I could use your help

[David Kirk]

About a month ago I shipped a bike to a customer and it disappeared on the way there. It was insured and everyone will get taken care of in the long run but it leaves a bad taste in my mouth...........and more importantly the new owner doesn't have the bike he's been waiting for. Things like this don't just go missing. Someone makes them go missing and that someone should spend some time upstate. It's possible that it might turn up somewhere for sale.....eBay? A swap? A forum? Can you good folks please keep your eyes open for me?

The bike was serial number 100526 and it's a 57.5 x 56.5 Black Terraplane with gray panels. It was shipped Fed Ex ground and dissapeared somewhere between Chicago and New Jersey. The final tracking shows it leaving Chicago.

Like I said a loss claim has been filed and they will be cutting a check but I'd like to see a head roll too.

Your help would be greatly appreciated,

Dave

[Brian Smith]

Dave, just follow the footprints in the snow.
I hope you can.
That story brightened my mood all last week bro imo, bike thieves are mp.

[Ahneida Ride]

David

I could not agree more.

[pale scotsman]

Man that sucks. I bet it shows up on ebay sometime soon. It's not like there's a few thousand bikes like that out there.

[weisan]

Might want to check out the local dump...someone would look at the "bent" seatstays, not knowing it's the world-renowned terraplane, and mistaken that as a damaged bike. ;)

Sorry this happened to you and your customer, Dave-pal. I will let you know when I bought the frame on ebay... :D

[Keith A]

:crap: I knew I shouldn't have bought that Kirk off the guy that had a bunch of high end frames in his moving truck.

Seriously, that really stinks that the frame disappeared and I'll keep my eye out as well.

[csm]

I worked at fed ex ground when they were RPS. I could tell you stories...
I'm surprised though at how few claims there really are. my guess is that it went missing somewhere after it was put out on the package car. what does the tracking indicate? chicago? was it still on a trailer? it might have been misguided and eventually show up?

[CNY rider]

Dave

Let's try to re-create the crime, and see if we can solve it.

Here's what we do: You make a Terraplane, in, oh, say 54X54, nothing special in terms of geo. Let's get it painted a rich burgundy red with cream colored highlights (I know, painting it seems superfluous but we want to be as realistic as possible). Pack it up, send it to me, I promise I will let you know when it gets here.

Anything I can do to help, let me know.

[Len J]

Dave:

I'll pay extra for my shipping...LOL

It may show up, hopefully it was just misrouted.

I'll keep an eye out.

Len

[Fixed]

bro just my size I've never seen one if I do see one that size I will p.m. you ,i.m.h.o. it's not just a piece of metal. fedex ground they can be really slow don't give up hope yet, all may not be lost cheers

[Ginger]

Hmmm...anyone go to that huge swap meet in Madison last weekend? I'll check with my buds who spent time there...they would have noticed a Kirk (they love the work on mine, a second for them to look at would have piqued their interest)

[Big Dan]

I had my J-Bass coming from Oregon to Fla. It got to Jacksonville and no trace.
UPS put it in a truck back to Oregon and took like ten days to get scanned again...
Then they flew it home.........The bike could be riding in the back of a truck around the US.....

:bike:

Good Luck.....

[OldDog]

Dave, I have a real bad taste for Fed X Ground. I ship 20 to 100 packages a day, most UPS. My customers specify their own routing and more are going with FED X Ground due to cost savings. Even though I am set up for daily pick up, they only show up 2 - 3 days a week. Lost package rate is high compared to UPS. Like you, my lead times are out there, customers who wait months for an item are ticked at me when their carrier screws up. In my area, the drivers are not employees of FedX but independent contractors. I'm just about at the point of no longer offering the service.

[David Kirk]

I'm sure it won't show up at this point. It was shipped over a month ago and Fed Ex says it's gone. They would much rather find the bike than cut me a big check.

I'm just waiting for the check from them.

Dave

[weisan]

http://alicehui.com/serotta/fedex/fedex_tom.jpg

[csm]

lol. classic. best post in awhile.

[OldDog]

That was a great movie :banana:

[Keith A]

Speaking of lost packages. My first Serotta purchase was the RWB CSi and I had this shipped to my LBS to check it out when it arrived to make sure there were no problems. There was some mix up and the bike was sent back to the seller who had sent the bike from his LBS. It went missing for at more than a week and no one knew where it was -- not UPS, my LBS or the seller's LBS. It seems that when it arrived back at the seller's LBS in came in with several other bikes, so it got stuck in the stock room with all of the other new bikes that came in. Finally someone at the seller's LBS discovered the CSi and it was sent back to my LBS. It arrived with the rear derailleur bent and sticking out of the box along with a nice scrap down one of the seat stays.

Needless to say I was a bit PO'd about the whole deal and UPS put up a fight against making compensation for the damage. Since the seller has to make the claim, I was fortunate that the seller's LBS was kind enough to put the pressure on UPS and they eventually made some compensation for the damage.

BTW, regarding FedEx, they have at least three distinct divisions: FedEx overnight, FedEx ground and FedEx home delivery. It seems like their overnight and ground services have their act together better than the home delivery.

[Keith A]

That was a great movie :banana:Except for that scene of his tooth extraction :eek:

[William]

Wow David, that sucks.

I've got a buddy who's close to that size and is always cruising ebay and like minded sites looking for deals. I'll get out the APB.

William

[Too Tall]

It esp. hurts because of your handwork and passion for making a bike FOR someone right? Don't worry, there is a masterful equation at work here...just listen for the shreek!

[Kevan]

a bunch of scruffy, no good, varmint mtb'rs hunched behind some big rocks up on some hillside somewhere, looking down on a roadway waiting patiently for what they know will come... the stagecoach... no, I mean FedEx truck to come rolling by. At first sight of the truck, they smile at each other with greedy smiles, it’s right on schedule. They adjust their handkerchiefs to cover their faces, mount their steeds, and in a cloud of dust, descend quickly upon the poor hapless delivery guy. Forced to pull over, CO2 inflators pointed menacingly at him he's forced to toss down the Kirk, or less.

Dang blasted!

Dave, I hope they get your man.

[itsflantastic]

There is a less obvious place to look that someone could try to get rid of it.
craigslist.org
If you are not familiar with this site, it's an online classifieds/community type of thing that has chapters all around the country. There is a section devoted to bicycles.
So everyone should also monitor their area's craigslist.
It's very widely used.
Sorry Dave. . . that's a real bummer. I'm glad it wasn't me on the recieving end, that's enough to drive a guy up the wall!

-dan

[Ginger]

Alrighty...wouldn't this be um...funny?

Thief sells bike to unwitting cyclist who looks up the cool new bike on the web because he's never heard of it before, sees that Dave only does custom bikes, decides to call Dave to ask a couple questions about the geo...

[shoe]

i ordered a bike from dave once---oh wait and fed ex lost it...i would hear the school bus role by thinking man today is the day...it's coming ...oh wait that was just a school bus...no wait i hear it ...it stopped out front ...nope just ups delivering some more parts for my new bike.....luckily i have a serotta that works just fine and some patience....unfortunately it's dave's time that was lost. so what do those terraplane seatstays feel like anyway.........dave

[nobrakes]

I hear there is a place out of Chicago called Thin Air...