After some of the negative posts, I thought I might share my positive experiences at Endurosport in Toronto and Freewheel Cycle in Dundas, ON.
I bought my first tri-bike in 2001 - a P2K from Endurosport and had outstanding customer service from day 1. On my first visit, “the Fish” (I believe his real name is ANdrew Fishpool?) and another staff spent over one hour explaining everything about tri bikes to me - geometry, frame materials, etc. They discussed my background and goals and from that showed me the various options that were ideal. They then did a fit for a p2k so they could build one up to take out fora test ride. On the day of the test ride, they had everything ready to go, helped me load the bike into the car and gave me several options on where to take it for a ride. So I was off to a local park with a P2K in the back without having left so much as a piece of id and no deposit. After the test ride, they were very patient in answering all my questions. During the week I waited for my new bike to arrive, they even called me twice to keep me informed of its status - I didn’t have to call them. And, the bike was ready as scheduled. The only other major purchase at Endurosport was a Hwy Nineteen wetsuit last year. Again, the staff went out of their way to help me and answer all my questions. The girl helping me even went out of her way to find out if I would be able to purchase a previously rented one for a reduced price!
At Freewheel Cycle, I have taken my P2k in for maintenance. Here are the reasons I like Freewheel:
You can make an appointment for maintenance (i.e. so you can drop it off on your lunch break at work and then pick it up at the end of the day!) You never have to miss a day of riding to take your bike into the shop.
They do a thorough “look-over” of the bike when you drop it off in order to provide you with an accurate estimate of the both the time and cost of any work needed. In other bike shops, they have waited until I picked up the bike to mention other problems with the bike.
They called me at work when they discovered a previously undetectable problem. They gave a good description of the problem and suggested various solutions before doing the work (or not even doing it at all). They even checked to see if I preferred a new colour of bar tape or just the same old!
I was looking for a pair of shoes that the store didn’t stock, and the owner went out of his way to see if I could get them through another dealer or directly from a distributer. This was all done over the phone – I didn’t even have to leave my desk at work, while Freewheel was calling other places on my behalf to see if I could get the shoes I wanted!
All in all, I was pretty surprised to hear another poster’s complaints about these two shops because I have never had poor service at either shop.
In my initial post I refrained from using the name of the shop in question. Seems someone knew exactly which store I meant anyway. That tells me that my reasons for deciding not to shop there weren’t unfounded after all. I am glad that you were/are able to get such good service from this shop. Sometimes it only takes one bad experience to turn a customer off a store. For me…this is such and instance. For the record, this store is very well stocked…well laid out…and I am sure the staff know their stuff. I am hoping (pretty sure) I never said anything about the shop to the contrary in my original post (the employee I had been chatting with with more than helpful…and polite). Heck, my issue isn’t even with the shop itself…it’s with the owner. Another poster said something about him not being all cuddly (or something to that effect) and hey the last thing I want is any owner being cuddly with me. Maybe he was having a bad day or something…in which case maybe he should have kept his mouth shut and let his employee make the sale. But he saw fit to intervene in the conversation and then proceeded to make me feels as though I had absolutely no idea about anything of which I spoke. I wasn’t there for the guys opinion…I was there to buy a bike. Why he felt the need to point out my lack of knowledge (quite loudly and in front of several other customers) is beyond me. I can’t imagine going into a car lot and talking to a sales rep only to have the lot owner interject part way through a conversation (that he had no business horning in on in the first place) to tell me that a Saturn is no more a GM than a lion is a cat. I had no idea that even though LeMond bikes were made in the same factory as Trek bikes that tooling and lay up for the two were completely different. In fact I was pretty sure at one point LeMonds were pretty much rebadged Treks (even going so far as to sport OCLV stickers)…though I am apparently very wrong. Okay…so I was wrong…was there not a more diplomatic or polite way of letting me know this. Short of coming out and calling me a moron for not knowing this that is pretty much the way I was made to feel (yeah I know I should have a thicker skin being a guy and all). My bottom line is this…the guy wants to make me (or anyone for that matter) a personal whipping boy for a bad day he might have been having or for not knowing something he felt I should have known…is not only going to never see my money (it’s pretty moot at this point to say it but the employee had me pretty much sold on a bike that was nearly 3 grand) but the money of anyone who thinks I might have a clue about anything bike related (sure hope there are a few) and knows what kind of a person I am (as my comment retraction regarding the other store might indicate I do admit when I’m wrong) either. Yes this is a personal bias bitchfest about one store owner who had a bad day telling some half wit the straight up facts about something he didn’t know in the first place. It’s just my opinion on a forum where not many people know much about me or are likely to give a rip what I think. I don’t profess to know everything nor do I think anyone should avoid said store on my say so. But if my encounter was any indication (I have spoken to other cyclists that agree he is not the most personable individual), anyone considering shopping there would be best warned that the best time to go would be when the owner is not there. Just my two cents.
I only knew the name of the shop because it’s the only one in Dundas that sells high end road bikes and tri bikes. Now if you had said Hamilton, I would have had no clue cause there are numerous high quality bike shops.
Kentiger, are you in the Hamilton area? I work here but live out of town. It seems as though Hamilton is pretty lucky to have numerous high end bike shops with good service. I’ve been to the following shops and haven’t been disappointed yet: Pierik’s Cycle, Central Cycle (good place to go to have flatted tubulars repaired, and cheap too), Scattalon Cycle, and Bicycle Works in Waterdown. Bicycle Works in Waterdown, I was impressed with after they let me test ride a cyclocross bike in December during a snowy/rainy day. The roads were covered in slush but they let me take a new bike out for a test ride anyway. And, that was after having called them only an hour earlier – they had the bike set-up, fully inspected and ready to go when I got there! Needless to say, I bought from them.
had no idea that even though LeMond bikes were made in the same factory as Trek bikes that tooling and lay up for the two were completely different. In fact I was pretty sure at one point LeMonds were pretty much rebadged Treks (even going so far as to sport OCLV stickers)…though I am apparently very wrong
Actually, if you’re talking about the old Lemond Maillot Jaune OCLV (full carbon) then you were pretty much right. The only differences between that bike and the Trek OCLV’s of the day were colour, placement of the rear brake cable guides, and the nominal sizing. Lemond measured their frames centre to centre, Trek centre to top. This gave the illusion that lemonds had longer top tubes. eg a 53 cm lemond had a 56 cm top tube. the 53 cm lemond measured 56 cm c-t. Guess what, the 56 cm Trek had a 56 cm top tube.
Perhaps there were differences in the layup of the carbon, but those differences could not be seen and certainly could not be felt.
Nothing wrong with that approach, but the OCLV was discontinued from the Lemond line, probably to further differentiate the brands.
The only thing that I (personally) expect from a shop, beyond having inventory and a reasonable price, is that I am treated as an equal. They will know stuff that I don’t, and vice versa, but they should not get a bee in their bonnet about that. Guess I’m lucky in that the LBS around here does that for me, plus I know them well so we can have great ‘discussions’ about whether Ullrich is finally going to beat Armstrong.
My experiences with shops in the US are limited, but the 2 high end shops that I’ve been in seem to be pretty good (Nytro & B&L in Cali). I also feel like its my job as a customer to really listen to the shop guy / owner / whoever, since regardless of the approach (gruff, condescending, whatever) they are usually genuinely trying to educate me. Fortunately, I know enough (or at least I think I know enough) that I can tell if the guy in the shop is full of it, not everyone is in that position.
"My experience with Endurosport is that they are absolutely top notch. "
From what I’ve seen I’d have to agree. However, my wife bought her P2K from LaBicycletta because they were willing to deal a bit more. In the end she got a slightly better spec’d bike and for hundred dollars less than Endurosport was willing to do.
LaBicycletta is more a high end roadie/TT shop while Endurosport is geared towards tri-geeks but since Heath is manager at LaBicycletta and was former sales manager for Cervelo I’d consider their shop as knowledgeble as Edurosport if not more, at least when purchasing a Cervelo.
Thankfully you are right about being fortunate to have so many high end bike shops in the area. In addition to those mentioned there is also Mountain Tops bikes (for the dirty set), Main Cycle, and a new one in Stoney Creek (All the Right Gears I think). Plus if I drive 15mins to Burlington there is also Brant Cycle and New World Cycle(good store but don’t get me started…lol). That many shops certainly leaves me with lots of choice. For those without I don’t suggest moving to Hamilton but it might be worth it;-) Call it stubborn pride but my experience with the shop in Dundas left me with such a bad taste that not only will I never appologize for mentioning my experience but I’ll tell anyone who cares to listen. We all have our lines in the sand…this one is mine.