It’s really sad… I remember years ago (at the advise no-less from folks at Litespeed and Kestrel) when I first went there. I drove over 8 hours and when I got there, inside a fairly non-descript building were more bikes and wheels than I had ever seen in one place. Litespeed, Quintana Roo, Kestrel, Softride, Trek, Colnago, HED, Zipp, Corima, Mavic and some others I can’t remember. Around 9am I met with John who showed me around the place and I looked in awe at the pictures of Lance and Greg Lemond, saw Lance’s TT bike, and all the custom-built and painted bikes awaiting shipment. After John took my measurements, Scott set up 6 bikes for me to ride and for the next three hours rode all three of them… some much longer than others. When I finally decided on my bike they set it up and fine-tuned my position on it. In-between fittings I was treated to lunch and shown more of the shop by Scott. I was finally finished at about 5:30.
And everything he did worked. With the new bike (and a lot of training) I went from being fairly decent to winning. I felt the biggest difference was that I could comfortably put out more power for a longer amount of time.
Over the years on the phone or via email he helped me fine-tune my position, and then later my kids’ positions who with his changes then went on to set course records and national championships in their age groups.
Having had the pleasure to work with John when he was in his little shop in Shreveport it’s sad to see what happened. I tried to email John but haven’t gotten a response.
Dan, any post-post mortem on what’s going on with John (and/or Bicyclesports)?
I hope other folks that made deals on the going out of business sale (which I might note was not advertised as such) did better than me… I won’t go into the details but my purchase was described as lightly used demo product, but really is pretty well thrashed.
The website is still up, the phone still rings, no one answers but it’s still possible to leave voicemail, which I don’t expect to ever get answered.
No hard feelings against John Cobb personally, but one of his salespeople was less than straighforward in his dealings with me. Likely I’m SOL, luckily we’re not talking a lot of money. As they say, caveat emptor.
My purchase also did not arrive as represented… then again it wasn’t represented as “lightly used” at all, but rather new, in perfect condition… which it most certainly was not. I’m wondering which salesperson you dealt with… pm me if you don’t mind…
Yes, it is totally out of business. I ordered an Aegis frame and fork and a wetsuit from there a couple of weeks ago, and these items came to me second day air and in perfect condition. I have tried to email the shop with some follow up questions, but have not received any correspondence from them. But the items I bought were just as they were advertised.
I think the Shreveport store re-located to Tyler, TX. and there is a Bicycle Sports Austin as well.
The original “headquarters” moved from Shreveport to Tyler and it’s now closed. The store in Austin is now called “Jack and Adam’s”.