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Cadillac Beach Cruisers

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Chimp
Nov 30, 2006
1
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Cadillac Beach Cruisers
I made the bad mistake of buying two Cadillac Beach Cruiser bikes: one each of male/female models [from the Cadillac Bike Store web-page, not Amazon.com]. I had these mail-order bikes assembled at a bike shop [bike shop #1] as suggested. On the first day, on a hilltop, the pedal arm almost fell off the bike, this is where the arm fits into the crank and spindle; these bikes have the back-up type bikes so I could’ve been crippled or killed going down a hill. I returned the bike to Bike Shop #1 and they told me that the cranks were made of cheap aluminum and of an antiquated design and these parts would repeatedly fail. When I contacted the Cadillac Bike Store the insulting run around began: They put me in contact with the manufacturer of the bike… who blamed the subcontractors they use. They eventually sent me a new set of bike cranks for both bikes and promised to reimburse me the repair costs, which they’ve made no effort to do in spite of my repeated reminders to them. I took both bikes into Bike Shop #2 because the manufacturer didn’t trust the work of Bike Shop #1. The new cranks [left side] failed in less than two hours of use on my bike for the second time. Bike Shop #2 told me that the left side cranks on the female bike were also loose when he replaced them and my wife is about half my body weight [115 pounds] and she only rode her bike approximately twenty to thirty minutes total. Bike Shop #2 basically agreed with Bike Shop #1 that these bikes should never be taken off a totally level surface and that you should never trust the cranks on them: “Check & Tighten the cranks after each use”. The Cadillac people told me that the return policy [ten days] had already expired by this time [sorry sucker].
These bikes don’t work and they’re dangerous, when the pedal arms come loose you may not be able to brake or the pedal arm may become a piece of shrapnel that might trip you up. And they’re going to fail going up a hill when the pressure on them is the greatest so you’re likely going to have to deal with it when you’re going down a hill – as I did. Other problems with these bikes are the extremely cheaply made bells on the handlebars: a thin piece of plastic that you flick with your thumb rings the bell and this just breaks off; the Cadillac symbol on the front of these bikes just falls off of its own accord… you could wipe the bike down with a wet wash rag and peel these symbols back; the white walls on the female bikes are painted on in an uneven way that makes them look terrible. The manufacturer looks to their own bottom-line and doesn’t honor their commitments to their customers [i.e. we have YOUR money… & you have OUR bikes]. Some of the customer reviews on the Cadillac line of bikes are good but I would be leery because you’re on your own with these people; however, in the case of the “Beach Cruisers” they’re a novelty item produced to capitalize on the Cadillac name and they’re marketed toward people who don’t know much about bikes or bike buying. I should have written this warning much sooner but I’ve instead been patiently trying to get some satisfaction from the people responsible for making and distributing these bikes; so I apologize to anybody who has been taken in by these unethical people since I purchased mine. If you’ve gotten hurt you should sue them.
 

sanjuro

Tube Smuggler
Sep 13, 2004
17,373
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SF
Funny how bikes bought at bike shops seem to work great as opposed to bikes bought from mail order...