Fleet Cycles - Fremantle

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Aushiker
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Fleet Cycles - Fremantle

Postby Aushiker » Mon Jun 11, 2007 3:26 pm

G'day

Having just brought my first serious bike (Giant CRX 1) I thought I would share my experience with bike shops and Fleet Cycles in Fremantle in particular.

I should qualify this posting in that I am a raw newbie when it comes to cycling and had a Giant CRX 1 in mind based on advice from a couple of serious cycling friends. The purchase whilst being considered for some time, was a "spur of moment" thing on the day. That is decided to go look at bikes and walked out with a long cash-receipt docket.

Before going to Fleet I did drop in on two other bike shops in Fremantle, Bike Force and the one in South Street near the hospital (name escapes me).

The South Street bike shop had nothing to compare to the CRX 1 and indicated nothing was coming in. That ended things. This surprised me a bit as I have brought a bike for my son from them in the past and found them more informative at that time.

I then dropped into Bike Force. No Giants, fair enough. Asked about alternatives. "Yeah we have this this Trek - $1600." That it? "Yep." That was about the end of the conversation. Again didn't seem interested in selling it to me or maybe I came accross as not interested. Don't know but found them really not interested in treating me as a serious customer.

This lead me to Fleet. Big bike shop, lots of options. Had Giant's including a CRX 1 but not in my size. Salesperson was very helpful, went over the bike, compared it against about three others for me. Highlighting postives and negatives. Had me try a couple for size so we worked out I needed a 55 CRX 1 if I was interested. He then went through accessories options (some I raised, e.g., panniers, shoes) and some he suggested. Felt he was trying and was giving reasonable advice given my experience and riding expecations.

Overall found him helpful with respect to advice and the selling price and pricing was good I think. Plus Fleet offer 10% off on all future purchases.

Now the downside. I picked the bike up on Saturday.
  • No effort was made to confirm that the seat hike was correct (it was and probably from the trying of bikes the week before) but would have liked this checked I think;

    No advice given on rider adjustments, e.g, seat angle was not correct;

    Clipless pedals not adjusted to the shoes I brought at the same time nor was I shown how to adjust them. I managed to work this out before my first ride but it was a frustrating 30 minutes.

    In hindsight and this is partly my fault but I felt the advice on a computer and lights could have been better. I am already looking to upgrade the lighting and the computer after a week. Ah well. Just pays to do the research first I guess.
Summary: Good sales process, reasonable pricing, reasonably good advice given, but very disappointing in terms of setting up bike at pick-up.

Hope this is useful and expressed appropriately.

Regards
Andrew

    Funkymonk

    Postby Funkymonk » Mon Jun 11, 2007 5:32 pm

    I went in there looking to purchase a Bianchi ..... got a really insipid responce ... "We don't do them anymore the welds and frames were bad the bikes have slipped in quality , but we do sell Orbea "

    So knowing a bit more than the 20 year old sales boy I contacted Steve at Elite Racing Cycles thru a post here to find them .
    Steve was suprised to say the very least when I told him of the sales boys responce .I still have his name , and wouldn't get them to grease a wheel barrow .

    Steve then informed me that they just couldn't sell one , so he took their stock off them and sold them all ..... go figure maybe they have NO PASSION and more like a K-Mart ???

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    Postby Aushiker » Mon Jun 11, 2007 5:39 pm

    G'day

    As an add I have notified Fleet Cycles of this thread and invited them to respond.

    Maybe Fleet Cycles are really more interested in the "mum and dad" cyclist rather than the more specialised cyclist hence your experience Funkymonk?

    As a newbie I wonder if I would be of interest to the likes of Steve's business?

    Regards
    Andrew
    Andrew

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    Postby Funkymonk » Mon Jun 11, 2007 5:50 pm

    Yeah , Im not really the type of person that gets treated like that by sales staff , I vote with my wallet .
    They have never offered me discount , I find the guys at Ideal Cycles in Hilton to be fantastic when it comes to prices of after market kit and advise goes a long wayyy to :wink:

    I have found Steve to go above and beyond when it came to my questions.
    I will purchase my next bike from him , he has earnt my respect by not lying and not flogging me something i really don't want .

    I found Bike Force to be very poor in the "After we have your cash " Dept
    I wouldn't buy another bike from them .

    But it is good to see that maybe they can learn from the public responceds rather than burry their head in the sand .

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    Postby Aushiker » Mon Jun 11, 2007 5:56 pm

    Funkymonk wrote: They have never offered me discount.
    I think you have to buy a bike first and then you get 10% off all future purchases or something like that.

    Ideal Cycles sounds good. Arn't they South Freo or further south? Sorry, don't know the area well.

    Andrew
    Andrew

    Funkymonk

    Postby Funkymonk » Mon Jun 11, 2007 5:58 pm

    No they are Hilton , Mercer cycles is South Freo .

    Im not paying $4k to get 10% off kit when i can go to Ideals and get 10% off just for asking for it :wink:

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    Postby europa » Mon Jun 11, 2007 6:03 pm

    Hmm. While you're entitled to go chasing 'bargains', I get 10% from my lbs and have never bought a bike from them. Nor did I ask for it. However, I am a regular and am happy to accept that sometimes they don't have what I need (instead of getting sulky). Equally interesting is the amount of time they give me discussing options and solutions, time that doesn't always result in a sale (which they know and accept).

    Richard

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    Postby heavymetal » Mon Jun 11, 2007 6:06 pm

    Ahhh, Fleet Cycles. The store that does not know what a lowrider front rack is :shock: I asked 2 people in the store and neither knew what one was.

    Seriously, I will no longer go near that shop.

    Kev.

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    Postby Aushiker » Mon Jun 11, 2007 6:17 pm

    Funkymonk wrote:No they are Hilton , Mercer cycles is South Freo
    Okay. Can't find a website. Do you have an address? Might pay them a visit.

    Regards
    Andrew
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    Postby Aushiker » Mon Jun 11, 2007 6:28 pm

    G'day

    Okay, so no ones likes Fleet Cycles or it seems that way and that is useful information, BUT other than Funkymonk there has been no postings that I can find on good lbs. Now to me that would be valuable info.

    So why not have a thread on good bike shops (and ones to avoid)?

    Personally I would like to know where to shop for good service (more important than the 10% btw Richard :) ... don't know about others but ...

    Andrew
    Andrew

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    Postby Funkymonk » Mon Jun 11, 2007 6:35 pm


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    Postby heavymetal » Mon Jun 11, 2007 6:58 pm

    Aushiker wrote:So why not have a thread on good bike shops (and ones to avoid)?
    It depends on your style of riding. Being a tourer, it is hard to find good service in WA. However for other types of riding there are a few good shops around.

    I found one shop that even though he sells a lot of racing bikes, he also stocks other parts and fulfilled most of my shopping lists for obscure bits and pieces which he actually had in stock.

    He took the time to go through catalogues and made a few phone calls for the rest of the stuff that I was interested in.

    The shop is Glen Parker Cycles, 125 Stirling Highway, Nedlands WA. Telephone : 9386 6408.

    Don't confuse this shop with the bunch of idiots about three blocks up the street. Glen Parker is a small store and occupies 2 adjacent shops and has a rusty old bicycle on the roof.

    I buy the rest of my stuff via the net, usually from Melbourne, where I deal with 3 places.

    Kev.

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    Postby moosterbounce » Mon Jun 11, 2007 7:27 pm

    My husband got his roadie from Fleet in the city. Good advice at the time but it took about 4 visits to get the gears to change properly!! I've bought kit from there too as they have a good range and received a 10% discount due to the bike purchase.

    We didn't really shop around too much for his bike. He didn't want to spend too much, but wanted a full carbon roadie - it was his first roadie from a MTB so wanted something comfy and shock absorbing. They had an end of model Giant OCR Comp that fitted, seemed suitable, and was priced nicely.

    I bought my roadie from Bike Force in Joondalup. They gave some good advice, but to be honest, I fell in love so was going to buy Scotty regardless :roll: I was happy-ish with the price and have been receiving a discount on other stuff bought from there. Not a big clothing range though. They ordered in my bike as they didn't have the correct size and guessed it perfectly. I didn't even need to change the stem.

    Hubby would have been happy to go there too but they didn't have anything comparable to the OCR and at that price.

    I have also received good service and advice from BikeForce in Woodvale. BikeForce is a franchise I think, so each store can sell different stuff - ish. For example, the Woodvale store sells (or did last time I was in there) Felt. The Joondalup and Subiaco ones sells Scott (same owner). Not all stores are the same, so to generalise the BikeForce name would be wrong.

    My last service (1000km) was done at Elite Racing Cycles (the Bianchi guys) and was impressed with the advice and customer service (got my new shoes there), and my bike felt pristine again. I (among others) recommended them to Funky as I was impressed with their love of the sport. While I was getting a "fit" done there, someone brought in their kids bike wheel for fixing. It was a 10" bright pink one. It just needed a new screw and an adjustment so they did it free.

    Have also had some very good service with kit (I'm an odd fit for knicks) at The Bicycle Entrepeneur in Burswood area. They had a huge range of brands I hadn't seen in other stores which fitted me perfectly (Nalini and Specialized women's range).

    I really believe it is a case of shopping around depending what you are after. It won't just be the product, it will be the make, model, colour etc that will be the deciding factor.

    I haven't found a place that I would refuse to return to, but there are a few who I would prefer not to buy a bike from...but if they had my perfect match, I may need to reconsider... :oops: I also have my favourites depending on what I am looking for.

    How's that for a quick email relating my experiences?! Women...they sure can type :wink:

    Moo...

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    Postby Aushiker » Mon Jun 11, 2007 7:31 pm

    Funkymonk wrote:deleted as I am still a spammer
    Thanks. That displays real bad for me in Firefox 2 ... had to use IE (yuk) to read it. Like the blog but.

    Andrew
    Last edited by Aushiker on Mon Jun 11, 2007 8:48 pm, edited 1 time in total.
    Andrew

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    Postby Aushiker » Mon Jun 11, 2007 8:47 pm

    G'day

    Received a response from Fleet Cycles which was:
    Thanks for the feedback Andrew. We will use the information in a positive way to improve our customer service.
    .

    Regards
    Andrew
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    Postby gdl_gdl » Mon Jun 11, 2007 10:25 pm

    Hi All,

    I've always used Bike Force at Clarkson and they've been fantastic. I always receive a good discount, the service is great and they always have time to deal with my questions when I call into the store. I had great service from them before I spent a lot of money with them and since then I've bought my hybrid bike, road bike and 2 kids bikes from there since progressing from the K Mart style of bike.

    Also when I have a serious flat that I can't fix then they'll drop what they're doing and replace with a new inner tube, usually for the pricely sum of $8!

    Clothing is too expensive in Australia so I tend to buy from ProBikeKit or BicycleHub. Even though you pay for postage it still comes in at 50% off the retail price from a store in Australia.

    Cheers,

    Gary

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    Postby twowheels » Mon Jun 11, 2007 10:50 pm

    Cyclemania in Charles Street, North Perth have given me good after sales and general service.

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    Postby tallywhacker » Tue Jun 12, 2007 10:42 am

    what I have found is the smaller bike shops have far better service than the big chains because the guy that runs the shop owns the shop. You generally deal with the owner or if you deal with an employee the owner is within ear shot.

    Good bike shops in Perth - Elite Racing Cycles in Northbridge, Greg Stoyles in Morley

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    Postby uMP2k » Tue Jun 12, 2007 1:12 pm

    Just want to add a plug for Glen Parker Cycles South. On Albany Highway near the cannington Greyhounds.

    Spent a lot of time (and a bit of money :D ) in there over the last few months and very impressed by their service and love of cycling. Always been happy to give advice even when it has not resulted in a sale there and then.

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    Postby europa » Tue Jun 12, 2007 1:34 pm

    Don't be put off by apparently hard core racing shops either. Some can be very intimidating if you aren't 'in the game', but I've only come across one that was elitist ... and he in a nice way - he was quite open about only stocking stuff above a certain level (and financed by a fully sponsored pro team too - Ultegra was entry level :shock: ). As mentioned above, look for shops owned and run by a bike nut - they may not have what you want but a genuine enthusiast will understand that sometimes, different IS normal.

    Richard

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    Postby uMP2k » Mon Jul 30, 2007 4:30 pm

    moosterbounce wrote:My last service (1000km) was done at Elite Racing Cycles (the Bianchi guys) and was impressed with the advice and customer service (got my new shoes there), and my bike felt pristine again. I (among others) recommended them to Funky as I was impressed with their love of the sport. While I was getting a "fit" done there, someone brought in their kids bike wheel for fixing. It was a 10" bright pink one. It just needed a new screw and an adjustment so they did it free.

    Moo...
    Just wanted to add another vote for Steve and the crew at Elite Racing Cycles.

    I went in there last week looking for a Campag Bottom Bracket tool so that I could finally fit the Chorus BB and lovely Chorus Carbon Crankset that I have had sitting in a box for the last 4 months. They did not have the tool I was after, but when I was told they could do the job for just $20 I booked the bike in on the spot.

    When I dropped the bike off on Saturday I had a good chat to Steve and could not get over his passion for what they are doing at Elite (not to mention all those fantastic Celeste wonders in the show room... :roll: ). Picked up the bike a bit later and found they had tweaked the brakes and derailleaurs for me as well - very impressed.

    Now I just have to get out and see if Carbon really can survive the wet without melting..... :D

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    Postby AUbicycles » Tue Jul 31, 2007 7:03 am

    Hi Aushiker,

    thanks for your post about the shop experiences.

    Including shops in the forum has been a difficult topic for the moderaters as we obvioulsy want to avoid shameless promotion (which stuffs up the forum because it fills with spam) as well as emotional and damaging posts.

    Your post is factual and has simply been approached the right way and I would invite other members who wish to comment about shops (positive or no so positive experiences) to follow your lead. It's also good to know why a shop is good or not good, rather than "Bobs Bikes are good", outlining the experience and when staff have gone out of their way to give good service... or simply gone out of the way gives good info to readers.

    Cheers
    Christopher

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