Still Satisfied
I posted awhile back about my first experience using Drake and stumbled upon this forum again today... I saw there's been a lot more feedback, both good and bad, about ISO so I thought I'd share my experiences since that initial post...
It's been close to two years now since I took my old Kona Stinky to him to have the '09 Roco WC & '09 888 tuned. In that time, Drake serviced each of those again about a year after the initial tune... just maintenance as they were both still performing perfectly. I've also bought two bikes from him (M9 FRO & Tracer 29'er), countless miscellaneous parts, had several other shocks and forks tuned, and even had him do a full SRAM Red gruppo & Syntace cockpit replacement on my road bike. Drake did such an outstanding job with my Roco that when I bought my M9, I passed on the CCDB and had him tune a Roco for that bike as well... along with a 888 Evo2, both of which perform better than anything I've ever ridden. He's done the Roco WC & the Totem on my 7 Point as well as the RP23 & Reba RLT on my Tracer 29'er. Earlier this week, I replaced the RP23 on the T29 with a Monarch and plan to have him tune that as well... All in all, I couldn't be happier. In every instance, he's taken the time to listen to exactly what I want out of my bikes and had the expertise to undertake all the changes necessary to make them perform exactly like I've asked for them to. At nearly ever dealing I've had with him, he's also found or done something above and beyond what I was there for just like he did that first time two years ago when he noticed a problem with one of my Code brakes and got it warrantied... I literally can't count the number of times I've picked my bike up after having it worked on to find that a wheel's been trued or some other task performed that had nothing to do with why I dropped it off in the first place proving that he continues to show, even now under what sounds like an often overwhelming workload, that level of detail and attention that so impressed me in our first meeting. I'll continue to take my bikes to him for anything I need and wouldn't hesitate to recommend him to anyone looking for service of any kind for their bikes. I would also second his statement that as his volume has improved so has his quality... It could just be that the newer suspension is just that much better but the difference between my more recently acquired and serviced suspension and those first two that Drake did for me is really impressive.
As for the people having issues... Things fall through the cracks sometimes. I'm not going to name names and derail this thread but I've personally been waiting since February 2nd (2 months + now) for a very popular and busy North County retailer to get me a road jersey... a jersey... something that requires literally nothing more than them making a call to Assos. I've called probably a dozen times and had them fail to return my call at least a half dozen times. I've been told easily as many times that "it'll be here this week" and had it not be... I've been told that their buyer was on vacation, that he quit, that their sales rep was on vacation... you name it. Me freaking out about them trying to "steal" $200 from me isn't going to get me my jersey any quicker. People just need to learn some patience and recognize that things are tough all over and everyone from manufacturers to retailers are doing what they can to save money and stay profitable in this economy which often leaves us as consumers waiting on back ordered parts or services thanks to "streamlined" production and staffing. Sometimes the people you're calling are simply at the mercy of some manufacturer... Sometimes it's a clueless new employee dropping the ball... Sometimes it's a fully competent employee trying to figure out where things are after someone else left... Sometimes it's just a choice between getting through 20 shocks and 20 forks that people are waiting on or answering 200 emails and returning 20 voicemails... Throwing a digital fit and shaking your fists at the heavens bemoaning your lot in life isn't going to get anything accomplished but raising your blood pressure. I can assure you that Drake has no interest in "stealing" your fork or anything else... if anything, he's giving away advice and services he should be charging more for. I've had zero issues and have on more than one occassion left him in possesion of literally $10k+ worth of my bikes and gear and wouldn't have any qualms about doing so again. If it's important to you, then do something about it... take a drive down to his shop and I can promise you that you'll find him to be more than willing to take care of whatever needs doing or whatever issues you're having. That said, expecting him to make your fork his top priority day in and day out when you're one customer among many and haven't even made it a top priority yourself just isn't reasonable.
