R&A Cycles

Reviews 3

A

A Private User

As many triathletes, I am guilty to indulge too much in gears and in particular, bike gears. In the past 4 years, I bought 6 bicycles and more wheels that I can remember. I had bought a lot of this stuff at R&A Cycles until I felt that the relationship was only a one way street. Last year, I decided to buy a Look 595 Ultra equipped with the best stuff I could find. I worked with R&A Cycles for that. I first started to get annoyed when these guys tried to push on me all the most expensive stuff regardless of what I actually needed. “You should really buy these $4,500 Lightweight wheels as your training wheels; the Tour de France guys use them”. Then, I got really annoyed when they priced the whole bike at standard price. In truth, I did not care that much about the money but I found that their attitude was just wrong. I decided to buy the bike on internet and actually saved more than $3,000 in the process. If they had offered the tires I would have been happy and they would have sold a bike. Silly, isn’t it? Given that I am a nice guy (and also because R&A have a large selection of quality products) I went back again this year to get a Z4 Zipp wheel fixed and also to buy some more stuff. Some of it was just for fun such as a new Blackwell fork for my Guru Crono Tri bike and some of it was needed for my upcoming races. R&A told me that it would take some times to fix the wheel and that they would have to order a few things that they did not have on hand. I had no problem with that. I bought my fork and few other things. I paid full price as always and regardless that by now I had spent more than $30,000 in the store. I went home excited to see how the fork would do on the Guru. Then the wait started, 1 week, 2 weeks, 1 month and still nothing. I sent a mail asking what was going on and got the usual “it is not our fault it is the vendor”. I had allowed for plenty of time so I was not worried that my stuff would not be ready on time for the beginning of the racing season. My first race came and still nothing. Then, I got really frustrated and told them to at least ship me what they had already received and that the wheel would have to wait. Their answer in a nutshell was “pay first, will ship latter”. By then, it was too late and I had to go to SBR Multisport in emergency to get what I needed. The bottom line is this. I can understand that unexpected difficulty may occur and I can even understand that it takes 2 months to fix a wheel. What I don’t understand and won’t accept is that R&A Cycles did not make any effort to make things less painful by for example shipping to me the part of the order they had already received. They made me run at the last minute to SBR who actually saved the day. Guys this is not cool. R&A Cycles, not only you have seen my last dollars but you can count on me to advertise your quality of service. Regards,

IA

Ian Fuller

After reading many of the mixed reviews on R&A cycles, I decided to check out the shop first-hand, recognizing that we New Yorkers can often be unduly harsh and sometimes down-right mis-guided. Ive spent the last several months researching beginner level, super tri bikes. Not quite entry-level but nowhere near pro. Ive visited just about every serious bike store in NYC with a triathlon sub-focus from SBR to Toga and Signature. I can honestly say that none swept me off my feet quite like R&A. I almost never write reviews but after a great buying experience today I felt compelled to weigh in particularly after reading some of the harsher opinions on my consultant Felix. From the moment I walked in the store with my own set of preconceived notions about the right bike, Felix Calderon happily greeted me and set me straight. After hearing what I was after and my budgetary parameters, he began with a succinct dissertation on seat tube angles for road vs tt vs tri bikes. For any beginner tri folks thats a huge insight. Thereafter, he indulged me by looking through R&As complete inventory of close outs bikes from a selection of brands of interest Felt, BMC, Cervelo. No, he didnt snicker because I was on the hunt for a deal but rather emphasized the entire time that he was there to find the best bike for me. Felix has a huge, dynamic personality and his love for the sport of cycling is infectious. We walked through all aspects of the right bike for me from frames to components to fit all while keeping a keen eye on my budget and tri needs. Ultimately, I settled on a 2013 Cervelo P3, chosen for its high quality frame/price ratio, which will allow me to upgrade parts as I continue to progress. He spent nearly 3 patient hours with me in the shop pouring over every detail of my body measurements, cycling style, components, etc, The dude even split his sandwich with me! Yes, I ultimately dropped $4k, a sizable sum of paper but only scratching the surface for a serious cyclist. At every point of the sale, I was treated with respect for my cycling goals with guidance from a man steeped in knowledge, experience and passion. Oh, yes, and if you love drooling over feats of human ingenuity in the form of pimped out bikes (road, mtb, cross, etc.) - R&A has a stunning showroom of gorgeous steeds far superior to most around the city. Yeah, Ive posted this very same review on Yelp as well. As a small business owner, I hate to see folks/businesses unduly maligned. Props to Felix and the R&A crew!

JO

Joshua Dart

After buying a bike, I called to set up a fitting with R&A in Brooklyn as it was the only semi-reputable shop that could take me on a Sunday as I work in Manhattan during the week and am not able to step out for a few hours to get a fitting done then. I made it very clear in setting up the fitting that I had to have it done on the weekend. R&A ensured I could indeed be fit on Sunday, which they responded it would be at 10:30AM. I will note that I was given the response, "It should work. If not, Ill give you a call at 9:30AM tomorrow to let you know that it wont." After not receiving the call at 9:30AM (I waited until 9:40AM), I left my apartment to make it to R&A by 10:30AM as I live in Manhattan and had to take the subway 45 minutes to get there. Upon arrival, I was greeted by a terribly rude woman who asked why I was there (not "hello", or "how can I help you?"). After letting her know I had set up a fitting for 10:30AM, she replied, "oh, that is for Monday. I scheduled it for Monday.". I then asked why she hadnt called to tell me, to which she had no response except "I must have miscommunicated". Not only did I ask several times on the phone while scheduling the appointment if Sunday was okay, she had understood that I needed it done on Sunday and therefore she would call me beforehand to let me know if the timing did not work out. Needless to say, I was beyond frustrated and the woman did not apologize or offer anything as a way of making up for her mistake. I then took the 45 minute subway ride back to my apartment and will be having the fit done at a shop closer to me. After reading the terrible reviews, I must say I understand wholeheartedly how incompetent and frustrating the staff is. I highly recommend avoiding the store and will never give business to R&A.