i have a very important sincere request. my beloved Nishiki Alien has cracked on the seat tube. my fiancee' had been riding the bicycle daily of late to work. we are very attached to it. the crack obviously began from the second bottle cage hole which hasn't held a bottle or even a cage in 6 years. very odd that it is not ridden hard at all anymore in any way. it's my sweetie's commuter bike and not even ridden offroad....equiped with slicks and all. well, i dug out my old Nishiki manual and reciepts and the manual clearly explains a lifetime warranty on the frame. the crack is such that it's apparent of product failure. i have photos i'll enclose later just to show if this site allows that.
here's the problem i need help with; the bicycle shop i purchased it at no longer offers Nishiki and the ownership has changed and all employess i used to ride with and really used to be true friends with are long gone. i couldn't believe how the shop had changed.. they tried to sell me a LX MTB. the salesperson really was not a very serious rider, the manager was annoyed and rude and didn't even understand what i was saying. i was not rude at all but very respectful and kind. they just blew me off and repeatedly mantrad "we don't sell Nishiki". "um, but you did recently..can you please help me contact them?", "we don't sell Nishiki" i did leave pretty frustrated and downright angry.
i tried to write to the Nishiki address from the manual. my letter was returned "no address". i looked on the internet extensively and find that Nishiki offers no support to America..?.. i hope i'm wrong. apparantly they only sell to Europe these days (Nishiki.com). the old American site is now for RaleighUSA..did Raleigh buy Nishiki out? i really want this frame replaced or repaired as fair under warranty. i love that crazy elavated Richard Cunningham bicycle. it truly rides to fit my preferances near perfect...truly equal to my Mantis but not as fancy nor so as terrifying to have stolen. i felt sure there were many many more years in the frame and i was exited to configure the bike as a fancy tricked out lightweight grocery hauler/utility/semi-street bike.. basically a snazzy city bike
so far i've sent e-mails to a few of their European e-mail addresses(from Nishiki.com). the English address is no longer working. Someone from another message board was kind enough to give me an e-mail to thier corporate headquarters in Germany. i sent a few E-mails now describing the problem and even some quality photos as well. i've heard nothing. i clearly labled my messages as (in English) perhaps that could be a problem.
are there any bike dealers or other Nishiki owners or anyone with a suggestion? any advice or tips or links? i'd greately appreciate it. my fiancee' is now an MTB fan because of this bike and really Nishiki should reinforce the craziness of paying 2k or more for a bicycle "back in the day". please help i really like this bicycle and do feel that Nishiki should honor thier warranty:-)
best regards,
^v^
