More pics of the bulldog!

---

-------------------------------------------------
Team FeXY

"The legs feed the wolf, gentlemen... Again!" - Team USA Hockey Coach, Herb Brooks (Miracle)

Its a good thing...cause then we can buy their bikes off of them dirt cheap when they finally need to clean out their NYC appt or garage...

---

----------------------------------------------------------

What if the Hokey Pokey is what it is all about?

Record10Carbon: Don't think I did not know this when I posted my thoughts. Having said this, I'd PMed Dan a while back about my experience with R&A in the past when I saw his review of the shop here on ST. If I get banned for posting a truthful experience I had then I'd rather not post here any way (not that I do so often any way). FWIW I doubt Dan would ban me over this or delete these posts. I agree with the other person who stated this could be "good medicine" for R&A.

Al seems to be genuine in his replies about things changing for the better at their shop, which would be an excellent thing for all of us in the NY area. Hell, I might even step foot in there again based on this thread & his replies. That place is made for a poser like me....a really slow guy who just wants to look really fast. ;-)

I tend to think a bad experience in this shop is probably more of an abberation than the norm. Shops don't stay open, and certainly don't prosper like R&A appears to be prospering, if their employees suck and their shop is not customer friendly. Not everybody who ever walks into a place of business is going to walk out happy, but generally, you can't be successful unless the vast majority of your customers are happy.

I've never been in R&A's shop, but I bought two bikes from them on the phone about 10 years ago. Before I get drilled for not patronizing my local shops, I should point out that I looked far and wide for a shop in my state that carried tri bikes. No luck. It was mountain bike mania at the time and there wasn't a tri bike in sight, and certainly no bikes on the floor I could ride. The R&A guys advertised in the tri magazines, they were very helpful on the phone, gave me a great deal, and got my business.

-- Big EE

Is there anyway you could post some sort of price list too with all the items your selling on this forum? If we are interested in buying an item/bike should we call you directly or email you?

"I found, too, that R&A has a very unappealing approach to sales. It's almost like they don't want anyone's business."

there are two R&As. there's the store that existed 2 years ago and prior. last year was the transition year. this year it's an entirely new shop.

you might say that the patriarch, phil, was the stereotypical new yorker. very good guy, honest, steady, but with a "new york" personality. sort of the bike industry's version of the "soup nazi."

now much of the store's management has been handed down a generation (you'll notice that al, phil's son, is the one who is posting), and it's an entirely new store, almost like it's got a new owner, except phil's commitment to having an unbelievable inventory is still there.

so, those of you who feel the need to express any negative views, please state when it was you had these bad experiences.

---

Dan Empfield
aka Slowman

 We are not posting anything here to sell, we are posting pics of our shop with bike porn for the enjoyment of the sport. If you want to browse what we have in stock and or want to make a purchase feel free to browse our website www.racycles.com

All the best,

---

All the best,

Al Cabbad
R&A Cycles
al@racycles.com

(FatDoggy) I don't get upset with your negative posts but like the hoesty. All I have to say is things are very different now and our service comes first...

(Big EE) - I completely aggree with what you said and could not say it any better. I am glad you were satisfied with our service.

---

All the best,

Al Cabbad
R&A Cycles
al@racycles.com

Thanks Al (& Dan) for participating/having a forum open to honest debate which can result in a positive outcome.

The end result of this thread, for me anyway, is I've gone from being a person who would never set foot in R&A again to a potential customer at some point down the road.

Hell has frozen over. Well done. :-)

I had a good internet experience with R&A last fall. I successfully located a Felt F2C road bike at their shop in my size. They made me a good deal and shipped it right out. I have no issues with the service and appreciated that they had it. No Felt shop in a 100 mile radius had what I needed. Thanks R&A...

---

Doug in Michigan

The Looks don't really do much for me, but the Pinarellos and Colnagos certainly do. And speaking of the Colnagos, what in the world is Dura Ace doing on a Colnago? That's blasphemy. The Lightweight and Campy wheels are very, very nice.

I've bought a bike from R&A mail order. My purchase was about 4 years ago, and I dealt with Phil. He had that typical New York personality, and I was new to the cycling world so I was very intimidated by him. But my service was good and I was very pleased. It was unfortunate that the bike was the wrong size, but that wasn't Phil's fault. It was mine.

RP

Very impressive store and inventory. I have never seen so many in-stock Record and Dura Ace parts!

I had no problems when I went in R&A whilst visiting New York over Christmas (apart from not having enough money to buy more stuff :) ). I went in to buy a bike and get it shipped home (New Zealand), the staff were very helpful and even discouraged me from buying one certain bike because it wasn't a good fit, even though it was more expensive than one of the ones I was looking at. The guys were polite, helpful and friendly and the shop was like walking into Santas grotto. I would shop there again no problems.

In the end I settled on a QR Seduza, I may not go very fast at Ironman NZ this year but at least I will look good doing it on the new bike:).

It's good to know that there's been a shift at R&A. I actually didn't know that. I'm certainly open to giving it another try.

----------------
there are two R&As. there's the store that existed 2 years ago and prior. last year was the transition year. this year it's an entirely new shop.

AL,

Do you have a email address? I would like to buy a tri bike from you. Need your advise. Thanks.

Al@RAcycles.com

---

All the best,

Al Cabbad
R&A Cycles
al@racycles.com

The two red saddles in the middle of the saddle picture between the blue and white ones.

What are they?

jaretj

Hi Dan---I had PM'd Tom Demerly (hasn't replied, must be away) on January 21 expressing my displeasure of R&A after noticing the banner ad on this site. My question to Tom in my PM was 'what can you expect from your local LBS?' I am not out to bash R&A but feel compelled to participate in this thread. I was last there this past July for over $500bucks worth of work on my bike (this is the second bike I've purchased from them) and gotta tell you did not get the service (and in my mind, the respect) one would expect. This was not my first bad experience with them---needless to say, I am no longer going back. I am not surprised to hear some of the negative replies on this thread. Really appreciate your willingness to hear a negative view---thx

Really very, very impressive. Some beautiful stuff.

---

Tom Demerly
The Tri Shop.com

The bottom line though Tom... is if you posted the amount of pictures this guy has posted...20 people would have told you to take it to the ST Classified's..right?

KJGrog, are you what they call a "shit stirrer"?

---

----------------------------------------------------
Striving to have sex more than 66 times per year

Its so true though...people would want Tom's head if he posted this many pictures of stuff he is selling outside the ST classified section...

Well, yeah. They might have.

Personally- I have no problem with this. I like R&A and I think they do a nice job. Also, they are an icon in the industry. They are good marketers and good, credible retailers.

I like to see their contributions on here and hope they continue. This post and the photos are particularly good.

---

Tom Demerly
The Tri Shop.com

Again, we apologize if you feel you did not get the service or respect that you felt that you deserved.

If you would like, PM me and enlighten me on what you feel that we did wrong and how you feel that we can better serve you. If you choose to PM me, I would be more then happy to discuss your visit. In your PM, please make sure that you tell me all of the specifics on your visit. Was it during the week or a busy weekend? Did we service your bike to your liking or were you not satisfied with our mechanical service or product? Was it our attititude or was it very busy and we were under manned in the shop? Was the shop empty at the time, or were there a lot of people there?

Please let me know so we can take the proper measures to increase the quality of what we do at R&A. Like I said in several posts, we changed a lot, and we are aiming to please.

All the best,

---

All the best,

Al Cabbad
R&A Cycles
al@racycles.com

Tom,

Thanks for the kind words, or hat goes off to you as well as we feel that you set the standard on service and we, like you are striving to be the best, plus, you are perhaps the biggest fan of our boy Bjorn!!

PS- we are working hard on our 3rd industry leader workshop scheduled for the end of February tentatively, and as usual, a special invite will be going out to you! (This 3rd workshop is going to be a good one- well, it is hard to top Gerard and Cervelo and Herbert/Brad Devany and QR, but we are trying hard to make it a good one!)

---

All the best,

Al Cabbad
R&A Cycles
al@racycles.com