Friday, September 5, 2008

Thursday Night Ride Report

Nicoll, Andy and Myself were the only ones to show up this evening....buckle up and hang on. We did the Marion Center loop, one of marks favorites and probably the flattest 40 mi. ride you can do around here and believe me its not very flat.
We rode real steady and of course there was no chatter just rhythm. We actually didn't say much until we got to the last climb before Marion Center then the chatter started for about 2 miles or so and off again. Andy and I hung with mark until part way up the climb to the Lacerations Farm, I said "hey....this wreaks of effort , sat up and Mark just kept riding". I was still tired from the weekend and all Wednesday nights ride did was clear out the old lactic acid to replace it with new. So Andy and I just kept a steady pace back to Indiana and still had a respectable average at the bottom of the climb on Fulton Run. No heart issues this evening and a good hard ride....

I am "NOT IMPRESSED"........

So I have been riding a Giant TCR Advanced this year and I am very impressed....What does not impress me is the wheel set I got with it. It came with the MAVIC KSYRIUM ELITE...Now I have been riding KSYRIUM SSC SL's for years with no problem but these particular wheels really stink. They feel sloppy in the corners and wont stay true.

So I send them back, paying the freight the FIRST time and 3 weeks later I get them back not only is the rear wheel not true but one ride later it is really messed up. So I call and MAVIC and explain the situation to them and they're response is that they probably didn't not replace all the spokes and something else about something inside coming undone. So they offer up an RA# and say to send it back, to which I reply "why don't you just send me a call tag ", and they did. SO about a week later it shows up and the wheel is off again.

The wheel finally shows up at my door earlier this week, I put it on Wednesday before the ride and after the ride it is out of true again. I called MAVIC again on Thursday and we go through the same spiel again. I finally get them to agree,begrudgedly , to send me another call tag.Now as the day progress this did not sit well with me so I call back and ask to speak to somebody in warranty.I tell him the story and he asks me a few questions IE maybe this wheel is not strong enough for you...so you are saying I am fat...eh fella. I go on to explain to him that I'm not an elite racer but I'm no lard but either. We go back and forth a couple of times and he finally asks me what I want him to do. I tell him that all I want is to ride my bike and not have the wheel go out of true. He then says that he cant do anything without seeing the wheel.So why did we bother even discussing this anyway.Customer service is definitely not his forte......and fortunately this is my own personal wheel and not that of a customer.

The bright side to all of this is that I have been riding a set of Rolf Wheels, that by the way are a less expensive wheel than the MAVIC and what do you know they are defiantly more stable and much stiffer than the Elites and I am pretty sure the same would go for the SSC SL's. and after about a month of riding them they are still true....go figure.

What industry are you in........

So I call to order a couple of Cross bikes the other day as well as a Sport fitness bike for a customer. Now Cross season is just around the corner and good weather is upon us and guess what. nether style bike is available. The sport fitness is not available for about 3 weeks and the Cross bike not for at least another 4. How am I suppose to run a successful business when my suppliers cant supply me with product, and who's idea was it to release the new model year right at the tail end of the selling season. Close out the new and have no supply of the new......makes allot of sense huh. Oh and by the way there will be about a 16% increase in new bike prices across the board this year........OUCH!