selling grey-market knockoffs as the real thing?

Yes. If you order a Dahon product, Matsuda will bill your credit card for the full amount of your purchase plus a shipping charge on the same day that he receives the order. Then he will not ship it and will ignore all your attempts to reach him by e-mail or phone. This ripoff pattern had been reported on BikeForums by Seamus, mkemmer, and SirKay in January-February 2004. I personally experienced it in December 2004.

I had ordered a Dahon Boardwalk D6 as a gift for a friend from Ahoy Captain, but received a voicemail message apologizing and indicating that they did not receive enough Dahon bikes from Taiwan to honor their December 15 ship-date committment to customers.

So in an attempt to have the Boardwalk D6 delivered by Christmas, I ordered a Boardwalk D6 from MomoVelo. Had I checked BikeForums first I would have discovered that Kai Matsuda has a history of not shipping products.

In my case, Matsuda cannot protest that he had to back-order products from Dahon. This scam will not work any more. I learned from Dahon that during the summer of 2004 they discontinued shipping him any Dahon products. Matsuda/MomoVelo is no longer a reseller of Dahon products. Kai Matsuda has no waranteed Dahon bikes to sell.

I reported this MomoVelo/Kai Matsuda transaction as a fraud to AMEX and I plan to follow through with Yahoo and authorities in Berkeley, CA.

To end on a pleasant note- if possible- Ahoy Captain did ship a Dahon Boardwalk D6 to my friend in Colorado on January 15, 2005.

If you froogle sellers of folders, you will find scores of honest online stores (including Ahoy Captain) who only bill customers when products have been shipped and who actually intend to ship the products that customers order.

:roflmao: :roflmao:

Or are you alleging that is he selling grey-market knockoffs as the real thing?

No, I am not saying that. I have no information about Matsuda 's selling grey-market knockoffs of Dahon products. I'm just reporting that he is not a legitimate reseller of Dahon products.

:roflmao: :roflmao:

Thanks for posting the heads up!

Does Momovelo have any remaining bricks and mortar operation or are they strictly internet sales now?

The info I have is that Matsuda now runs (behind bars) the "Peach Unicycle Boutique" on the U Beserkeley campus. (Just kidding ;-)

Here's a post by meat-toothpaste, Dec 12, 2004.

"And about MomoVelo, stay clear from them. They don't really exist anymore. The owner/operator of that joint has taken a hiatus. Be wary though as his Yahoo store might still operational and if you place an order, your card will most likely be charged and nothing will ship. There is no one to call to get a refund and rumor has it the owner, Kai, will not be back til spring 05."

A Forums search on "Momovelo" ("Momo no velo" or "peach velo") will lead you to believe that there is No-mo-momo-no-velo any more near U Berkeley ;-) Matsuda now lives in Yahoo, a tougher neighborhood. Or he could show up again on eBay. I wonder what his merchant rating is on eBay? I just froogled "Momovelo eBay" and found that Matsuda (like Kilroy) was here.

"Momovelo in Berkeley is probably the premier shop in the U.S. for commute bikes. They carry:

Kronan
ANT
Kettler
Breezer
Biria
Burley (internally geared 7 speed, lacks chain guard)
Biomega
Flying Pigeon (one speed Chinese bicycle)
Surly
Diamant
Riese & Muller (Birdy folders)
Brompton folders (most compact folder)
Dahon folders
Momovelo also carries their own line of bicycles. I initially thought that this was a joke, since the descriptions described what stereotypical residents of the PRB (People's Republic of Berkeley) would desire in a bicycle. The owner of Momovelo assures me that these are real models."

http://nordicgroup.us/commutebike/


:roflmao: :roflmao:

I dunno, I ordered a dirt drop stem from him probably less than a year ago and he shipped it out the same day I placed the order and responded swiftly to my emails.

Just froogled Momovelo and found four additional Dahon folders Matsuda is "selling" on Yahoo: Boardwalk D1, Helios XL 2003, Piccolo D3, and Helios P8.

:roflmao: :roflmao:

I have reported the Momovelo fraud described in this thread to the National Fraud Information Center.

I suggest that all members of BikeForums who have been ripped off by Momovelo/Kai Matsuda report their experiences to NFIC.

http://www.fraud.org/info/repoform.htm





:roflmao: :roflmao:

He took an order from me last February for a Dahon Vitesse D3 which never arrived. Dahon dragged their feet on production, it took a year to produce the bike but I repeatedly tried to cancel the order and Kai never returned my e-mails. He has since even closed his website thankfully but I fear he will resurface under another name.

Now it's "official". Matsuda says "adieu!". http://www.momovelo.com/

But is this really Matsuda's "sayoonara"? As a Yahoo store, Momovelo continues to "sell" 20 Dahon models. You can order Matsuda's virtual Dahon inventory at http://store.yahoo.com/momovelo/dahon.html.

:roflmao: :roflmao:

I had suggested that all members of BikeForums who have been ripped off by Momovelo/Kai Matsuda report their experiences to NFIC.

Don't waste your time! I sent to the National Fraud Information Center a fraud report via certified mail that was returned as undeliverable.

I then tried to report the fraud to NFIC using their online form. Their application crashed!

Since Matsuda's online Yahoo store is an ongoing fraud, I now plan to submit a report to the FBI. Of course I'll mention my exasperating experience with NFIC and suggest that they also investigate the NFIC ;-)

Stay tuned!

:roflmao: :roflmao:

About 1 yr. ago, I ordered misc. parts and a set of tires from momovelo. These were processed in two orders, as there was free shipping on the tires. The parts came quickly and without problems. The tires never came. After a few months, I arranged for Visa to credit the tire order amount back to me.

This have been going on for a while, it appears. I am surprised that the credit card companies still service momovelo orders ...

Some progress to report. Matsuda/momovelo is no longer "selling" Dahon products on Yahoo. But the Yahoo store still has his Brompton page.

:roflmao: :roflmao:

Some progress to report. Matsuda/momovelo is no longer "selling" Dahon products on Yahoo. But the Yahoo store still has his Brompton page.

:roflmao: :roflmao:

Obsess much?

I've had a similar problem with VintageVelos.com. One item ordered was delivered, other two items never arrived. My credit card was charged for all of the items. Three attempts to contact Vintagevelos.com via email went unanswered. Their recorded phone message states that there is no one ever available to answer the phone and to contact them via email. This is a play on the old joke, "I don't pay old bills, and wait for new bills to get old."

My credit card company, Chase, has been investigating this purchase for the past three months. Stay away from Vintagevelos.com. What a nuisance!

Has Momovelo/Kai recently re-emerged on eBay as user "samukunai"? Looks suspiciously like the remainder of Momovelo gear is up for sale - Berthoud bag, Paul Thumbies, Rivendell caps, Moleskine notebooks and other assorted items. Anyone got the scoop on this seller?

Kai Matsuda doesn't need "samukunai". He continues to laugh all the way to the ginkoo via the on-going momovelo fraud that is his Yahoo store. His favourite karaoke lyrics are from "Evita".

Don't cry for me AMEX, MC, Visa
The truth is I never left you
All through my ripoff days
My Yahoo existence
I kept my promise
Don't keep your distance

http://froogle.google.com/froogle?num=100&hl=en&lr=&newwindow=1&tab=wf&q=momovelo&btnG=Search+Froogle

:roflmao: :roflmao:

It sounds like some bright lawyer should get a class action suit going against this guy.

Good idea! But beyond momovelo and Yahoo, clearly what we need is an Eliot Spitzer to look into online stores and accounting practices of major credit card companies. http://www.oag.state.ny.us/

In the interim, here's a pristine shot of my 1946 "momovelo" bike-before it collides with a yakuza SUV ;-)

:roflmao: :roflmao:

Beautiful !a Bowden spacelander. If you had one it would be worth about 5 Grand.

Yes, a 1946 Spacelander designed by Benjamin Baldwin! Impressed you recognize it!

Well, there's been a recent sighting of this "mountain bike" near Kai Matsuda's ski chalet on Zao-san in Yamagata. Look for it to be on sale on his Yahoo store. It will be interesting to see Kai's price- if James is right, a 1946 Spacelander has a market value of go juu yon man en so Kai will put this subarashii Spacelander "on sale" for $1,800. Anyway, this is the Zao-san view from the Matsuda chalet ;-)

:roflmao: :roflmao:

Leo I think you are using photoshop ? It is very convincing though.Mr matsuda could concievably be selling inferior Dahon copies after all they copy most everything in China.

Leo, I think you are using photoshop ? It is very convincing though.Mr matsuda could concievably be selling inferior Dahon copies after all they copy most everything in China.

Except for Dahon folders and possibly other brands , Matsuda has no problem in offering on his Yahoo store any bike-even the virtual Spacelander ;-)- since he doesn't ship anything!

For example, Matsuda is currently "selling" Brompton L-3 ($800) (which you can really purchase for $915 from Bicycle Habitat, NYC). http://bicyclehabitat.com/site/itemdetails.cfm?ID=2389&Catalog=1

Sugoi, Matsuda-sensei, momovelo no keiei kanri keikaku ni tsuite, tensai no Yahoo! no sagi desu.
[Congratulations, Prof. Matsuda, on your Sugoiyahoo! startup in Tokyo.]

:roflmao: :roflmao:

Dang man, give it a rest, while I had a good experience ordering from him, I guess other people have not, but we get the point.

Did Kai beat you up in high school or something, Leo?

keep it up Leo- I nearly ordered something from him once-glad I didn´t

Except for Dahon folders and possibly other brands , Matsuda has no problem in offering on his Yahoo store any bike-even the virtual Spacelander ;-)- since he doesn't ship anything!

For example, Matsuda is currently "selling" Brompton L-3 ($800) (which you can really purchase for $915 from Bicycle Habitat, NYC). http://bicyclehabitat.com/site/itemdetails.cfm?ID=2389&Catalog=1

Sugoi, Matsuda-sensei, momovelo no keiei kanri keikaku ni tsuite, tensai no Yahoo! no sagi desu.
[Congratulations, Prof. Matsuda, on your Sugoiyahoo! startup in Tokyo.]

:roflmao: :roflmao:

I suppose this dealer has thus far eluded Brompton's radar. Brompton is careful about who they allow to sell their products. There are less than 20 dealers in the USA.

i spent a fair amount of time in kai's shop in '02/'03. i do not wish to defend his actions because taking someone's money and not shipping their product is indefensible.

however, i at least can offer my (more positive) experiences. i did have some successful transactions with him, mostly on the accessory side, and more than that i enjoyed his aesthetics and his energy. obviously his vast and free-running intentions outstripped his abilities, and he got in over his head/bit off more than he could chew/pick your cliche.

you will be amused to know that at least part of his problem was that he was (on a local level) too generous. when he first opened his atelier it was because his little boutique in sather gate had become mostly a repair shop, which repairs were largely free and done on bicycles belonging to homeless men. furthermore, once my partner and i rented ten bikes from him (for a bunch of visiting friends to join us on critical mass) and after we returned them we could not get him to accept payment for the rentals. i think the same mindset was at work in both his inability to fill mail orders and his inability to take money from local regulars.

it really sucks, because he has a good design sense and, as no one can deny, his later "atelier" bikes were astonishingly beautiful. i've gotten the hots for a singlespeed bike recently, and today i went to his site to see what he had, and found it "closed," which is what ultimately led me here.

back then, we quite often thought that the one thing he needed was a business manager. i guess we were right.

Thanks, weed eater, for helping us put all this in perspective.

Like you, and many members of BikeForums, I was enthused about momovelo designs and planned to order one of his astonishing single speeds or fixies.

I'm now inclined to think that Kai-san just got overwhelmed by a combination of financial and health problems and simply dropped out. Unfortunately, it looks like he left his biz in some very bad hands.

If something like this happened, Kai-san is the ultimate victim of this fraud. The rest of us just lost money. To some extent, this poor guy lost his ability to create, market, and sell uniquely beautiful and functional bikes.

If something like this happened, and if Kai-san is the person you describe- bike culture icon, velo artist, compassionate shopkeeper- then I owe him a serious apology. More to the point, all his friends and former customers (even those of us who got ripped off) need to help him get back to his art and business.

If anyone has any information or even hearsay about what actually happened to momovelo, please post it on this thread. Yes, this situation sucks. We need to do something about it.

Plus I'm still keen to test ride one of his new fixies on Tokyo's Omotesandoo;-)

:roflmao: :roflmao:

there's a huge amount of chatter on various forums about momovelo, which you've no doubt read. as far as I can tell, as of yesterday the Yahoo store is no longer. you can find some archived momovelo.com pages if you are sneaky, but that web site is effectively dead too. the ebay ID you mentioned does appear to be him, and to his credit there are no negative feedbacks, though, strangely, the ID name changed yesterday.

i think it would be very difficult to do what he did, and do it profitably or even sustainably -- perhaps a non-profit org, connected to a traditional bike store, would have all of the ins and outs needed to cover all (or most) of the ground he wanted to cover, while providing a base income. But the logistics, never mind the Bay Area rents, of even half of that (take your pick--bike store, or bicycle non-profit) are huge, certainly more than one person can handle. I think there is a place in the US, particularly on the West Coast, for a store that carries specialized 'boutique' equipment like this, and the presence of the Internet makes it all the more feasible, but the vision would have to be pared down to one or two things instead of all ten or fifteen, and you'd have to at least hire a staff.

but who knows -- once the Bay Area real estate bubble bursts, maybe someone will give it a try. I'll certainly be happy if so!

i've found an online bike "store" that seems to have a similar aesthetic sense as momo; a bit more gritty and use-what-ya-got, which fits me fine...

go on ebay and check out seller ID "adkerbicycles"

kai is still around in the bay area. he has a new shop in downtown berkeley along the same lines as momovelo. and he's super pleasant to deal with, and a real nice guy. i really enjoy being able to go down there and chat with him.

kai is still around in the bay area. he has a new shop in downtown berkeley along the same lines as momovelo. and he's super pleasant to deal with, and a real nice guy. i really enjoy being able to go down there and chat with him.

that is great news. where's the shop?

Yes. this is great news! Now we don't have to worry about Kai-san sleeping in one of the aesthetic cardboard crates for the homeless outside Shinjuku station in Tokyo.

A new scenario- Kai-san is back selling velo-eye-candy- hopefully only from his new Berkeley shop. Now it looks like those of us who were ripped off were simply venture capitalists ;-)

So, OneTinSloth, where's the shop?

In my brief search, I did find jitensha.com/ (Jitensha Studio, (2250 Bancroft Way, Berkeley). weed eater, you may want to check it out. Not Kai-san's new boutique- reportedly there since 1985. But I wish Jitensha Studio were in Boston/Cambridge ;-( For that matter, I wish Kai-san were in Boston/Cambridge. We could have some kaiwa as we drink a litre of Momo no Shizuku sake ;-)

:roflmao: :roflmao:

i've found an online bike "store" that seems to have a similar aesthetic sense as momo; a bit more gritty and use-what-ya-got, which fits me fine...

go on ebay and check out seller ID "adkerbicycles"


Weed Eater,

Thanks for the kind words. We are probably not in Momo's league regarding aesthetics or customer service. We convert quality old road bike frames into something "we" would want to ride. In many cases we do ride them for a while before we offer them for sale. We'll do just about anything our buyers request to ensure they get a bike they are happy with. We rescue these bikes from hanging unridden in someone's garage or barn. Our goal is to build them up into something the new owners really want to ride.

Thanks Again,
John
AdkerBicycles

Matsuda-san is back! He has just opened in Berkeley a new eye-candy shop, wryly called Omafiets ("granny bike" in Dutch). So all of us venture capitalists (Kai's Ripoff Club) should bike over to Milvia Street and help him celebrate the grand opening of Omafiets (through May 29) ;-) For a look at "granny bikes" in the Netherlands check out http://www.omafiets.nl/.

:roflmao: :roflmao:

OK... I hope somebody will let me know what happen to this Kai Matsuda or my Gitane Mixte....

Last Summer (June 05) I gave Kai Matsuda my NervexLug Gitane Mixte to restore and repaint. He took the frame to powder coat shop and it never made it back to his shop and I think late August 05 he closed ho Omafiet shop and dissapear.
This is what I know....
Around August 05: He just left the area and did not pay his rent nor take his stuff in the shop with him. The landlord of the space had no idea what happen to him, they packed Kai stuffs and put them in the storage. I left the landlord my info in the event that Kai might come back.

November 05: I stopped by the shp and asked the landload what happen to Kai.. they said he came back and took his stuff and left.

I hope people in this BF community who know him will let him know that some one in BF is looking for his Gitane Mixte...