A bike from Mike.

Update:
I track about 80 visitors a week that come to look at this page.
So far no one has contacted me about anything they have seen or read. Drop me an email if this page has been any help (let me know which part) to you. I'm curious to find out why so many people visit.
c50@motionid.com

The Purchase
After deciding the spec for what I wanted I started searching for companies that would give me the right combination of service and price. I emailed around 10 places to start with, with a plan of adding to this number the next day (eventually a total of 18 from all around the world).
A few companies got back to me with prices for a complete bike, not detailing what was included but giving me their standard build kit price. Mike was the first to reply to my email and the first to give me exactly what I wanted, a price breakdown for the spec I had sent out.

More prices and reply emails came in over the next several days but mikes price was still the best.
But price alone was not the deciding factor (although it did play a big part). I also looked all over the web to see what I could find about Maestro and other companies. Did anyone have anything good or bad to say about them etc? I could only find good thing's about Maestro which started me moving in the direction of buying from mike.
The deciding factor was actually how much mike was able to put up with my asking a million questions about parts and prices plus the phone calls to help work out the size of my frame. It took a good week of agonizing over every detail of the bike before I finally made up my mind what I wanted on it.

Mike explained that there were two ways to ship the bike. Built or unbuilt. A built bike he ships in a sci-con bike bag. And, by the looks on the scuff marks on mine, you'll see it's the only way to do it. The other way is unbuilt in 2 Colnago bike boxes as he explains on his web site. Mike also sold me the bike case at his cost which I am grateful for and helped reduce the shipping cost.

The build
It only took a day for Mike to build the bike once all the parts were in the store (about 1 day to get the wheels etc.).

Shipping
This is the part that will drive you mad. If you live in the US, no problem, the bike will be there in a matter of days. If you live anywhere else in the world get ready for a wait of about a week or so.
I have included an entire capture of my tracking page so you can see what I went through before it arrived. Had a little mix up with the numbers on the combination locks to the bag so the bike was delayed a day.

click image for details

Duty
The duty payment worked out at 5% of the value of the bike and the bike box. For anyone outside of Japan I would recommend finding out around ho much duty you'll need to pay. Always a nasty hidden cost that may get you right before you take delivery.

The Arrival
Saturday morning, 9am it arrives.

After a slight bit of tweaking the rear derailleur, installation of the seat post, peddles, seat etc I had the bike up and running.

The ride
It had to arrive on a day when it rained. Still, I managed to beat the weather and get in 30km before it started coming down.

About me

My name is Sean Wood and I live in Tokyo Japan.
After discovering that the prices of high end Italian racing bikes were about 2-3 times as expensive as the rest of the world in Japan I started looking on the internet to try to find an alternative. I've written this little bit of info here in the hope that it may give others some idea of what they are in for if they buy a bike from another country. I had a vague concept of how it would all come together but I could find no detailed information or large clear pictures of anything I was looking for.

I have no affiliation with Maestro or mike but just thought it might be good to document my experience.

Special thanks must go to my good friend Luke who also suggested I speak to Mike and who suggested I look for full carbon frames - which lead me to the c50 :-)

If you have any questions regarding anything on this page, feel free to email me at:
info-at-motionid.com