Buycycle?

 buycycle? Maybe not

What do you think when this arrives?

You can't watch much of anything cycling-related these days without seeing advertising for this operation. Makes it look easy to sell your bike, like they do all the work. Don't know what kind of commission they charge but new bicycle dealers use 'em as well to move dead-stock, close-outs, etc.

Zio Lorenzo wanted another Bianchi Impulso E-Allroad like the one he left up in Piedmont. With a few modifications it's turned out to be a fun bike to ride so why not have one in Sicily next to the fancy MV e-gravel bike? You know, something to get dirty and not care much about washing it all the time? Such luxury!

He found one on this site, made an offer that was accepted and handed over credit card info. Easy, right? The bike was at a dealer in Rimini, Italy so it should be quick to ship to Siracusa, one would think.

One would be wrong. They don't tell you up-front but for some reason 7-14 business days is their window. As soon as this was disclosed Zio contacted their customer service and asked WTF a new bike from a dealer, one that hadn't even been assembled (just hoisted out of the box for the photo) would take so long to be shipped?

Not sure if they're chatbots but a customer service message came back the next day - mostly blah, blah, blah, but saying they'd contact the seller to speed things up. They also provide a message system to the seller who replied they'd received nothing so it soon became each side blaming the other for the delay. Zio admits trying to end-run the entire process by dealing directly with the bike dealer, but they declined...so we were all stuck with buycycle, like it or not.

Nothing happened other than email exchanges for two weeks, but they didn't waste any time charging our credit card. That they're quick at!

19 days (close to their 7-14 business days) later the bike finally arrived in the box you see above. Yep, the box the shop had to wait-for (and pay-for according to them) was cheap and flimsy, especially when compared to the sturdy boxes e-bikes are typically shipped in. And they use Italy's worst shipping company, one Zio avoids even when shipping is free on anything he orders. He'll pay extra to avoid them!

Fortunately there was no real damage other than some issues with the battery system showing an error message that keeps the e-bike part from doing anything, but that can't be blamed on buycycle or even the dealer, who says everything was fine when the bike was packed.

We had similar issues with Heather's bike in Piedmont, quickly solved by an "update" performed by a MAHLE service center. Zio's currently looking into how to get that done here in Sicily*.

buycycle? Maybe not? For us, never again.

Ready-to-Ride, as long as you don't need any e-assist. Zio will ride it awhile before cutting the steerer tube to-length

*Update: Zio decided to DIY the MAHLE update since the nearest service center is in Catania, so what they call a "GCU" has been ordered. An update file has been downloaded from MAHLE's website. This is supposed to be loaded onto a thumb-drive and inserted into the GCU connected to the battery charger to update the bike's firmware they say. While waiting for the GCU to arrive Zio decided to ride "Stewie" on the bike trail despite the e-assist not working.

While putting his cycling shoes on Zio noticed the flashing pink "error" light had stopped flashing, but now the brain-unit indicated low-battery? Once we started riding it was obvious the e-assist was working while the battery charge indicator showed 89% charge. A bit later the low-battery message vanished as well so as of writing this all is well. Whether to update once the GCU arrives or leave well enough alone is the next question. Both of the X35 bikes Heather rides have been trouble-free with no updates so....