CWay27

I'm with mooty on this one. Not very practical to run track wheels that take 3 months to build. What happens if you break one, you wait 3 months for another one?? Yes I'm Canadian and hate paying for duty fees but hate even more wasting my short summer waiting for a wheel. Also keep in mind that CCW wheels are made in the states and if commercial paper work is filled in correctly with proper classification, duty fees are close to none.

MTB

+1 and guarantee the price will go up 20 to 30%. I live right here in Vancouver BC, loved to support local business but any auto parts are so expensive here! Friend just bought a Z06 engine from Portland OR for $12K, here ....$18K???

arrivederci

USD/CDN exchange rate won't help those in the US either right now...

AllanJ

Pricing for Kodiaks has always been in $US AFAIK. Don't see why it would change.

PedalFaster

I don't know if that was directed at me, but as I mentioned, I was originally told three weeks, and every time I called after that I was told they were going to ship in the next couple of days... but they didn't. Plus they had my money already.

I agree with your overall point, though, which is take your business elsewhere.

mooty

was not directed at you per se. but anyone who continues to do business with the F company.
but i had same experience and i hold my grudge FOREVER, dont mess with me (F company that is).

and i did take my business else where, CCW and jongbloed and in my opinion both are far superior products and CHEAPER oh, better service did i mention that?
they BOTH delivered brand new CUSTOM offset wheels to me before fikse can turn around replacing my halves. WTF.... aren't we all driving fast cars... i like fast manufacturers.

I REALLY HATE WAITING for anything.

and what i REALLY dont understand is that my mechanic can build a series winning BSR from scratch to race car in less then 3 weeks. so is it THAT difficult to make some wheels....

sorry, but the very mention of fikse boils my blood. i can go on and on, but i dont want to disable the entire internet web with the amount of sh*t i can dish out. ok, i need to go chill with some mojito.

arrivederci

Good to know. Either way, though, variable exchange rate (or a weak USD) is something that they'll have to account for in their pricing. So you're paying whether you know it or not...

DaveConn

Mooty,

I'm not clear on whether your issues are (were) with Fikse, or not, but I am strongly inclined to agree with you on choice of wheel supplier(s). I came DAMN close to getting burned by Fikse, right up to the time they closed the doors, and in the end only managed to recoup three fourths of the cost of trying to buy my second set of wheels from them. 'Customer service' was, apparently, not a term in their mission statement.

Pedal,

I've not personally dealt with Kodiak, but I'm also not surprised at your experience. It sounds similar to many of the stories I've heard over the years, mostly realted to smaller, higher-quality wheel manufacturers. Maybe it's a capacity issue - these companies get to the point that they can't handle the demand and everything goes to hell...

It's been an interesting experience to again consider what wheels I want to run, this coming spring, on my narrow-body 964. CCW seems to always get great reviews, and I know BBS can get the job done, but for lightweight and low-cost (relatively) alternatives, I'm starting to eye Volks, Keizers, etc.

In the end, I want a set of wheels built RIGHT THE FIRST TIME, that will LAST, not lose AIR (it's a f#*king wheel, for God's sake!), and look good. Is that too much to ask...?

Sorry for the brief rant.

Regards,

Dave

PedalFaster

Stay away from Keizers too. I've personally seen two fail, and heard stories of many more - all at autocrosses, no less (autocrosses being much easier on wheels than track time).

Mark in Baltimore

Okay, John, we got it. You hate Fikse with every apoplectic, scorch-the-earth-as-far-as-the-eye-can-see bone in your body because they . . . took too long to deliver your wheels or wheel repairs. Regardless of whatever highly unfortunate circumstances occurred with customers who had deposits or wheels with Fikse when they shut their doors, the company is under new ownership, so maybe some of us who don't have a huge axe to grind are going to look objectively at the situation and not judge the firm on actions from the past, those actions having occurred with owners who are no longer calling the shots.

I have had Fikses for six years and, despite the recent problems, have had, overall, decent customer service from the company. Although it sounds like their money mismanagement collided with the tumbling economy, I see the situation as a company that was trying to hang on for dear life, using smoke and mirrors to control any potential PR disaster. I don't have an MBA but I know enough about business that, large and small, many companies sustain wild ups and downs, and that sometimes all it takes for an organization to crash is one, unlucky event that breaks the camel's back.

This is a human-based business and it looks like the humans, now no longer running the show, made some mistakes. I hope others can keep an open mind on the new ownership. Perhaps Kodiak will take some lessons from all of this and sharpen their turnaround schedules.

I do hope you have a better rest of the weekend, sir.

sig_a

I've also had poor customer service issues with Keizer as recently as last week.

por29

I have had a few conversations with Daryl at Kodiac in the past few months. They, Kodiac have purchased all the Fikse wheels, parts, and production equipment. He promises to give good service and will actually build and stock popular Fikse wheels sizes for quick shipments. I've always been a fan of Fikse wheels and luckily I did not get caught up in the demise of Fikes but I sure am glad the Daryl stepped up and aquired them. This is great news for all who have been running Fikse wheels. Parts should be readily available soon. Jim Fikse did keep a good paper trail and any wheels that were sent in for repair should be found, repaired and returned to their owners.

Bill Rudtner

DaveConn

Pedal & sig_a - thanks for the heads-up on Keizer.

Bill - Thanks for the info. I still run Fikses as my street/rain wheels, so the day will come when I may need some help. I certainly hope Daryl can get that 'house' in order.

Regards all,

Dave

won

Hey guys,

In addition to the press release posted earlier, I just wanted to assure you that all the existing return/repair orders will be taken care of first, before we start accepting new orders. That's part of the reason why we're aiming for March 1st re-launch of the brand.

Thanks,
Won

mooty

won, welcome aboard. fikse wheels are good stuff, just horrendous service. with you taking over their business, i hope things will change and perhaps one day i will buy my 6th set of fikses. best of luck.