The Cycle Den, Inc.

In June of 2012 The Cycle Den burnt to the ground.  There was very little that was salvaged from the blaze.  The fire burnt so hot that the cylinder heads completely melted off of some of the bikes.  At the time of the fire, we had 3 restoration projects in progress.  One had...

arrived in early 2011 and was nearing completion and another bike arrived in the fall of 2011. It was about halfway complete. The third was that which belonged to the [redacted] and arrived in the spring of 2012.  By the beginning of June 2012, I had completely rebuilt the transmission and cleaned up the motor.  The frame had been freshly powder coated and the sheet metal awaited our painter.  Then the fire struck. A few days after the fire, while we were attempting to salvage what we could, **. [redacted] arrived and inquired as to the condition of his bike.  As he had not insured his bike, he was very concerned with its fate.  He was informed that we had located and salvaged the motor, transmission and frame but that was all and they all needed a bit of cleanup and work for them to be usable.  He was offered the opportunity to turn it in to our insurance company.  **. [redacted] then asked if the bike could be rebuilt.  We told him the motor, transmission and frame appeared to all be repairable and, given enough time to work and track down the necessary parts, it could be done.  He chose for us to restore it. Over the next year and a half we cleared and rebuilt our facility.  We began moving shelving and equipment into the building in October of 2013.  Later in that month, Chad N[redacted], the owner’s son, was stricken with a fatal illness and hospitalized.  Understandably, the owner spent nearly all of his time with Chad.  Set up continued very slowly as we waited for Chad and Rick, the owner, to return.  In February of 2014, Chad passed away and grief-stricken, Rick retired.  It wasn’t until late in the spring of 2014 that The Cycle Den really began to have the ability to get any work started, and then we had to concentrate on smaller jobs that would bring in greatly needed cash flow.  However, we did begin work on all 3 of the restoration projects that we had. **. [redacted] stopped in frequently and each time complaining that he saw other bikes being worked on. We tried to explain that we needed to do the other work to be able to keep the company going, to keep utilities paid, to pay employees, to be able to purchase parts needed.  Each time he came in, we showed him what progress had been made.  Admittedly, it was going slow.  His project was the last to arrive, but all 3 were getting attention as materials were found and procured.   A defined time frame was never given.  **. [redacted] insisted that work be accomplished by certain times, but no promises were made.  We always said we would try to accomplish what he hoped for but, realistically, unless the mechanic only worked on **. [redacted] bike and ignored everything else, he wasn’t going to be satisfied. When they called and said they wanted to pick up their parts, we gathered everything of theirs we had and stacked it on a pallet.  This included the newly re-powder coated frame, a completely rebuilt motor and transmission and a few boxes of salvaged parts that we knew to fit their model of bike. We never received any insurance money for their bike.  Neither did we receive any money from anyone toward any work that was done to their bike.  When customers bring us projects, it is company policy that every customer signs a work order which states what work is to be done.  A blank copy of the work order is attached.  It states “I acknowledge that you will not be held responsible for any loss or damage to the vehicle or any contents in case of fire, theft, or any cause beyond your control.”  Sadly, the signed copy of **. [redacted] work order (as well as everyone else’s for that matter) was lost in the aforementioned fire.  The other 2 restoration projects we are still working on.  One only needs a few tuning adjustments and it will be completed, the other is about 50% complete.  Neither of these customers will be charged anything beyond what they would have originally been charged had there not been a fire.  The same would have applied to the [redacted] had they not taken it to another shop.  Since they declined to allow us the opportunity to complete the project we are no longer responsible for any expenses related to the matter Thank you, Jeffrey H[redacted]General Manager – The Cycle Den, Inc.###-###-####www.thecycleden.com