Bowman bikes - what is your experience with them?

I managed to find a nearly new Weald frame on eBay a few weeks ago. Arrived and all looked good. No marks at all.

Then fitted the headset put the forks in the frame. I noticed the ring you fit that compresses against the steerer slid straight down and didn't protrude above the headset bearing. Weird. Then I fitted a stem, usually they need a bit of force to get them on but it slid on easily and straight down. So did another 4 stems I tried. I measured the steerer against one of my other bikes and it was 0.4mm smaller. Might not sound a lot but in volume terms it meant the sides of the stem where the the bolts go through ended up touching and after that the stem was out of shape.

It looks like the steerer was out of round and then made round with a machine after manufacture which then decreased the steerer size.

Original owner was great and refunded my money. He'd had it built by a shop that should have spotted this and Bowman would have replaced them but due to their current status they aren't answering any emails.

I therefore retract my earlier statement of support for Bowman. This should have been sortable, should have been spotted by Bowman and possibly shouldn't have even left the factory in that state.

I'm now waiting on a Mason Definition frame. It's cost a lot more but hopefully this will be reflected in the quality of the product. 

I ordered my Palace 3 C in July 2020. Was given an October 2020 delivery date. Frame eventually turned up day before Xmas Eve. To be fair to Bowman they did give me 100 quid off the price. But, as seems to be the way in world of bike producers the customer communication was shocking.

I had to chase every step of the way, it seems once bike companies have our money we're just expected to put up with the fact they can't get in touch with us. It needs to change because it's endemic across the sector. If I treated my customers like this I'd be out of a job in a month

Sad to hear this. I have a Bowman pilgrim disc and it's a superb bike. Bought the frameset pre Covid and it's a joy to ride. No issues. Sounds like things at Bowman have gone downhill since Covid struck.  Have a couple of Farilight bikes too but have had issues with a secan frame which had more rust internally than the angle of the north! Had to chase out the threads when building it! I personally believe in supporting small British brands so it's sad to see Bowman in this situation. Selling fake wheels is inexcusable as is shoddy customer service. 

Heya, I have to admit seeing this post has bought back memories of issues I had with bowman in June although I think I've been extremely lucky with my situation.

The bike arrived very very badly packed.

cranks had been scratched.

A paint chip on the frame and stem, scratches on the wheels.

The brake hose had been cut too long so when the bike was turned left and then re-centered the hose looped over the stem bolt and the bike was unable to turn right (as you can imagine if I hadn't had caught this it would have proved extremely costly).

The bolt used on the front mech clamp was very long and was about .5mm away from the tire, potentially with some deflection this would have worn a groove into the tire.

The inside of the frame wasn't finished properly and a burr scratched the seat post!!

so the luck part!!! lol. I guess I was fortunate that bowman answered my calls and emails within the week the bike arrived.

I was reluctant to return the bike to them better package than I had received it, also with the shortage of parts I wasn't sure when I would get it back.

so I accepted a discount/refund from the cost of the bike and they also picked up the cost to have the hose/bar tape re-done by my lbs.

All in all the time between ordering the bike and receiving wasn't great(part shortages and wheels) and the list of problems above for sure isn't great reading. but at the time couldn't fault bowman for the way they handled the situation.

So is anyone aware of the situation with them currently? I have tried to contact them to get a new bolt/nut for my seat post clamp but no reply from the emails that I sent weeks ago or from my phone calls.

I put a full deposit down for a Palace 3C back in Feb and out of the blue got a refund. Emailed, called and left messages for the last month and got no response. There are clearly issues at the moment, but who can tell whether they are terminal or not. Lack of response means I've lost confidence in buying from them now, so they would really need to come clean for me to change my mind.

As an owner of a Secan I can speak very highly of Fairlight cycles. They had a batch of fork issues, which included my bike and they communicated well, did the right thing to ensure I was not out of pocket with a replacement fork. Small companies can still do the customer service thing...

I bought a Weald frameset in the summer. Very happy with it. I emailed them with a query regarding building the bike and they answered straight away. Something must have obviously changed more recently, which is a shame as they seemed to be a good company.

I'd really, really, really like to buy a Weald as it's the EXACT winter bike I've been seeking and the price is bloody excellent.

However, this seems to be an impossibility.  Phones go unanswered, emails trails go dead, and quote requests for C2W via their website go unanswered (I've submitted more than one).

If a company cannot get even the most basic of communication right then there's no confidence from me that they'll do anything else right.  Like others; I'll be going elsewhere.

I brought a Palace R frameset a couple of years back and it still looks like new. Rock solid (too solid if anything) and I ride all year around on it. They were very good on the phone and it arrived quickly from memory. But companies change so can't say if they are still as good as they were. One thing I did get told was that my headset bearing was undersized by my LBS when I could not get rid of a knock I kept hearing no matter what I did. Weirdly that headset bearing was with a token headset kit that came with the bike (in its own box).

I emailed Bowman about Weald frame restock dates and they said end of Sep/start of October. That was mid sep.

I have the first gen Pilgrims disc (QR dropouts, daft 3D printed brake bridge, pressfit BB) and was assured by Neil that the BB wouldn't be an issue. It's creaked from day one until I fitted a Wheels Manufacturing screw-together BB. The brake bridge is crap but I can live with it as it's only for the mudguards and doesn't move once fitted (needs tape on the frame or else it rubs the paint off). The QR dropouts are as a result of different standards at the time so they erred on QR.

The frame itself is well made but the best thing is the geometry. Confident in any situation and with a slack head angle it flies. It also matches my Colnago pretty much mm for mm.

I'd buy a Weald tomorrow if they had any in stock as I think the core product is superb. It sounds like they've been bitten by the shortage and taken the wrong option by claiming the wheels are genuine Noble ones.

By the sounds of it I'll have to start looking for other options to replace the Pilgrims with. 

I read something somewhere else in the last month or so that asked if they were still trading - same issues, don't answer the phone or reply to email.

The ltd company for Bowman is called B B Velo (see companies house) and appears to still be a going concern albeit with a share issue a few months back.

edit: here goes:

https://singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/bowman-bikes/

I had a Layhams for a while which I loved. I bought the frame secondhand and it had small paint defects on the fork crown. Not quite the premium experience sold by the website at the time. Whilst I couldn't fault the bike or the build quality - very neat welds and it rode beautifully they're a very small team and in my experience small enthusiastic teams aren't necessarily brilliant at the customer service side of things. I know they recruited people to help with customer service during the pandemic. It is possible for small teams to get this right (Pipedream & Fairlight both spring to mind) but in my experience Bowman didn't quite reach those high standards.

Clearly if true though the wheels thing is a breach of consumer protection law. Is it perhaps possible it's a question of using up old stock given how hard it is to get hold of parts at the moment?

Hopefully you purchased it on a credit card, if so you have additional protection and can request the credit card company to intervene.

I'd ring them and tell them you want the wheels collecting and a refund for the value of the wheels the same price as to buy them from Nobel or you'll be raising a case with trading standards and noble are interested too.