Circle City Cyclery in Corona, CA

Yes, it sounds like an easily fixed problem but it's something the shop should have fixed the first time the bike was brought back. Assuming the story is accurate, he has a right to be bitter IMO. This is the purpose of this forum - for customers to relate their experiences. One-sided or not. I know that if I owned a shop, I would make sure customers left satisfied. Even the somewhat unreasonable ones.

 

He was probably hammering up a hill in the big ring / granny gear combo...

 

some bike shops are shady. stick to the one you trust, i had to learned that lesson.. it sucks!

 

It's interesting as I read through the initial thread, and then this one.:-k I have purchased 4-5 bikes from Circle City over the past 15 years, and never a problem (even when I cracked an 8 year old frame they got me a new one under warranty). My latest purchase Trek Fuel EX8 had several problems right out of the gate (a popping rim, which Trek is aware, and a similar shifting issue which turned out to be the "b" stop adjustment), both resolved to my satisfaction (and a couple of trips). But, I expected that as to really test a fix or adjustment I needed to put it through my riding (not a stand or parking lot).

Sorry to hear about your experience. Just does not sound like John (Owner). He has always treated me and my family well, both in sales (pricing), and service. Hopefully your new bike will serve you well, but understand it too will go through break-in and require adjustments. Once dialed in a bike will perform as it should. Good luck with your new bike.

 

Thank you, I never dealt with John (store owner), I only dealt with a Mark, as a matter of fact, I've been to that shop twice before buying the aforementioned bike and my girlfriend and I always left frustrated because they never seemed to want to help me, I should have known better than to go there a 3rd time to buy the specialized bike. The only reason I bought it there was because no one else had it in stock in that frame size. Mark didn't even want to exchange the bike or replace it for one of equal value. As a matter of fact, when I purchased the bike, I also bought some tire chain lube and a 29" inner tube which Mark recommended, I later found out that Mark gave me the wrong inner tube and when confronted he was very nonchalant about it.

Whatever, the past is past and the damage has been done. This was by far the worst shopping experience and customer support that I have ever encountered, and for christ sakes I've shopped at some really crummy stores before and left with better service.

And as far as some people commenting on the right or wrong gear I was in, believe me, I was in the right gear at the right time and at the right climb, thank you for your concern.

-Arkenzo

 

Like I said, I have never gotten a perfect derailleur adjustment from a shop. It takes riding to confirm everything is calibrated correctly. On a new bike this applies multiple times because the length of the cable is still variable.

 

The second time I took it to them to fix the problem, one of the technicians (young guy), took the bike out for a ride behind the Home Depot lot, this was on a sunday, I didn't get a chance to ride it again until Tuesday when the problem reoccurred. So believe me, they had their chances to fix the bike.

 

There are always two sides of a story, but.... If I had just bought a bike ($600 or 6k) and had an issue with it. I think it is very reasonable to expect them to fix the problem with it, and not take 3 trips to do it. This if any thing sounds like a failure in customer service. If it was a simple problem (as described above), this could be fixed by a monkey with a tool belt. We have not heard the shops side of the story, but do really need it? Even if the customer was uniformed and it was a stuck link, or cable stretch, them taking the time to fix the problem or explain the situation before it escalated to 3 trips to the shop would have been in order... In my Opinion. As far as I am concerned if a LBS took three times to fix a problem on a brand new bike, i would return it as well and move on.

As far as the hostility in this thread, that surprised me the most. We have all had issues with bike shops at one point or another, and normally we all seem to defend the member over the LBS that dropped the ball.....Hmmm odd. Good or Bad, reviewing bike shops is what this part of the forum is for... no?

 

Thank you sir, Mark is well aware that I posted this review on the forums, I told him about some of the suggestions that STR had as far as what the problem with the bike could be, he seemed nonchalant about it and about the suggestions of the STR crew that tried to help me in my bike thread. Like I said, I am not hiding anything or leaving out any details, the way the situation happened that day is the way I typed it up. I am not the type to cause a scene in front of people and I never raised my voice against Mark. The bottom line is that I still have not gotten a phone call from the Shop about this situation, which leaves me to believe that they definitely do not care about me as a customer and that is that. They have my contact information, they could have tried to contact me over the phone, but nothing, not even an apology.

 

Yes, that is what the forum is for. Everyone has their opinion and you are entitled to express yours. Just be prepared to answer questions and deal with other peoples opionions. ;-)

 

Wow two people ripping my post completely out of context. My main point is that you can't adjust the deraillieur perfectly on the stand or even with a post adjustment coast around the block. Geometry changes under power and thus also equilibrium setting for the cable. To completely type things out a second time, my point was that the bike shop could've checked the bike with good intentions three times and have it shift perfectly on the stand and around the parking lot. Often times at this point the adjustment is what I call "in the ballpark". Under heavy power such as on a reasonably steep climb things may still come up. Usually any remaining gremlins will pop up and the solution is usually no more than 1-3 barrel adjuster notches away. Hence to retype and summarize - try the barrel adjuster because this is not something the shop can do for you.

The main point is that the possibility exists that the shop checked the bike over 3 times with good intentions and he still has the problem he has.

edit - its like buying a freaking guitar and complaining it came out of tune.

edit2 - Obviously if your problem turns out not to be fine adjustment related I will take your side, but I put up with the same symptoms periodically after every cable change.

 

na1sxr, I completely agree with you that it is difficult to get that perfect with a bike sitting on the stand (but you can get damn close). My main point was even if this was the problem, good customer service from the shop would have solved this. Explain it to the customer, not just hand it to the monkey in the back and hope that he fixed it. From reading the other thread, it sounds like more than fine tuning... But hey i was not there, just the opinion forum (troll) member lol.

 

Sorry, but a tech that knows how to properly adjust derailleur cable tension can certainly do it on the stand. I'm a hack sales guy and don't have trouble with this. New bikes will experience cable stretch and that is to be expected. Bring the bike back, adjust the cable tension, send the happy customer on his way.

We have no way of knowing if this was the actual problem but to suggest that it's impossible to adjust cable tension on a stand is ridiculous.

 

Did you buy the new makers 46?

 

You will never know for sure if your adjustment is good unless the bike is ridden under power.

edit - its very easy to demonstrate. I can take my perfectly adjusted system on my personal bike right now and just twist the rear shifter barrel adjuster a notch one way or another and it will still shift perfectly through all gear combinations on a stand. Chain hopping will appear first under power before it ever appears on the stand. Shimano with a bit less tolerance, SRAM with a bit more, but all the same.

 

I can agree with that. But if the bike shifts through all the gears perfectly in the store, I mean, its reasonable they gave the green light to hand the bike back to the customer.

 

+1 on this. I have a shimano XT RD and it functions great on the stand, and even in the street. Hit the first climb and ghost shift or just acts like it. Adjust the barrel 1 or 2 clicks problem solved, all dialed in. As much as I want to think it's dialed in on the stand, it may or may not be until I place it under load. IMHO.

 

You can continue to adjust your cables this way and incorrectly assume that's the best you can do it on the stand. I'm done derailing this thread any further.

 

I have been a customer at Circle City Cyclery for well over 15 years and never had a negative experience. (Since they were on 6th street in Corona.) The mega stores are no comparison to a home town bike shop in my opinion.



Cheers,

C.K.