markStockton

It is about service. I published some time back about my LBS who I tried to order the U16 gearing for my son's brand new bike that I had bought from them, and how they messed it up at the time. Now I hear this is one of the shop's really battling. I'm not really surprised. I must add the owner was very, very quick to sort thing's out once he heard about the problem. However the damage was done. On the other hand it seems Linden Cycles is doing well and they have given me exceptional service. Ordering parts urgently, arranging same day delivery from the distributor etc. Another shop who have offered exceptional support is the Cycle Hub, who will order in parts on request, will call when they are there and always make you feel special. In fact I need a new set of MTB and road tyres, I didn't even shop around. I sms'd one of the people at the Cycle Hub to check on availability. They phoned me back a little later with pricing and availability and I'll collect the tyres Thursday. Yes, I do shop around on major purchases, however this shouldn't be the area that bike shops make their money anyway. You can only sell so many high value bikes, frames or group sets to a person. Make your money by providing accessories, spares and good service.

I spoke to Simon about it this week, his answer was that the timing chip will be in your organiser supplied number board. So to answer your question it will probably be Spectrum Sport timing.

Agreed, I'm not sure I'm going to renew my subscription. On the plus side Ride is a great read.

I think it is some sort of blood poisoning. Most common cause seems to be shaving ones legs.

South Africans seem to have this strange need to have missed adeadline (if in Cape Town, please read "many deadlines") before anything becomes urgent.

Cool, me too.

SP, I only realised much, much later that was probably you. If I had clicked earlier I'd have said "hi". Sorry about the knee. I must admit I battled with the climb after D2D. Legs very tired.

Just out of interest, who supplies Avid / SRAM in SA and what are their policies like?

Slowpoke, was that you in Think Bike kit spectating from the comfort of your bike just after the start / finish?

www.troisport.co.za, excellent bunch of guy's. If I was more into Triathlon, this is the club I'd join.

I'm not wanting to start a 20 page flame session here, but, the retail model being used by most LBS is antiquated and no longer competitive. Now some stores like CWC, Solomons and Westdene have found away to be competitive in this market. The rest need to wake up, or go out of business. Plain economics.

If it makes you feel better, I took everything to my LBS for assembly.

Every part, still sealed in it's packaging.

I have been cautioned by friends in the industry that Cool Heat will not honor warranties on "grey" or "parallel" import items. This they claim includes Solomons trading and CRC, not sure about CWC. However I have never put this to the test, and as they are in the industry, their opinions may not be entirely unbiased. I would love to see some sort of official response from Coolheat. I think I should add that I bought my groupset at Solomons Trading as they where local, second on my list was CWC and third Chain Reaction. I'm sorry but their pricing is far to good to ignore and the LBS where not even in the same league. markStockton2008-09-16 07:39:57