????? I am pretty much the ONLY bike co. employee that logs on here, and I can tell you that I personally went to 0 (zero) races at Fontana. ???????
December 2008 Mountain Bike action!! The cover of the 2008 Mountain Bike Action has none other than Flyin Brian Lopes on the cover, with only ONE sponsor sticker on his bike, other than the IBIS LOGOS, and that would be bikeco.com on the downtube. Pretty cool!!
The Bikeco is a great place and the staff is there to help you out. I've purchased three bikes from them to date and would gladly purchase my next one from them as well.
Bought two Intense bikes from them (Spider 29 and Fenix), they were a good shop, I liked the GM guy Mike that no longer works there. I would'nt buy from them again unless they were the last shop in the OC that had something I wanted and I needed it right then. It wasn't really what this shop did to make me not want to give them anymore business, it's what they didn't do. Can't really seem to find a shop I like anywhere around here with reasonable prices (not just msrp)/stock/and service.
Labor No, Thats because Brian gets ALL his labor for free from Joe Binatena, his personal mechanic who will wrench on your bike if you bring it in for service. PS Terry and Tracy work on Lopes stuff as well, and Hans Rey, and most of the RADS, my IBIS MOJO SL, Intense M6, Nomad, and Intense Tracer 09 usually go to the back of the line, but I do work there when I am not teaching English. I was wondering what we didn't do? What didn't we do?
I went into the Bike Co. today to find out if my bottom bracket needed replacing because all I can hear when I ride is a really loud creek coming from that area. I walked in at the same time as an employee named Ian and we started talking about off-roading our trucks (we both drive tacomas). After talking trucks, he had no hesitation to ask what was up with my bike and took it for a ride. He told me that the cups on my bottom bracket were shot. He kept looking at it and pressing on the seat to move the suspension and figured out it was the bottom pivot in back of my crankset. He told me that I basically need all new bearings but my bottom bracket is still pretty good. He told me that they need to be replaced eventually and I could still ride the bike if I can handle the annoying creeking sound. Ian was more then helpful, he went way beyond when he told me my brakes are really solid and to be careful. I mentioned that the left brake pad is rubbing on the caliper and he had no problem adjusting it for me then and there. He then invited me on a ride he is going on tomorrow at San Juan. Unfortanately I can't go on the ride, family for thanksgiving, and I don't have the money to replace the bearings but it was great to go in there and have some awesome service.
Lopes and Labor! Brian picked Joe to be his mechanic because Joe is outright an INCREDIBLE mechanic. Joe flies with Brian to ALMOST every race. When he is home and needs stuff done, all three of the mechanics work on his stuff. So I guess the answer to your question is The Bike Co. works on Brian's stuff becaue Brian trusts the mechanics in that shop to make sure he doesn't have mechanicals that will cost him money. Both sides have benefited from the relationship.
Tracer I am being very patient, LAZY, about building it up. The problem I have had is deciding which fork to put on the front, Talas 36 RC2 or the new Magura 140. Yesterday I picked up a TALAS. Stack height is also going to be an issue, as I want to run a King HS, but I will have to go with a cane Creek Zero stack. I got a hold of their demo they sent the shop and I can say that this is probably going to be one of the best bikes of 09. Corners well, pedals efficiently and is generally fun to ride!! Cheers, Tom
I happened to go to The Bike Shop today and I will never set foot in that place again. Here is my experience............ My girlfriend and I walk in and there is only 1 person in the shop who is on the phone. We waited and waited and waited...............assuming he was talking to a customer we patiently waited out turn. When he finally hung up the call I asked him if they carried a part that I was looking for. He began answering and got about a sentence out when the phone rang again. At this point if it had been a customer I still would have been fine with waiting but, it wasn't. He was chatting his buddy about how he was going to ride with them.......etc. and continued to ignore us. After about 15 minutes of listening to him blather on to his friends instead of helping a potential customer we walked out and do not plan on returning. Between the 2 of us we have dropped about 4k on bikes and bike parts building things up in the last couple of months so ignoring a potential long term customer who has money to spend is not the best idea. Especially when your parking lot and store are void of any other customers. There may be some good mechanics in this place but I will never find out because the service up front is a total joke. Some people will call it a bash but this is our experience.
Anyone have any experience/opinions of The Bike Company? I had a totally perplexing experience after my ride today at Whiting Ranch. My question pertains to one of it's employees. I'll get to that later. Let me start by saying that I'm pretty hard to miss on the trail. I'm usually in a Sho-Air kit...I'm pretty sure I have the only bike around here with bright white tires...and a few people know that I work at the Rock N' Road in Mission Viejo. I try to be a good ambassador to our shop and to the team. I love getting folks to ride and I'd like to think that I'm pretty darn friendly to everyone I meet on the trail. If I ever did act like a tool, I'm sure the word would quickly get out. Anyway...there were a lot of folks out in Whiting tonight. I said hello to a bunch of people I recognized, offered help to those that looked like they needed a hand, and offered the simple trail courtesy to hikers and bikers like I normally do. Anyway, and the tail end of my ride I'm riding through the Wahoo's parking lot when a guy starts talking to me. Asked what my deal was in riding so close to him. I was utterly perplexed. Then he asked if I told his buddy that he was in a bad part of the line. I said, "Yes. That was me." The guy was stopped and the only way around him was sandy, that sparked my comment. He then starts ranting like a madman. I'll paraphrase some of the things he said: "You Sho-Air guys are all the same." "You don't talk to a beginner rider like that." "You're supposed to be an expert rider." "I eat you guys up all the time." "I ate up a guy going down Mustard just today." Being in my team kit I would never get into a confrontation with anyone. Reflects poorly on the team and I'm still wondering what the hell is going on. I told him that there's gotta be a misunderstanding and I apologize if something was taken out of context. I knew a lot a people out here and then asked what his name was. He said he didn't need to tell me. I said that I never have any intentions of pissing anyone off...I work at Rock N' Road and get along with most of the folks that ride out here. His ranting continued: "That explains everything!" "That's why you ride a piece of s***!" "That's why I ride an Ibis." "Specialized is all s***." "I work at The Bike Company." Then it got more interesting because out of the blue he started to name drop. "Do you know Hans Rey? Do you know Brian Lopes?" I say, "Kind of. I believe they've dropped by our shop a few times." He asks, "You work on their bikes?" I say, "No. They don't ride Specialized." He says, "Well we work on their bikes!" Then it got weird. He tried to get deep and brought Christianity into the picture: "Let's hypothetically look at this from a theological perspective." (I believe those were his exact words). "Wouldn't the Christian thing to do is try to help a new rider?" I say, "From a Christian perspective, you wouldn't rant the way you do and not give a person a chance to speak or make things right." He then stopped talking. I went over to another guy that was riding with him because I recognized him from the shop. He was cool and actually apologized for the Ibis guy. I said no big deal...I was just amazed at what was going on. A minute later, the Ibis guy comes across the parking lot and challenges me to a ride on Wednesday. Anytime...anywhere... Then talks about how "The Radz" eat up most people that ride with them. As I left, he did give me his name. So let me get to my point. I would so like to believe that this isn't indicative of everyone that works at The Bike Company. I've never stepped foot into their store, but I refer a lot of business to them when I come across a customer that really wants to look at an Ibis, Santa Cruz, or Yeti. Mainly because they are literally down the street from us. But if they don't have a professional attitude in and out of the shop, I can't in good conscience send any of my customers over there. I would rather tell them to make the drive to The Path or Laguna Cyclery. I think I'm gonna drop by their shop on Thursday to talk to the owner or manager. If they're good people, then I can continue to refer, if not...well...I'll just recommend alternatives. Any opinions?
Ha just check out the reviews of The Bike Company in the bike shop reviews thread. My boyfriend and I walked in there on Sunday for the first time and will never set foot in there again. Worst customer service I have ever seen in any kind of retail shop.
:wave:+1 for the Path - worth the drive... or over the hill to Jenson in Corona. I personally have never been to Laguna, but have heard good words. No good experiences from the Bike Co., yet many negative or 'not-positive' even with just 'phone' inquiries. Hoping this is just a freak encounter with a JERK - and that in NOT representative of that store (Brian Lopes would not associate with someone like that...) Please don't take the bible thumping from him - one bad apple.... :wave:
After my experience in that store this weekend I almost guarantee it was the same guy who was in the store when I was there. A complete jerk and I will never set foot in that place again. Piss poor attitude in the store and it seems the same on the trail. I'm not even going to touch the religious part of that. We'll save the for another day.
