Great Shopping Experiences

[jakal]

Big thanks to John at Rival Cycles Wynnum

I would recommend anyone who is looking for a boutique cycle store with friendly customer service that they should pay a visit to Rival Cycles Wynnum.

They have extensive knowledge about cycling from both a functional and technical point of view and are able to work with all levels of riders.

You won’t feel like you’re in a used car lot being pushed around by a salesperson, the experience and attention to detail is excellent.

[hosko]

I have now found the only LBS I will go to from now on.

Brisbane Road Bicycles on Brisbane Road, Labrador on the Gold Coast. Just been in there and got some prices for the near future on a new bike. Looking at a Giant Defy 1...

Spoke with Sandy there and he took time to show me through the line up of their bikes, size which would probably suit me...etc. Then he quoted me on all their current specials.

The second reason for my visit was I suspected on my last ride, my seat post on the old Wheeler was slipping. Sandy confirmed that and showed me the thread was shot. Pulls it into the workshop, finds a bolt that will fit, fixes it up for me. I ask him for a price (his time is worth it) but nup it's only a bolt he says.

Even if their prices were slightly more, I think I just had one of the best shopping experiences bike shop or not. He also has a solution for me for the garage when I give that a make-over next month for some bike racks. I would have bought them then and there, but he had none in stock!

So will get them once they come in.

I now have to toss up if I go, Sora, Tiagra, or 105 group set. Prices range from under $1000 to $1400 or for an extra $200 Carbon and full 105? Hopefully when I make my decision once I have saved up some $$$ they will still be in stock. Not much I can do about that bit.

Also does anyone think it would be worth me swapping out my old crank with a new sealed crank on the old girl? Would it make much difference?

[HiChris]

I have to second the wrap on Rival Bikes at Wynnum, they are a great bunch, good prices and service. They recently serviced my T5, trued the wheel, service etc all for $65 great job and money well spent.

[ohshift]

I third Rival Bikes. I recently spoke to them about getting a CAAD10 5. They had some trouble with Cannondale with ordering in the bike! They then recieved information that Cannondale would get me a CAAD10 4 for the same price due to the trouble caused. They were informative and apologetic during the whole process. I couldn't be happier with their service. When I picked the bike up (I forgot to bring my pedals and shoes) so they fitted me up to the best of their abilities. One of the guys working their even gave me some details to ride with them.

Great store, Great staff, Great service.

[im_no_pro]

Just brought a pair of 3/4 skins bib knicks from my LBS. Was meant to be $240 with 40% off down to $160ish. Now on the skins site is was looking for a skins shirts an they have the bibs I brought for $125, would u complain?

MDL

Are you certain?? I have never seen the bibs that low. Sounds like the price for leggings, not bibs.

[toddyk]

Just purchased a 2011 Giant TCR Advanced 2 from Bicycle Headquarters in Carnegie.

Wonderful fit out and trialling of bike, happy to go the extra mile for customers.

Would very much recommend anybody to go to them. Servicing at 6 months and 12 months included in price.

Cheers Todd

[kjs4]

My sister and I had great service at the city MC Cyclery on Clarence St and Cheeky Monkey on King Street in Newtown. We're overweight, blonde and have a tendency to giggle, but were given great service by the guys on the floor. We tested out some lovely bikes (which sadly weren't quite right), and will definitely go to one or the other for other bicycling needs, not to mention hunt for n+1.

[superlite]

Blackman Bicycles, Parramatta.

Haven't bought a bike there but drop in for parts and tools regularly. Friendly, helpful staff who are allways willing to
check out the back and see what they can do.

[uglybob]

Wembley Cycles, Cambridge St in Wembley.

John, Dan & the rest of the crew have been nothing but top notch to deal with. I have happily suggested them to everyone I've spoken to who wants any help with bikes to them, knowing they'll get all the help they need. As a result, I've bought myself a new Specialized Tarmac a few weeks back, to go with the Hardrock Disc I picked up in the new year. The g/f has bought one, as has my old man, and another mate. Couldn't ask for better!

[Old and Rusty]

Jamis Cycles and The Pushbike Factory at Campbelltown NSW.
Found a crack in my frame last week and dropped the bike in to Matt at PBF, mines a 2009 bike and Jamis must be air freighting a new 2011 frame to replace mine and although the warranty doesn't provide for it Matt is swapping all my gear onto the new frame at no charge, all in 2 weeks from the day I dropped it off. Pretty damn good service I reckon particularly as I mentioned these things take time and there was no rush for a result.

[Old and Rusty]

Jamis Cycles and The Pushbike Factory at Campbelltown NSW.
Found a crack in my frame last week and dropped the bike in to Matt at PBF, mines a 2009 bike and Jamis must be air freighting a new 2011 frame to replace mine and although the warranty doesn't provide for it Matt is swapping all my gear onto the new frame at no charge, all in 2 weeks from the day I dropped it off. Pretty damn good service I reckon particularly as I mentioned these things take time and there was no rush for a result.

Make that 7 days turnaround, got my bike back today!

[wombatK]

Make that 7 days turnaround, got my bike back today!

That's a great way to keep customers :)

[elStado]

Ordered some gear from Rapha just after the royal wedding last week. Was advised there would be a small delay due to public holidays etc.

Gear arrived Thursday just passed. Nicely packaged, awesome gear. Got it on special and with free shipping.

Very happy. If only they had free shipping and sales on more often as its a bit expensive otherwise.

[Rhubarb]

Went to a CBD LBS today for a tube for my wife's bike. The guy I followed in to the store was greeted by the sales guy who said "Hi there, can I help you?". This guy (customer) is probably mid 50s, wearing a suit with a bow tie, wasn't hugely fat but did have a pronounced pot belly. Customer pans around the store for all of 10 secs with a funny look on his face then points to a bike hanging in the window and says "is that a good bike". Sales guy says "absolutely". Customer walks over and looks at it for another 10 secs and says "what's SRAM, is that as good as dura ace". Sales guy says "that's SRAM red it's better than dura ace". Customer says "is it fiberglass?". Sales guys says "it's carbon fibre, which IS the best". Customer says "what about the wheels, are they good wheels?". Sales guy says "yes, they are Kysirium <something's>. They are excellent wheels". Customer says "I'm 5 foot 10. Is that my size?". Sales guy says "that's a 56cm frame that should be perfect for you". Customer says "good- I'll take it then". And so the sales guy started to remove it from the window.

The bike was a Black Cannondale Synapse listed as $6k marked down to $4700. I simply cannot believe this guy bought that bike in less time then it took me to pick out and pay for a new tube. The "is it fiberglass" line nearly killed me.

Not sure about the customer but that surely has to be the best shopping experience ever for the sales guy!!!!

I left the store wondering if the sales guy was going to send him off with platform pedals or pump the guy for another grands worth of kit and accessories.

[elStado]

Not sure about the customer but that surely has to be the best shopping experience ever for the sales guy!!!!

I left the store wondering if the sales guy was going to send him off with platform pedals or pump the guy for another grands worth of kit and accessories.

Back in the old days I used to work in IT retail (computers etc) and occasionally we'd get someone in like this chap, usually a person who had just started a high paid job at the mines and after their first 2 week stint they were cashed up and wanted the best notebook computer you could get and all the accessories they could possibly need. They'd walk in, say "I want a really good notebook pc and I don't care about price", I'd say "sure we have this one here it's the best you'll get in town", they'll say "OK I'll take it, if I need any other gear just throw that in, I'll also pay extra for you guys to set it all up so I can just pick it up this afternoon before flying out to work"... usually this exchange would take about 5 minutes and we'd make a easy $4000 sale, usually in cash paid up front. Pity I wasn't getting commission back then though. These sorts of people really made our day and the store owner very happy.

[hosko]

I think this mention comes down to a product review/support from Cateye.

I emailed Cateye a few weeks ago about my V3 heart rate strap suffering a cardiac arrest! The battery in the unit had leaked and well it died.

They suggested for me to pass this information to the Australian distributor who I then emailed with the same information. Waited a week, no reply. Emailed again, and again no reply.

Emailed Jeff back at the US branch of Cateye and explained I have received no email from them. He then emailed my email to them again trying to get a response. Left it a week or so, still no response from the Australian distributor.

Emailed Jeff back at Cateye, explained that I had again received nothing.

Jeff emailed me within hours of my last email, new replacement is being shipped and should be here this week being shipped from the US! My guess is they are not impressed with the Australian distributor. I however am quite happy considering I should again have a working HRT strap.

I think the original strap might have been missing an o-ring which caused sweat to get into the battery area to ruin the original one. Will double check this one!

So from a product, stand by the V3, awesome unit. Very happy with it and it is very accurate. While the Aussie distributor support seems to be slack, their head office makes up for them it would seem.

Big thanks to Jeff (AT) Cateye.

[ozzymac]

Hi,
Just received my new Santini bib shorts today.

Have shopped from cycling sports on a couple of occasions.

Communication is great.
Processing order time is great.

And prices are pretty good to.

www.cyclingsports.com.au

Now I just have to go for a ride and try out the new Knicks.

Cheers

[Releng]

I was out on the weekend on my Fuji SL1 RC and over bumps an awful noise was coming from the seat area. I stopped a few times to check it out and could not find anything wrong, I kept going in the hope that it got no worse. It didn't, I got home with no dramas. I took off the seat and found that it had cracked. The RC came with a Prologo C.one50, a Ti rail carbon fibre jobbie that is light and expensive. The bike is about 10 months old and was bought on a runout deal from the lbs. I took the seat into the shop Monday afternoon expecting the worst. The guy at the shop said it looked like warranty should cover it but would make no promises until they had talked to the distributor.
Well I picked up my new seat this afternoon, it sounds like the distributor was keen to have a look at the failed seat, as they had not had any others fail. I nearly feel guilty with a brand new seat, the old one was already showing a fair bit of discolouration and a spot of road rash where the bike had fallen over.
Credit to Geards Launceston the LBS and Oceania the Fuji distributor.

[Jerry68]

I think this mention comes down to a product review/support from Cateye.

I emailed Cateye a few weeks ago about my V3 heart rate strap suffering a cardiac arrest! The battery in the unit had leaked and well it died.

They suggested for me to pass this information to the Australian distributor who I then emailed with the same information. Waited a week, no reply. Emailed again, and again no reply.

Emailed Jeff back at the US branch of Cateye and explained I have received no email from them. He then emailed my email to them again trying to get a response. Left it a week or so, still no response from the Australian distributor.

Emailed Jeff back at Cateye, explained that I had again received nothing.

Jeff emailed me within hours of my last email, new replacement is being shipped and should be here this week being shipped from the US! My guess is they are not impressed with the Australian distributor. I however am quite happy considering I should again have a working HRT strap.

I think the original strap might have been missing an o-ring which caused sweat to get into the battery area to ruin the original one. Will double check this one!

So from a product, stand by the V3, awesome unit. Very happy with it and it is very accurate. While the Aussie distributor support seems to be slack, their head office makes up for them it would seem.

Big thanks to Jeff (AT) Cateye.

Something very similar happened to me!

I lost the top off my Cateye front light last year and emailed Cateye HQ. They referred me on to the Australian distributor who I emailed many, many times. It got to the point where I wanted to keep emailing just to see how many I could send before any sort of reply. After about 15 I lost interest and got back in touch with the U.S HQ. I forwarded them the string of emails I'd forwarded to the Australian distributor and explained there had been no reply.

Again, a Jeff from the HQ got straight back in touch with me and apologised. He saw from the thread that I was also chasing a sensor for a very old Cateye Mity 2 computer, (bit of a long shot that one).

He said he would see what he could do and took my address.

About a week later I get the light part I was chasing plus everything for the Mity 2. All free of charge!

I emailed him and thanked him profusely. I was very impressed. Can't work out why the local distributor are so disinterested. The emails weren't bouncing back and it was the one provided by the head office so as far as I can
tell it's a valid recipient.

[hosko]

Nothing wrong with that email address in Australia for Cateye. The only problem with it is that no one is checking it!

Still waiting for delivery. Taking a little bit of time.... Will email Jeff next week if it doesn't lob.

[Davobel]

BSC at the QV in Melbourne, great shop, great service. Walked in wanting to buy a pair of Sidi MTB shoes, walked out with a great pair of shoes and a bunch of other stuff. Thanks guys

[MarkG]

Big Props to Kim at Bikenow in St Kilda.

Purchased a new Specialized S-Works SL3 Tarmac frame set and Sram Red BB30 ceramic crank set about 2 weeks ago from Kim, and not only did he knock a couple of hundred of dollars of the price, he had the mechanics fit the crank for free and also courier the lot over to me in Perth for nothing!

Top job Well done Kim, if you ever come on these forums!

[hosko]

Nothing wrong with that email address in Australia for Cateye. The only problem with it is that no one is checking it!

Still waiting for delivery. Taking a little bit of time.... Will email Jeff next week if it doesn't lob.

Well I got the shock of my life this morning.

My new Cateye Heart Strap arrived this morning....along with the rest of a complete unit.

They sent me an entire brand new Cateye V3.

First thing I did was checked the battery compartment of the strap... this one has an o-ring. Probably the reason for the failure of my original strap. It didn't have one.

Soooo... what to do! I only have one bike!

Sorry, but I have to say for support - CATEYE ARE THE BEST

[Tazzy]

[quote="Rhubarb"]Customer says "I'm 5 foot 10. Is that my size?". Sales guy says "that's a 56cm frame that should be perfect for you". Customer says "good- I'll take it then". And so the sales guy started to remove it from the window.

quote]

I'm 5'10" and ride a 54 Synapse, recommended size by two different shops and neither had them in stock. I reckon mine fits me perfect.

[Ausmunin]

I had a good experience today at the Bike Shop of Castle Hill. I only went in to buy some winter riding gloves but they were more than happy to talk and give advice on everything from computers to kids trailers.

I know it is in their best interests to do so but it was a nice experience and I did not feel pressured at all. Hence my post here.