Are all online bike shops bad?

[plstrns]

I've dealt with a lot of them, and I think I'm now down to 3 that I care to order from anymore.

Every business is going to have an issue from time to time, but JHC it seems like every other order with bike parts. Too much beer/ weed, or laziness

Local bike shops are a joke, so I don't shop there.

[GhostRing]

Pretty vague there chief...
So my answer is, "maybe"

[sauprankul]

In my experience, not Jenson. When they sent me the wrong seatpost, I only had a 5 min call with a rep. I told them my order # and he immediately apologized and said that a more valuable seatpost would ship that day. I ended up with two great seatposts, and got to keep the better one! The rest of my stuff shipped promptly and safely. Their prices are pretty good, too. Especially clearance of old models.

[plstrns]

Jenson is in my top 2 best.

[plstrns]

Pretty vague there chief...
So my answer is, "maybe"

My sarcasim meter is on backorder with some online bike shop that listed it as "in stock" only to email me 3 f'ing days after the order was placed to tell me they're f'ing out.

That's the bs I'm refering to.

[Patrick1677]

Ok i can really help out here. I order online all the time from a store in the uk called wiggle...fast and reliable and quite cheap

[evasive]

Sounds like Bike Bling, if I were going to guess. They don't have live inventory on their website. But if you pick up the phone and call them, you can get pretty good customer service from people who ride bikes.

I've had pretty good luck with Universal, Jenson, PricePoint, Chain Reaction and Wiggle, plus the Backcountry family of stores. I've also ordered from a few brick-and-mortar shops like Red Barn and Drop N Zone and had good experiences. Plenty of good places to buy from online or over the phone.

[plstrns]

Chain reaction has always been great. They ship from GB to me faster than stateside shops 9/10 times.

[Stumpy_Steve]

love treefortbikes.com

[Tone's]

Chain Reaction is a great online shop, ive put thousands through there and have 100% faith in their system, prices, customer service on the phone, so much so that i wouldnt dream of using another online shop, ive just put a christmas order through today and got 10% off and free shipping to Aus as always..

[random walk]

Treefort, Jenson, Pricepoint, Chain Reaction have all done well by me.

I had a long shipping delay once from CR, but that was at the time terrorists were trying to send bombs in printer cartridges or some such nonsense. I suspect a lot of internationally shipped goods got held up in inspections during that time. I e-mailed CR and they were very prompt and polite, even though the item had already been put in the post.

[Dion]

Universal has never given me an issue. Tree Fort is slow on shipping. And, BikeIsland is not a bad place to get cheap, unbranded frames and frame sets. Their frame sets... you basically get the frame for free.

TBH, I order a lot of stuff from FeeBay. There are some good ones on there, like Wheel and Sprocket and Abaxo (for very cheap stuff).

[irishpitbull]

Sounds like Bike Bling, if I were going to guess. They don't have live inventory on their website. But if you pick up the phone and call them, you can get pretty good customer service from people who ride bikes.

+2

If it is bikebling prepare to wait a bit longer for things. They usually have great prices and they answer the phone, but getting the goods is pretty slow.

When I order from them, I always call it in as it seems to speed the process up and sometimes they don't have the stock. They did give me great deal on 13 Talas fork when the 12's that were on sale sold out.

Backcountry (Competitive Cyclist) is my fav. The return policy will keep me customer until it disappears.

[patrick2cents]

I agree with a lot of the above, tree fort, universal, jensons and pricepoint have all done me well over the years.

[big terry]

RIP huck n roll

[Le Pirate]

I buy from PricePoint all the time. Never had an issue.

I'll have to try Jenson. I've never heard a bad thing about them...


(and incase it comes up, as it always does...I don't support my LBS, because there is no LBS....I have to drive 70 miles for the closest shop)

[sauprankul]

Last couple times I went to an LBS, I had terrible service. As in, I had to wait for them to stop chit chatting with their regulars. Moved recently though, so I have yet to give the new LBS a shot. But I have a Bikes direct bike and IDK if they'll appreciate that hehe.

[stencil]

Last couple times I went to an LBS, I had terrible service. As in, I had to wait for them to stop chit chatting with their regulars. Moved recently though, so I have yet to give the new LBS a shot. But I have a Bikes direct bike and IDK if they'll appreciate that hehe.

I just went through the same thing, and I even wrote about it: This is the Modem World: Fear and loathing in the local bike shop

It's unfortunate, really. Would love to have established a good start with the LBS, but their people didn't seem interested.

[sbonvallet]

x3 on Bike Bling. 2 years ago I bought Easton Haven Carbon wheels which they said were available, to include the sales person on the phone after having read the negative reviews. Turned out 2 days later they e-mail me saying they are on back order. I didn't get the wheels for 8 weeks. Decided to try them again as they had a sale for Black Friday on Sidi shoes 25% off. Website said the Drako's were available in my size. Find out by calling them today, that they are on back order and they have no idea as to their availability! 2 years ago, called the owner about the wheel problem. He told me they were no longer accepting orders if not in stock. Looks like he did not tell the truth or they have a different owner. I am now done with Bike Bling. Historically I have had great success with Competitive Cyclist, Jenson, and Excel sports. They don't have as many sales but they send things right away and are great with returns.

[evasive]

To clarify, I didn't say I'm done with Bike Bling. On the contrary, they have a pretty good selection and some great prices. I've just learned that it's worth the phone call. I don't mind doing that; about a third of the time I order from Backcountry it's over the phone after I've called them with a question, and if I order something from Red Barn, it's also via the phone. My understanding is that Bike Bling is a real retail store so updating their website with live inventory probably hasn't been a priory for them. If it means I have to pick up the phone to score some of the deals I have, I'm cool with it.

[Axe]

I usually shop at Universal, Chainreactioncycles, Treefort and aebike. Never a problem. I do avoid Jenson and Pricepoint for the reason of CA state tax (eff you Sacramento). Chainreaction ships from UK faster and cheaper than many shops, BTW. Boggles my mind how you can get a part from UK twice as fast and much cheaper than ordering it in some local store - who never have anything I need in stock.

[poolnikov]

I usually shop at ChainReactionCycles and Probikeshop, both are very good for me.

[TiGeo]

For online I like:

Pricepoint
Jenson
Performance

Had great experience (and easy returns) with all of them.

[Thatshowiroll]

I just went through the same thing, and I even wrote about it: This is the Modem World: Fear and loathing in the local bike shop

It's unfortunate, really. Would love to have established a good start with the LBS, but their people didn't seem interested.

Great article, good job. My thoughts word-for-word.

[TiGeo]

I just went through the same thing, and I even wrote about it: This is the Modem World: Fear and loathing in the local bike shop

It's unfortunate, really. Would love to have established a good start with the LBS, but their people didn't seem interested.

Great article. Very true and this is the reason that many shops are going out of business...its not the pricing, its the $hit-house service. I also think that the mystical "building a relationship to get deals" thing is WAY overstated...this typically only happens for folks buying v. high end bikes and that come back repeatedly for service/accessories. For the average-Joe consumer, you buy a bike at full price, and go back a few times for odds and ends and pay full price. Customer service is so easy...just don't be a d-bag and treat people how THEY want to be treated.