Any reason not to buy off Ebay?
 

I'm after a Dahon D7 2008 Vitesse. Its £100 cheaper on eBay than from a bike shop! (1 year guarantee)

What reasons would you give for paying the extra £100 and buying from a local bike shop?

After all, couldn't I just take my Dahon from eBay to a shop to get it 'tuned' etc?

thanks.

Who provides the 1-year warranty? If Dahon UK is like Dahon US, bikes purchased on the gray-market have no Dahon warranty.

I think he (eBay shop owner) said they will direct you to your nearest Dahon shop. And he said the box comes with the opportunity to register for a 5 year Dahon warranty. Is it very risky to not have this warranty agreement?

Buying from ebay means you will get the bike in a box and will need to perform your own assembly of some parts and miss the 'Tune up' that Dahon expects bike-shops to perform to make sure everything is set up properly off the bat. But otherwise it's a good way to get a bargain.

I see. Cheers. Although this dealer claims that they carry out the checks (see link)

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/2008-DAHON-VIT...d=p3286.c0.m14

[QUOTE=catboy76;7589249]I see. Cheers. Although this dealer claims that they carry out the checks (see link)
QUOTE]

Fudges (the seller) are legit, quite a few people on here and/or the Dahon.com forums speak highly of them. They're UK authorised dealers, so warranty will be intact & honoured, the bike ready to ride.

Here in the U.S. paying with paypal gives you some sort of protection (up to 1K, i think). Even better, find a way to pay with a credit card that doubles the warranty on a new item and you're protected. I've heard that Dahon's are good in warranty activation when you have a Dahon dealer inspect it.

Here's the link to the warranty page at Dahon UK.

There is mention of "the dealer" but no explicit mention that the dealer has to be one of Dahon's authorized dealers, as there is on the US Dahon site, probably because of differences in the governing law; I've read that the EU is more consumer-friendly in this regard. Here's what the US website says:
You can quality for a lifetime frame warranty by having the bike tuned-up at the LBS before it's ridden. One would typically save the receipt to prove this took place.

My advice would be to go for the tune up, since you've already saved money on the purchase and, if the bike is not properly tuned, and bolts are not tightened to recommended torque, you can damage the bike. If the Seller has already done this, and is recognized by Dahon UK as having the necessary know-how, and provides you with a written statement that the tune-up took place, then you're squared away.

Regards
T

I bought my Dahon D7 on ebay a year ago from an authorized Dahon dealer. It came in a huge box all fully assembled and ready to ride. Everything was adjusted perfectly, even the shifter worked perfect. I suspect Dahon puts that 'check it out with LBS' just to be extra careful. One person in the factory setting the bike up could always forget something...

Straight from the factory, bikes are not fit for the road. Basically bikes are assembled at the factory, but not finely tuned. This is the way the bike industry has operated for over 100 years. It is the job of the dealer to set the bike up properly and tune it up for the road. It then gets a road test and any fine adjustments required.

If it doesn't get this, then the bike is highly likely to have problems.

If you have the skills and tools to do this yourself, then buying direct is no problem. If you don't, then only buy from a reputable dealer (local or internet) who can be trusted to do the predelivery work.

You can expect to pay from £25 to £50 to get this work done otherwise.

Most ebay dealers are good. The only problem I see with buying at a distance like this is the difficulty of having to send things back when they are not right. Having said that, I've had a few bikes from ebay and they were always fine. You kind of expect minor niggles with bikes - things like gear adjustment and brakes. I've never had a problem I couldn't fix easily enough. I've bought about six bikes off ebay in the last three years. - Make that seven, actually.