On Wednesday I sent the following email to Bike_quip:-
Dear Keith,
This Glen Douglas from Perth Western Australia, as previous customer of Bike-Quip, an ST1300 owner and member of Australian ST Owners Club (OzSTOC) I was saddened to see your web site is closed until further notice due to illness. I hope that whoever is ill is on their way to recovery, there are a lot of OzSTOC members whose thoughts are with you and miss your site.
Please notify me when your web site is back up and running as I am interested in a screen for my ST1300 and I will update the thread on the OzSTOC forum about the Bike-Quip web site
Cheers
Glen
Today I got this reply:-
Dear Glen,
My most sincere thanks to you for your genuine interest and care about the situation that currently exists within Bike-Quip.
Bike-Quip is very much a 'one man band' but that said, I am thankfully assisted by my wife June on the essential paperwork side of things.
Back in March, having just visited one of my local suppliers, I collapsed in their car park. I am so lucky to still be here! I suffered an aneurysm in my aorta and, I am told, medical help was with me in a couple of minutes. Within another couple of minutes, an ambulance arrived and took me to hospital about 10 miles away.
This hospital, having diagnosed the problem, then had to find a hospital with.... not only a bed for me but also, a surgeon with the appropriate expertise. I was then transferred to a London hospital and the emergency 6/7 hour operation got under way. I should make it clear that I thankfully knew nothing about any of the foregoing, other than chest pain immediately before collapsing.
They got me to 'come round' in Intensive Care and, after 3 weeks, transferred me back to my local hospital. I had a total of 5 weeks in hospital, during which I received excellent care and attention.
My wife June then took on the role of 'Matron June' and, suffice to say.... she has done an excellent job and continues to do so.
Bike-Quip:
My family very wisely decided to close Bike-Quip immediately we were 'hit' with this problem. My wife and I live on our own (our kids flew the nest years ago) and we moved house just 3 months before this problem happened.
Whilst I am making good progress in my recovery, it has been a long and hard haul for both June and I. We were 'warned' that full recovery from such a major operation would take at least 9 months and, when I reflect on the past 5/6 months, I can relate to 9 months being realistic. That said, it may be sooner than this or indeed, it may be a little longer.
Rest assured, I am keen for Bike-Quip to re-open as soon as possible. However, when this happens, I want it to be 'the right thing to do' from every point of view. I want it to be correct for both June and I. There is no point in us doing something in an untimely manner and causing some kind of setback on us and our health. I want it to run as efficiently as it always has. This is also what my customers naturally expect.
So.... when do I realistically think we may re-open? Considering what we have been through, how I am currently feeling and assuming no significant setbacks, my best guess is early in the New Year. I do hope it is sooner than this.
Again, I thank you for your interest and indeed, your offer of getting a message out there to my existing send potential customers.
I am happy for you to use any part of the above email in your communication to any of our ST1100/1300 colleagues.
In the meantime, if you want to drop me the occasional email, I do not have a problem with this.
Again, many thanks to you and my best wishes to you.
Keith Munro.
Bike-Quip.
www.st1300-accessories.co.uk
