Frame:
Affinity Kissena (52cm)
Fork/Headset:
Stock / Cane Creek 40-Series Headset
Crankset/Bottom Bracket:
Sugino 75 (165mm) Crankarms / Sugino 75 Bottom Bracket
Pedals:
Shimano 105 PD-5700 SPD-SL Pedals
Drivetrain/Cog/Chainring/Chain:
Dura Ace 15t / Sugino Zen chainring 50t, 1/8 144 BCD / Izumi V Super Toughness Chain
Saddle/Seatpost:
Specialized Romin Pro Saddle / Selle San Marco Zoncolan Carbon FX / Thomson Elite Seatpost
Front Wheel/Hub/Tire:
Mavic Ellipse
Rear Wheel/Hub/Tire:
Mavic Ellipse
Added by danvdls. Last updated almost 11 years ago.
82 Comments
this is so nice. best build on here. how do you like the sg75 bb?
Posted almost 10 years ago
Sweet build man (: what's the lenght of your steer tube ? Im considering in getting one of these, but i have another fork that i want to thow on.
Posted over 10 years ago
Congratulations, you have a perfect build over there! I think I'm gonna get a Kissena for my next build. Anyway, beautiful ride! Cheers!!
Posted over 10 years ago
hows the geo on it? tighter or loose? i really wanna order one but im ehhh because of recent comments on service. also how tall are you?
Posted about 11 years ago
Perfect build. Love it :)
Posted over 11 years ago
Thanks! Means a lot coming from someone with a beast felt arsenal haha! TK1 anytime soon? Love the tk2 track setup you got there
Posted over 11 years ago
Thanks dude :) Ummm, I actually have't given it much thought. If I got a job this summer, I will most defiantly consider it. But it would be really expensive because the largest size tk1 they make is a 57 if I'm not mistaken, which means I would need something custom.
and thanks again :)
Posted over 11 years ago
Thanks man! Haha really flattered by your admiration of this bike. It rides great on the track!
Posted almost 11 years ago
Yea man! Its such a proper build. Nothing so expensive that people will troll, but the right combination of awesome parts that make it perfect!
Posted almost 11 years ago
Great build man! Loving your parts! =D
Posted over 11 years ago
Thank you! If you like this build then look out for my LOW//, it will be coming in soon
Posted over 11 years ago
Dope
Posted over 11 years ago
Thanks! I see that you traded your kissena for a LOW// pursuit. My LOW// is coming in 3weeks :)
Posted over 11 years ago
Wow this thing look's nice !
Posted over 11 years ago
Thanks. Will have better pics soon! Just checked out your FTP. Looks sick!
Posted over 11 years ago
Thanks a lot !
you actually made me wanna buy the kissena intill i saw how you said their service was .
Posted over 11 years ago
Beastly.
Posted over 11 years ago
Thanks! Stay tuned for my LOW// Pursuit build. It'll be coming in soon :)
Posted over 11 years ago
You have a LOW//? Nice! How tall are you if you don't mind me asking
Posted over 11 years ago
Sleek! Looks nice. It's not often someone builds one of these correctly.
Posted over 11 years ago
Thanks! I tried to build it the best I could. More pictures coming soon. Great looking mash bolt! :)
Posted over 11 years ago
love the bike !
ive been thinking of purchasing a frame from affinity but as i read im thinking about it twice.. do you think theyll still provide the same crappy service?
Posted over 11 years ago
I'm only speaking from experience. Idk how much they've improved after my incident but from what I heard it's been like this for a while. Like I said, good frame, rides really well only problem I had was how I was dealt with as a customer.
Posted over 11 years ago
this is true when i was looking to buy a lo pro before my mash i literally called them for like 3 days and couldn not get anyone to asnwer the phone that alone worried the shit outta me. then when i finally go up with them to ask them if the site was up to date the guy on the phone said he had no idea. i asked him if they had any lo pros in stock and he said oh nah we only got two chrome size smalls even though the site stated other wise. he said they never update the site and wont have new bikes till late july. makes no sense to me but then again im sure theres a good reason for all of that. hope to get one one day and just hpe to not need any customer service lol
Posted over 11 years ago
Hey Dan, Hope your well man! Just want to update this thread...
This is old hat guys! Hopefully everyone can get over the madness we went through while running the brand and the bike shop at the same time. Those days are over!!
Happy to say (I know first hand) that no customer is getting poor service. If anyone needs anything please email us to info@affinitycycles.com or to jason@affinitycycles.com
happy to help or answer any questions.
Posted over 10 years ago
I Think I saw you outside of the Chicago bike swap at UIC. sweeeeeet set up man
Posted over 11 years ago
Thanks man! Yeah I was there this morning but wasn't able to find anything good unfortunately. Post up your bike(s)
Posted over 11 years ago
To user danvdls, that fork is our new carbon fork which we will introduce in the future, and yes the stuttery guy was the guy who mishandled that situation... to defend him he was just trying to get you going, it wasn't the best way to handle it, nor was he ever very friendly nor customer service savy but he did get you going. I remember that situation and thought at the time that some day this situation would come back around... well here it is.
Sorry again man, I hope your enjoying the frame. J
Posted over 11 years ago
Hi Everyone, I would like to personally apologize for all of the seriously shitty customer service that a ton of people have experienced while ordering from Affinity over the last few months. With out completely pointing the blame, the stuttery guy was handling online orders and was running things in store (and answering calls) for the last year.
It clearly goes with out saying that he seriously screwed up bad, I've been untangling this mess for months now and I completely agree with all of what your saying because its 100% true... he sucked and did not represent what Affinity is!
I am personally cleaning things up in store and online, in fact a new site is underway (launching late this year) and new frames will be avail in by July. I to have made some promises over the last 2 months that I haven't been able to live up to, the truth is that I'm cleaning up the mess for a lot of in store and online issues. I'm doing the best I can, I'm honest and I love my company... I'll do what it takes to clean this up and continue with what is normally great customer service and a friendly in store experience.
I own Affinity, I design the frames and i've been growing this company from the ground up, dollar by dollar, frame by frame and its not easy... sometimes things are great, other times you hit a wall. We can only grow and I can assure you I will make sure the company will grow, make new innovative products and improve from our mistakes.
Last year I brought on someone to finally take over the store and transition him to take over the website... needless to say it did not work at all.
I am now in store full time until I fix all of these issues, i'm working on a new site and getting a full time dedicated web team and in store staff which I am completely comfortable with.
What has happened in the past I am sorry for, I am Affinity and I can assure you that going forward orders will be processed in a professional timely manor within 1-2 days and shipped. If anyone would like to talk to me personally you can call the shop directly at 718-384-5181 or email me at jason@affinitycycles.com
I have no problems laying everything out on a forum, especially pedal room, this is a quality site and I hope everyone reads this.
I'm a small business thats making it in a very competitive market... I need to step up my game and get the proper staff to accommodate my companies growing needs. This is why I'm addressing this matter and also taking a step back to come back in store and fix all issues online and ensure that all is going smoothly moving forward.
I'd like to thank all of those who choose Affinity and support the brand, we have made some mistakes... I apologize for them, and they were some seriously fucked up customer service issues but one thing that is true is the products we offer are some of the best in the market and our commitment to track cycling, supporting riders and the community. I hope you will continue to support Affinity and I will personally take responsibility for these errors and ensure great customer service in the future.
Again please contact me personally, or lets continue this thread until everyone is satisfied.
Jason Gallacher
Affinity Cycles
Posted over 11 years ago
I appreciate your response but to be honest everything you just told me is very similar to what you told me when I first emailed you regarding the fork which I had to wait two months for only to have someone else handle the situation, and that was the third person I had to tell my story to. The total time it took for me to receive everything was almost 3 months. (3-4 weeks for the frame that came with a cut, used fork, and 2 months for the original fork).
My fork was shipped within a week after I talked to the last person in your shop, and it was same week that I emailed him. He was the only person in Affinity that really helped me, and knew how to prioritize and deal with a customer. I believe that every small business should learn to prioritize their customers and keep them well informed because that is how a business grows. Mind you, I waited about months before I placed the order for my Affinity just to make sure it was what I really wanted. Within that time, no changes were made on your website, policies, shipping and delivery times, nothing even notifying the public that your forks were out of stock. Actually the "Frame only" deal came weeks after you told me that you ran out of forks. The only thing that was being updated was the blog.
This kind of mistake didn't just start happening recently because I started looking for reviews of other people about Affinity after I wasn't receiving good customer service. I saw some on yelp and the oldest lowest rated review was back in 2008. I read one review of someone that lives in Brooklyn and that your staff looked down on them because of their lack of knowledge about bikes, another review said that they were surprised by the lack of product knowledge of a girl that worked at your shop. I told friends about your recent cyber Monday deal, and what to expect and they placed an order regardless of what I said. All of them ended up cancelling their order after one of them was told that they ran out of the items ordered. Mind you, no one from Affinity notified them regarding their orders and my friends would have probably waited longer if they didn’t chase you guys down through calls and emails.
Regarding the used, pre-cut fork that was sent just to get me going indicates how much you value your customers. I don’t believe that fork was sent as a temporary fork until the original would be sent because I was never notified. No one said that I’d be getting the unoriginal, used, pre-cut fork that I received as a temporary. I don’t think you guys would have even sent me the original fork had I not sent you emails and called your shop numerous times. There is another pedalroom user here that owns an Affinity that doesn’t have the original fork. I did my research, and I do not know if he knows but it’s the fork that went on your Affinity carbon frame. So by defending the guy that sent me a fork just to “get me going “is like basically saying “give this guy something so he can shut up. He probably won’t notice and we can move on”. If this is what customers are to expect from Affinity especially when ordering online then you should AT LEAST update your website and informational links because majority of it is not being followed. You lose credibility and you lose customers.
The Affinity Kissena is great. I enjoy riding it. It rides and looks great. I still ride it and built it up the best I could with quality parts. I would like to be proud of the name it carries.
Posted over 11 years ago
Hi, Thank you for getting back in touch. The person you emailed with was me and so yes it was expedited, after that I had been checking in with my employee (stuttery guy) and he said all was taken care of. It turns out he was a shit head, who wasn't very kind... He was around for 2012 and so its fair to say that it wasn't the best year for customer service in store and online, something were fine other not so much.
Considering the situation I understand that that you'll look at it as you say a “give this guy something so he can shut up" but that is not the scenario at all. We did in fact give you a prototype fork which was a temporary, we did it to get you riding, beyond that I can't say anything else. We sent you the fork and you got a proto fork from us, it was the best we could do. He over sold and screwed up as he did for most of the year.
Actually I can say a little more, I had my guys take that fork off my kissena to give to you so you were riding my prototype fork... I test all affinity products so you got mine. I do as I would expect, I'll give the shit off my bike and give it to a customer to satisfy them.. what my guys say and how they say it (stuttery guy) is not how I would hence the shitty customer service.
I'm not defending him at all, if you read my post I'm beyond angry about his work and service, he's no longer with Affinity and I am taking care of these issues personally. As I said, this guy sucked... its small business nightmares, the website wasn't updated, the staff wasn't kind nor honest, hell the frame only sale didn't even have the right info...
We dropped the ball, i'm really sorry it happened. Yes we've had a few bad yelps, we live in Williamsburg Brooklyn where opinions run very strong... I'm not even going to address yelp reviews, yelp in my opinion is a small business destroyer and its a company that manipulates you to pay them to take off and (falsely) clean up the image of a store to make them profit... its disgusting.
I appreciate you riding my frame, I designed it and I hand picked the team who rode it to 20 national titles, numerous six day wins and 2 world championships... no other bicycle company or owner in recent times can say that. I ride the shit I design, I race and I stand by my products and clean up my own mess, including taking responsibility for a shitty employee.
Ride that shit like its the best frame in the world. Also ride it because you know the guy who made is legit and the company is one of the finest in the industry.
Posted over 11 years ago
If it really was a temporary fork then I should have been notified about it. I actually emailed you a week after I received the frame and used fork. I received a response a week from that time. And no, you didn't really get me riding, and I even said that in the email that I sent.
Even if the fork is a 2013 prototype that came off your bike, it's still used. I didn't pay to get used merchandise. It actually had a chip on the right side by the steerer tube. I was not satisfied, and i made that very clear in the emails i sent.
Btw the last guy who emailed me was Chad. I don't think it's yelp that is ruining businesses, it's the businesses themselves. It's just a site that gets reviews from people that have been to your shop and they just share their experiences. If the shop isn't able to notify the customer then I think it's only fair that the customer let others know what they're going to expect.
Like I said, this didn't just start last year, it's been going on since 2008. The customer service has to really improve. Your employees represent the company, and if you want the company to be represented well then it's your responsibility to keep your employees in check and make sure they know how to interact with customers and have good product knowledge.
I got everything now, it just sucked that I had to wait that long and had to deal with the poor customer service. What's done is done. I hope you guys start updating things on the website and keep customers well informed about the products that they order from you. Best of luck!
Posted over 11 years ago
Interesting, I've heard similar comments, and in fact I've even heard of a couple of shops recently cutting their dealer ties with Affinity because of poor/unprofessional dealer service.
Posted over 11 years ago
Wow I haven't heard of shops cutting their dealer ties with Affinity but I'm not surprised because I can obviously see why lol. Don't get me wrong, it's a good frame set and I'm pretty sure they have a lot of good stuff. Their customer service is just bad LOL.
Posted over 11 years ago
Best Kissena set up I've seen here. I'd like to see more of it....
Posted over 11 years ago
Thank you! Will get better pictures of it soon! I was looking at your kagero this morning in my office haha. Really nice setup you got there :)
Posted over 11 years ago
i love your set up dude! this bike is a beauty! just wondering did you have that tweaker sounding guy that talked a mile a minute when calling the store? i had a huge problem when ordering my bike they took about 2 months longer than the said date it would make it to my casa
Posted over 11 years ago
Thanks! You guy who stuttered every second, and took forever to finish his sentences. Yeah I spoke to that guy on the phone. I also saw that you don't have the standard fork that usually comes with the Kissena. The fork you have is the one that went on their full carbon frames. They sent me a different fork too but this was pre-cut, I'll post a pic of it when I post up the other pics of my bike, Btw, they said it was their "2013 prototype" (yeah right). It was a good looking fork, carbon with a gloss finish but the only problem I had with it was that it was USED and CUT. I have the original fork on now. Got it 2months after I got my frame and after I had constantly called them and emailed them about it.
Posted over 11 years ago
Nice build....I'm thinking about ordering this frame but after reading these comments...I'm starting to think twice :/
Posted over 11 years ago
I honestly love the geo of the frameset. I have no problem with it. Rides really well. The only problem I had was their customer service. If I could describe them in one word it would be "liars". I really hope they improve because they probably lost a lot of potential customers because of the way they treat them.
I would recommend the frameset to anyone, but I would tell them to either go to their shop in NY and buy it, or be prepared to call and email them constantly til you get your order.
Posted over 11 years ago
well I live in Long Beach,CA....so the only way for me to get one is through the website I might just take my chances and order one....
Posted over 11 years ago
I really wish you the best of luck! I hope you get it sooner than I did!
Posted over 11 years ago
Sick Kissena by the way! Cant wait to see some better pics :) Is this street or track? or both?
Posted over 11 years ago
wondering about the story, where do you live?
Posted over 11 years ago
I live in Chicago. Basically, I had to call them and check up on my order. Took 3 weeks til I got my frame, and the reason it took that long was because they ran out of forks. I called them and asked why my order took so long. The guy on the phone said they found a fork for me and they would have my order shipped that day. They shipped it two days later. When it came in it was ghetto wrapped in a specialized bike box. Mind you, their site says all frames are PROFESSIONALLY PACKED. When I opened it I found out that they sent me the wrong fork, a fork that was already used and did not look like the fork that usually comes with the Kissena (looks like an Alpina fork) You could tell the fork was used because the steerer tube was cut and you could only fit one spacer. I had to call the shop and email them and got the fork after 2 1/2 months. Btw, they lied to me within that time that I waited for the fork and frame. Kept giving me stupid excuses.
Posted over 11 years ago
Btw, I know someone who ordered their frame set a month before I ordered mine. I got my frame set before he did. And he ended up canceling his order. No one from Affinity contacted him or notified him about his order.
Affinity also posted a cyber monday deal "ALL HPLUSSON RIMS FOR $30". A friend of mine order some rims. Waited a month, no emails or notifications from Affinity regarding his order. He did what I did, they got back to him after countless emails and they said that they ran out of rims.
Posted over 11 years ago
Something similar happened to me. Decided to order a crankset from them, and it took about a month for them to respond AND tell me that they've been unable to keep up with online orders. It took about three weeks for them to finally respond to my email, but they gave me t-shirt to make up for it. Their stuff might be pretty good, but you should only buy it if you live in Brooklyn. I live in NYC and it took four weeks for me to get my order.
Posted over 11 years ago
I also ordered from Retro-Gression and within a day or two I received an email saying that my order has been processed AND shipped.
Posted over 11 years ago
Damn! That's fucked up. Poor customer service. Same thing happen to me a while back. I went in to purchase a frame either a Lo Pro or Kissena. They didn't have neither of them. Which was cool, because it was an impulse buy. To make the "customer happy" they didn't even attempt to hunt one down for me. I was extremely disappointed. Being from Brooklyn I wanted to support my local bike shop and purchase something that has NY roots to it. They're usually cool with people they know. Yes, ordering anything from the site is dumb. You're better off going to the store to see what they have. If they sold out of frames it usually takes them 2-3mos to get more in.
Posted over 11 years ago
I had the same situation with a chainring I purchased from them. Took a whole month to receive it and it was supposed to be a suprise from my girl for Christmas (she was pissed). She ended up getting a hold of the only person who cares about their business and did me a solid which was much appreciated. I have no grudge with them but if it would of been a frameset I probably would of been alot more pissed off!
Posted over 11 years ago
I can see that all of you have experienced something that is somewhat similar to what I have experienced. I feel like Affinity and it's staff are very "passive" about how things go, It's like whatever happens, happens. They will NOT bother to contact you at all regarding the status of your order or if any changes were made or if they ran out of stock. THEY WAIT FOR YOU to contact them and probably won't get back to you until you spam there inbox. I literally had to beg them to send me the original fork or at least give me a refund for it. On their site, under shipping and delivery time, it says that they usually take 2-3 days to process an order. LIES, it took them almost 4 weeks to process mine, and it would have been longer if I had not called and sent them countless emails. It also says that they PROFESSIONALLY PACK ALL OF THEIR FRAMES. When I got the box I thought they delivered the wrong item. When I opened it, it was like kid stuffed the frame and the USED fork.
Posted over 11 years ago
I did but it didn't change anything. It doesn't matter to them. Like I said, they have an attitude of whatever happens, happens. I'm pretty sure they're aware of how bad their customer service is. All I can do is let other people know of what they should expect when purchasing something from affinity
Posted over 11 years ago
Photos
Hardxjavi says:
Hey bro how tall are you? I'm looking into getting this frame set and just wanted to know how the 52 cm sizing works for you?
Posted almost 8 years ago
danvdls says:
I'm like 5'5". 5'6" on a good day
Posted almost 8 years ago
Hardxjavi says:
Did you have to cut the seat mast at all?
Posted almost 8 years ago
Hardxjavi says:
Also do you think this would hold up will in crit races?
Posted almost 8 years ago
danvdls says:
Definitely a very sturdy frame. Yes, I had to cut the seat last just a little.
Posted almost 8 years ago