Evans reprieve

If you read an earlier post of mine you'll have read my disappointment at the customer service I recieved at the hands of their Guildford store. Working in customer service myself I appreciate good service on the products I purchase and more importantly good after sales service, buying the product is just the start of the relationship. Things break and thats life, you need to know you're being provided with a level of support when parting with your cash.

I buy a bike, i want to know the seller is going to provide me with a decent level of service, not much to ask is it?

Being lied to by individuals you're lead to trust is just rude, offensive. If you are unable to perform a task, give a reason, provide a solution, don't just lie.

I have lost all faith I ever had with shop staff at Evans, from trying to be sold a bike I didn't want or couldn't afford in Kingston, to being lied to by mechanic's in Guildford. It will take a long time and a grand reason for me to take a bike into that chain of stores for any work. A local bike shop will always be my preference and I know mine, service above and beyond with a passion for bikes.

I can't fault Evans online store, I'll continue to use this service if they offer what i want at the best prices, which only a chain seem to be able to do.

Thankfully the customer service team are better than their counterparts on the shop floor.

Thanks for listening and thanks for the gesture.

My favourite route

So I cycle daily from my home in Bracknell to my place of work in Staines, yeah Staines upon Thames, the small town on the south west outskirts of London just inside the M25.

Nothing special as a location and nothing to speak of as a town but god damn the commute is beautiful. I've been cycling to and from now for over a year never really leaving the main road. Initially i took the route through Ascot turning left at Wentworth golf course following the A30 past Virginia water and the stunning Royal Holloway college.

In an attempt to gain more mileage I changed my route and started cycling through Windsor Great park, well the main roads through it anyway, on to Runnymede and beyond to Staines.

A man of routine you see, find a route, follow it, ride it faster (thats a strava thing), thats me, thats what I do.

Well last week I was challenged to change my route again, so I did, it's shorter that the long one and longer than the short one. More importantly, I don't share the road with cars. I share the road with cyclists and deer!

Look no traffic!

None, anywhere, on a commute toward the country's capital!

Look, Windsor Castle...honest guv

Now every cyclist wants to read this surely!

What a route, what a commute, can't wait to ride this covered in snow.

A letter of complaint

 

To whom it may concern,

                                            I’d like to advise you of some terrible customer service I received from your Guildford store (Unit 3 Woodbridge House) when taking my bike for its recent 4 week check-up. I took the bike into the Guildford store on Thursday the 21^st of June.  Since the purchase of the bike I have been adjusting the height of the stem using the spacers provided, to try and obtain the optimal riding position. When handing the bike over to the Service and Repair desk at Evans I had asked if the Steerer tube could be cut down during the service but I was told this wasn’t covered in the free service due to the amount of work involved. Upon returning home, having left the bike at the store, I decided to call the store again just to clarify the process as I didn’t believe it would be too time consuming or difficult. I spoke to a Tristan initially but was passed to someone who’s name I can’t remember. I was told that because the steerer tube was carbon they would not be happy in cutting the tube length down as I only required it reducing by 10mil and that a 5mil space would need to remain (above the stem) to ensure safety, ‘so what’s the point?’

I asked the individual to confirm the steerer tube material and I was again advised it was carbon, I said ‘are you looking at it now’ and was told ‘yes’.  Now at this point I thought ok fine, if they are looking at it now they can’t be wrong and thought nothing more of it.  Until of course I got the bike home and decided to lower the stem again and realised that the steerer tube is actually aluminium, you can see this by checking the bike spec on the Evans website (the bike is a Cannondale Caad8 C 105 2012 Evans part number EV149845-54-BLK), which clearly stipulates:  Fork: Cannondale Ultra, Carbon Blades, 1-1/8"

So it appears you’re staff lied to me in that when they said they were looking at the bike, when they were clearly not. They also lied to me when advising that the steerer tube was carbon, when it is clearly not.

I would like a formal apology regarding this matter and I’d also like to know why your staff members feel it is ok to lie to new customers. I think it’s disgraceful that I have been lied to on 2 occasion’s by your paid mechanics. Any bike shop would cut down a steerer tube for a small labour fee,  but to lie to avoid the task is a disgrace.

If it wasn’t for my companies Cycle 2 work scheme being with Evans, I simply wouldn’t step foot in your stores due to this type of inadequate and frankly offensive customer service

I look forward to hearing from you soon

Yours Faithfully

.............

My 1st club run

So screw it, I did it. I've been putting this moment off for so long, simple because I enjoy my lazy Sunday mornings but today I finally got around to riding with a club.

I had a choice of 2, Thames Velo and the rather less fetchingly named Fanborough and Camberley cycling club. From my house it's about the same distance to the clubs ride out points so I thought I'd give the latter a try as I knew the meeting point.

Scheduled meet was 9am @ Speedys on the West Heath Roundabout, could just about manage that on a Sunday morning, I left the house about 8:20am which got me there with 10 mins to spare. (9.9 miles).

I've been wanting to ride out with a club for a while as it's a good way to rack up the miles without having to pay a hefty fee to enter a sportive. Like minded people, good roads, great bikes, can't fault the idea really and as it happens that's just how it turned out. Only 5 of us riding today, all good confident road riders with a nice selection of bling bikes. Now this I could do.

Only now I've uploaded my data to Strava do I actually know where I've been, I recognised certain areas but others were completly unknown to me. Rode at a good pace keeping the ave speed around the 17mph mark, which was great considering the headwind we seemed to be riding into. Got a round of applause at one point as we followed the route of the Phyllis Tuckwell charity ride through Farnham, ok so the applause wasn't meant for me but you take what you can get....One of our riders did try to explain that we were just training on the route but that just made it akward, applause it was.

I really enjoyed getting to ride a route other than my commute, especially on board my new bike. Ok so it rained but thankfully only a shower and most of the ride was complete by that point. I also had a small 'off', nothing damaged other than pride (and a slightly scuffed left brake leaver), very slow off whilst trying to navigate a ridiculously sharp turn when riding up a steep footpath that seemed to continously go back on itself like a zigzag. I seem to forget how to unclip in that situation, I know it's happening and I know what I have to do, I just don't do it and end up lying on the floor like a pleb.

Lost one rider to a mechanical at about 20 miles in but other than that it was a good morning's ride. I had worried how my legs would react as I commute 25 miles daily but they were fine, total ride distance was 62 miles, I guess this next commuting week may turn out to be more difficult.

When seeing groups of cyclist's riding together they always look so fast, I had imagined I'd struggle with the pace in parts but this fear was unfounded and I actually happened to be one of the faster climbers, I was quite shocked at how easy it seemed to distance guys on climbs without really trying and at no point did I feel I was pushing myself, plenty left in the tank.

Anyway, enough of blowing my own trumpet, I'm off to watch the Peter Sagan take stage two of the Tour...

2012 Target update...

 With 2 months out from the blogging arena, I simply can't get enough, I'm sat here wondering what I should write then I remembered I set myself some goals for 2012, let's see how close I've come to achieving them.

 Ok so my first goal was to continue commuting on my bike which I am doing and I've added a new bike to my stable so my commuting is getting faster and I'm consistently hitting PB's on my Strava segments (fear not, I won't sue).

 My second goal was to ride a 100 mile sportive. Now this I haven't actually done but I will, It's just about the timing and my unwillingness to drive any real distance to a start line. I also have a issue with paying too much for the privilage. I spent £23 to ride the 84 miles of the Meon Valley Riser and was provided with breakfast/feed stations and lunch which was a bargain. Action Medical Research are running the Guildford 100 in September which sounds perfect as its 100 miles and Guildford is round the corner, I'd even consider cycling there its £28 entry fee and a min sponsorship is £30 so a resonable price.

 The route includes the Box Hill zig zag climb of the Olympic route, barely a gradient but a beautiful spot. There are many better climbs covering the Surrey Hills and the South Downs which will hopefully be included.

 The other alternative to Sportive fee's is joining a Cycling Club. I've been thinking about this for a while and it is something I really want to do. It's a small yearly fee and the club run's are weekly and cover a good distance, I may even get discounted prices for entering events! I just need to get up earlier enough on a Sunday morning to ride to a local meeting point to join the ride, thats the difficult part...

 God damn, I need to step my goals up...

Evans Six week check up

If I'm honest I've never been a big fan of Evans. They sell decent enough products but the staff in the stores are beyond shit. This is just my expereience, I've only had the pleasure of using the Kingston, Guildford and Woking stores. I don't use Evans by choice, its out of necessity due to my companies cycle to work scheme being exclusively Evans.

  I remeber vividly my first trip to the Kingston store when looking to buy my first Cyclocross bike, the idiot I happened to be lumbered with was only interested in selling me a mountain bike at the very roof of my price range because 'that's what I'd buy mate',twat. He was unable to answer any of the questions I asked, least of all the bike related one's. The moment that really stood out was him commenting on my new road shoes that I just happened to be trying on in his store, 'they're nice mate, where did you get those from?', oddly this was a genuine question.

 Anyway, it is what it is, I use them because I have to. So I bought my new bike early May deciding it would be easier to have the bike delivered to my home address from the Evans warehouse. The last time I bought a bike from the store they just pulled it off the shope floor and handed it to me, which I guess you may not have a problem with but any bike on the shop floor can be test ridden by anyone, if I'm spending 1k on a bike I want to be the first one riding it thanks very much!

 Around comes the time for the 6 week check up, I get an email telling me so. I realise gear/brake cables stretch and require adjustment within the first month or so to keep the bike running smoothly. Nice touch Evans. Perhaps I'm expecting too much. This bike has an RRP of £1049 and so for me is the most I'll ever spend on a push bike and I want it treated like a virgin on prom night, this girl is special. I'm clearly the only one with this mindset, at least that's how I'm made to feel. Nothing like the personal touch, right?

 I realise it's not a big job, a little cable tensioning and prehaps a little gear adjustment, job done. Would a little clean really kill them? A little passion for the trade? A little care for your pride and joy? Wouldn't hurt would it.....My bike came back dirtier than it went, if you're gonna touch it with greasy hands at least then have the decency to clean it. I'm not asking for the world, a once over with a baby wipe would do, it's the little touches that make you think they care. 24 hours they had the bike and they literally did the very minimum. Ok it's free but show me that you care?!?!

Like I said, prehaps I'm expecting too much....

A new arrival

What a difference a new bike makes. In my case about 2kilograms. Wow.

Took me an age to decide which bike I wanted to spend my hard earned on and even longer to convince the wife a second bike was exactly what I needed. 'what if the frame cracks', 'what if the chain snaps', these and many others were used in my reasoning. Truth is, I just wanted a new and faster bike. I was fairly keen on keeping below the £1000 Ride2Work Voucher limit as I simply couldn't justify spending any more, it is only a bike after all, at the same time I wanted the best bike I could buy for the money as this will be my last for quite some time.

I spent a fair few months scouting the Evans (My company's voucher scheme is with Evans) website for something that would suit my needs. I already have a Cyclocross bike which is fairly heavy and built to take on anything, this time I wanted a full on road bike, something fast which would only come out in fair weather. For quite some time the bikes availble to me just didn't shout at me, nothing really caught my eye and nothing I was willing to spend 1k on.

Then Evans decided to have a 10% sale on all 2012 bikes, so my search got serious. I read many reviews in many magazine's and cutting a very long story short, I settled on this. Ok so it's £49 more than I wanted to spend but with 10% off, it bought the bike down to £944 (Bargain). There is just no point trying to buy full carbon at this price point as the Aluminium bikes are as light with better components.

Here is the Cannondale link on the bike http://www.cannondale.com/gbr/2012/bikes/road/elite-road/caad8/2012-caad8-5-105-20287 and I genuinely believe I have one of the best and most eye catching bikes available. Well I'm gonna say that aren't I......

I'm now lucky enough to have a winter bike and a summer bike, bring on the sunshine :)