Momovelo no more?
 

Just got back from Berkley and apparently Momo is no more, at least not as a physical store. I talked with a guy at a local bike shop and he lamented his inability to keep it running. The on line thing may still be up and going. On a brighter note: I met a frame builder in Berkley today by the name of Hiroshi Iimura. His place was called jitensha studio. Had some great looking stuff. jitensha.com is site. Nice stuff and cool guy. If I go road, I am already sold on his stuff. He also does track frames. Enjoy.

Where are the photos ;)?

Of the non-Momovelo storefront?

i won a pair of strong-g keirin grips from momovelo on ebay a couple of months ago. f--ker never sent 'em. f--k momovelo.

Of anything from your trip, bike related of course. Any photos of Jitensha?

http://www.jitensha.com/eng/e_index.html

A sexy singlespeed http://www.jitensha.com/eng/snglspdebisu_e.html

I've seen the site - wanted to see if Pete took any photos though.

i wouldn't be surprised if momovelo died completely, web and all.

the website is nice but it's all a sham. i've ordered from them 3 times and of the 9-10 items, i only ever got one. and, the customer service is terrible. no followup and not very communicative. apparently too busy being cool to actually run the business properly.

it's too bad, since he generally had the right idea where the bikes and bits were concerned.

Regretfully I forgot to get pictures, despite the camera strapped around my shoulder. However, the photos I would have taken look no different than the ones under "Photos" on the site.

Also got to American Cyclery. Did not get a good vibe from that place. More of a "well if you're not gonna buy something, I've got **** to do" kind of feeling. Plus I found out that they designed Somas, which I did not know. After the feel that place gave me, I am glad that I didn't end up getting one. C'est la vie.

If I get any pictures of note, I'll probably post when I get back.

Hopefully will be catching up with Lucklust tomorrow or Thursday.

Just to help you understand where the guy is coming from: it is his second job and he's a programmer for IBM and does the bike stuff out of love. Seems like it started off with great intentions but was a little unrealistic in terms of time required to get stuff done.

I don't think American Cyclery did anything more than copy the bianchi pista geometry and call it soma Rush. I have verified 3 sizes (after emailing them and getting complete details about geometry) and they are identical to bianchi. The are small differences here and there but not worth mentioning. I bet they copied geometry for their other bikes too. Not a bad idea but their frames do not speak of their bicycle expertise.

Just curious, why did you order 3 times from them if you have gotten 1 out of 9/10 items? So the first two times you were satisfied, even if you did not get anything atleast once, not to mention 'terrible customer service, and no followup communication'? Is this for real?

No mo' Momo? Oh no!

:eek:



Well, somebody had to say it! :D

Yes, it's for real. no need to be snide.

two reasons:
1. I was ordering things that I couldn't get around here and didn't find elsewhere.
2. I'm stupidly optimistic sometimes.

The first two orders crossed-over as well. I ordered a couple of things and then ordered a few more 3-4 days later. He eventually refunded my money for the items that I didn't get, so it's not like he's dishonorable (at least from my point of view). He just didn't have what it takes to run an online business, that's all.

Like I said, it's too bad that he couldn't do it right. I liked the bikes, the selection of parts and whatnot, and the general flavor of the place.

I ordered from Momo once a couple of months ago - a nitto dirt drop stem... he sent it out the same day via priority mail... he responded to my comments field on the order page promptly (I asked if shipping would really cost as much as it stated and if he could send USPS)... he gladly did and said it would indeed cost less to ship... I had it in a couple of days - Frisco to Boston... I was quite satisfied... but I only ever ordered one item. He had/has (website still up) some nifty little items.