Free Service?

There's a shop called "Cycle Spectrum" in Jacksonville, FL that gives "free service for life on all
new bikes". There's actually six of them, and they are also located in Dallas, Houston, Phoenix,
Mesa, Tempe (Tampa?), and Orlando.

They say they give free service, such as minor tune up which normally would cost $45 at the
other shops.

Anyone comment on this? Especially if you've had experience with this shop?

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<[email protected]> wrote in message > There's a shop called "Cycle Spectrum" in
Jacksonville, FL that gives
> "free service for life on all new bikes". There's actually six of them, and they are also located
> in Dallas, Houston, Phoenix, Mesa, Tempe (Tampa?), and Orlando.
>
> They say they give free service, such as minor tune up which normally would cost $45 at the
> other shops.
>
> Anyone comment on this? Especially if you've had experience with this shop?

I have been to three of the Cycle Spectrum shops in Texas. One is managed by the biggest butthead I
have ever met. The other two, not nearly as bad. But keep in mind that they are a high-volume shop
that stocks mostly cheap stuff. It's nice if you are looking for cheap parts to get a junker back
into working order, but not so great if your tastes are a bit more refined.

As for my bad experience, here's what happened. I purchased a set of Kenda slicks for my mountain
bike. After mounting, there was a wobble in one of the two tires. I thought I had mounted it
improperly, so messed with it until I was satisfied that the bead was correctly set. To make sure
it was not the rim, I even went as far as putting it onto a different wheel. I determined that the
problem was the tire itself. It had been pulled from the mold improperly and had a permanent
"wonk" in it.

I went to the shop and related my tale. The manager had a mechanic look into it and he determined
that the wheel was out of true. I had checked to make sure the wheel was true, but the bonehead
mechanic "fixed" it until my wheel was out of true and the tire looked _slightly_ better. I mounted
it on the bike, then had to wait for another 20 minutes to get the manager's attention so I could
point out the error. He, of course, denied there was a problem.

I asked him to just replace the tire. He informed me that he didn't have any on hand and wasn't
going to order another one. The issue was his costs. I politely informed him that if he would
contact the distributor or the manufacturer, explain that there was a defect in the tire, then they
would likely replace it for free. It took another 30 minutes of arguing with this moron before he
finally got on the phone and did as I asked. They sent a replacement immediately. I had a new tire
two days later. I'm thankful that I didn't purchase a bike from this shop.

My experience with this Cycle Spectrum may not be indicative of the entire company. But I have to
wonder about a company that keeps this guy in charge of one of their shops (they may be franchises,
I just don't know). There are many people who have similar stories about this shop. I have discussed
the problem with the manager of one of the other shops. He said he was aware of the problem but
could do nothing about it other than suggest that the shop in question was not a reflection on his.
I admit, he was a nice guy who spent considerable time helping me with some parts I needed to get a
junker back on the road.

I would spend some time hanging around the shop to see how they handle other customers before I
would buy from them. As is often repeated around here, bikes in the same price range are all about
the same - the biggest difference between them is the quality of the shop.

-Buck