Clownbike

Greetings all -

After being busy dealing with other irons in the fire, have started contemplating things bicycle again. As I was interested in getting an Expedition Rack for my Birdy, I went to the Black Dog website to order one from Don. Seems he's no longer in business, or at least the web site is AWOL. There now seems to be precious little in the way of Birdy dealers these days.

A real shame, as he's always been very helpful. It's beginning to look like Rad-Inovations has pretty much put the final nail in the Birdy coffin insofar as North America is concerned. Could never understand why Pacific Cycles would continue to use a distributor who did so little to support their products. The Birdy is a wonderful and unique bike, as the Japanese market will attest, and I think it could have done well here. The price was high, but not that much more than comparably spec'ed machines from other makers. And the price would have come down if the volume had increased.

I've also wondered if the licensing agreement with R&M contributed to the high price.

ratdog

Peter at Bfold in NYC told me they now stock the new Birdys. Thhey may be the only dealer left in the USA.

lexm

Not necessarily. Rapid Transit Cycles in Chicago has a Birdy on the showroom floor and at least claims to be a Birdy dealer. I saw the Birdy myself yesterday when I brought in what is now Mrs lexm's Strida for a small repair.

Clownbike

Yes, there are a few dealers left here and there. It's been awhile since I looked for bikes or parts, got most of my bits from Don and the Silver off NY Craigslist a couple years ago. Most dealers that carried the line seem to have little stock or have dropped them completely. Never did succeed in getting anything from R-I, and their prices were usually higher than the dealers. They also had a habit of listing stuff on their site that were unobtainable or discontinued.

Pine Cone

I don't know all the details, but he briefly went into the bicycle trailer business and now is apparently out of the bicycle biz. Too bad, I had a good experience dealing with him and love they Pacific Reach Offroad he sold me.

energyandair

Anja at Rad Innovations was very helpful with parts for us last January. I would try emailing or calling her. https://www.birdybike.com/

I'm not sure what models they have but last time I looked, Birdy's were a lot less costly in North America than in Australia, the UK or Europe.

invisiblehand

Isn't that true about a lot of stuff?

chucky

Pacific now has a whole line of bikes and have integrated the Birdy into that distribution channel.

Any dealer that can get a Carryme or Pacific Reach should also be able to get a Birdy: There's Brandscycle and NYCEwheels to name a few. Bfold stocks Birdys and I saw a Birdy at bikesatvienna in Virginia.

Clownbike

These days, prices in NA are within a few hundred dollars of Australia and England. Of course this changes with the winds of currency exchange rates.

Authorized dealers can only get products available from their distributors. Anything else they might carry would be grey market.

Pacific are a manufacturer, who licenses the Birdy design from R&M. The distributors are wholesalers and are usually tied directly to the manufacturer and responsible for providing stock and support for their territory. Product availability may change from territory to territory, sometimes with different names for the same product. Authorized dealers are retailers and order stock from the distributor and cover support as well. Non authorized shops get their stuff from wherever.

This is generally the case with most manufactured goods, but the bike industry seems to march to it's own drummer and I'm sure there are variants. I notice that Pacific no longer lists their distributors on their web site. I've also noticed that many cycling distributors, and even manufacturers sell to the public.

orixa

https://forum.hkmtb.net/viewtopic.php...=2428&start=75

Lost in translation but this is an idea for a DIY rack for a birdy. Better IMOH then the original design, now the swingarm takes some of the load. Should be easy enough to modify for someone with a welder and a can of spray paint.

Clownbike

Finally figured out how to navigate Pacific's site. It seems that R-I are no longer a distributor. The Reach and Carryme's are distributed by two new distributors in the US and there is also an outfit in Canada for the Carryme. The only IF product in NA is the Mode.

The Birdy is now only distributed in Asia and Germany, so that is that. Shame, really.

As to the rack, thanks for the link. It appears the rack in the photos of that heavily modified Birdy is a modified Expedition rack.

PS - The bike in the link looks like the work of our old friend Raxel or one of his buddies. Is he still around?

energyandair

You did better than me. I didn't find a list of Pacific Cycles distributors.
I did find a R&M list that did not include North America but that doesn't include Australia either. I think both may have been direct from Pacific rather than through R&M

bhkyte

Birdies should sell alot more bikes than they do. Look at the way Bromptons have sold bikes to cyclists who would not usually opt to send alot of money on a bike normally.Often these bikes cost £600-£1500.By rights birdie should have a largish slice of that market given the quality of the bike. They need to sort out their advertising as they should be a well known design. I want a Birdie I am sure other people would if they tried one or where aware of a compact folders that rode as well as they do.

Clownbike

On the Pacific site, go to the distributors page. Under the Worldwide Pacific banner there are two fields for Product. You have to do a search for each model to find where they are distributed. A bit fiddly, but the info is there. The Americas seem to be pretty much an afterthought for the company, at least in regards to folders. Probably doesn't want to get into a price/turf war with Dahon. And then there's also the flood of cheap knockoffs from China to contend with.

I think R&M just handles Germany and some of Europe.