CHAPTER ONEYou might recall the excitement from April 19th when I took Mo to The Bike Rack. I asked for a basic tune-up to get him rolling and safe to see if I enjoyed biking in the District. I've had Mo since 1994 (I think) but other than the first two years, I really haven't ridden him. He has low miles, but was kept outside on the covered balcony & porch for about a year, which is quite damaging to a bike. A really nice dude, I think his name was Chris or Casey, helped me out that day. He collaborated with two other employees to look over my bike. They came up with a recommendation to do a tune-up, replace the shifter & brake cables, and to replace my chain. They said the cables were corroded and absolutely unsafe. The quote was a reasonable $165. considering I paid over $400. for the bike fourteen years ago. They added up the cost on a piece of scrap paper and I signed the official work order with a written estimate of $165. I went on my way, and was anxiously awaiting the Thursday delivery date.
Here's where it gets interesting. I get a call from Dave, on Wednesday, who tells me the person who wrote my estimate didn't itemize it and it was incorrect. He said all the parts and labor added up to $221. + tax. I was originally told much of the labor (ie: installing chain, cables, etc.) was included since I was getting a full tune up; not true. I asked if they could discount it to compensate for the misquote. He said absolutely not. Knowing this was a relatively new business with owners that were very involved, I asked to speak with one of them. I was told that he was the "Manager" and that I needed to speak with him. I asked Dave to itemize the costs so I could rethink the situation. He gladly did, but it only added up to $183.80. Something dirty was going on. Originally $165, then $221, and when I added it up, $183.80. I was pissed and demanded to speak to the owner. Dave reluctantly and rudely gave me over to Wayne.
Wayne agreed that the new itemization was $183.80. He apologized for the original misquote and for the discrepancy in my verbal re-quote from Dave. Wayne wasn't willing to give a discount for my inconvenience or their errors, but since it was now only $19 more, I said to go ahead! I can accept a simple mistake and was anxious to hit the trails with Rita Jean and Sister Disco. Wayne was a really nice guy on the phone and I trusted him. This was a sharp contrast to Disdainful Dave.
It's not over yet! I get a call about an hour later and was told my front shifter was broken. I knew it didn't work properly, but thought it was just stuck or misadjusted. In the very few times I've ridden in the last several years, I didn't use the seven "easy" or seven "hard" gears anyway. The middle seven provide a wide enough range for a casual rider (Who really needs 21 speeds?) Wayne says this is now going to cost me another $51 for the single front shifter. It had to be done if they were replacing all the cables. We were then up to $235 plus tax, and they hadn't even checked the bearings or other parts of the bike yet.
Wayne didn't recommend making the repairs. He'd be happy to sell me a more efficient and modern bike in the $400-$500 range. He also suggested some charities where I could donate the old one; even offered to arrange for them to get it from his shop if I paid a $10 shipping fee. Interesting. He said there wouldn't be any repair charge since they didn't do any work and had misquoted upfront. That night I felt sick to my stomach when I went to pick up Mo and bring him home to die...I thought perhaps I could dig out my tools and get a few good rides out of him before I replaced him with a new model. When I arrived, his chain was missing. While it was a bit rusty, it did work, and it was my chain. They gave me another one to replace it. It was an odd situation, but I took the slightly used secondhand chain and left. (I tried to look at new bikes, but Wayne left me several times to help other more important? customers.)
CHAPTER TWOI ran through Adam's Morgan last Saturday in preparation for the marathon. I passed City Bikes and couldn't stop thinking about Mo. While their tune-up price was higher, they recieved better reviews on Yelp and their website proudly displays many consumer awards. I came to the realization that I'd never take the time to tinker with him myself and I at least owed him a "second opinion."
I worked from home on Thursday and Timmy came by to get the car around noon. I decided to take a lunch trip and asked him to drop me off at City Bikes. It was busy for a Thursday, but the fact they had a lot of customers felt like a good thing. I patiently waited in line and was helped by Mark. I explained my basic desire to get the bike rolling and safe, and explained what I was told to have done by "another" shop.
Mark looked over Mo, suggested the cables were probably safe as they just had minor surface corrosion and weren't sticking or worn down. He thought the cassette should be replaced, but said everything else looked like it just needed tuned up. Mark gave me an estimate of $139.58. If I was a more serious rider, he would suggest replacing both shifters and integrated brake levers for only $70, but offered to adjust the broken one so I'd have use of 14 gears associated with the two usable chainrings (only 1 gear setting missing.) He recommended seeing how much I ride the bike and replacing that later if I took up more ambitious riding. Mark also assured me that the quality of my frame alone made it worthwhile to invest in the bike repairs.
I couldn't believe it - There was hope! Mark very clearly set expectations that some cable might need replacement or that there could be costly bearing problems or other hidden issues. He said they'd call if they found that to be the case, but if I didn't hear from them, I could pick it up on Saturday. With great skepticism, I signed the computer generated work order detailing every individual thing they would do, left Mo in their care, and went back to work. I agreed to pick him up this week since I would be out of town for the weekend.
I worked from home again today and drove up there for my lunch break. Mo was fully recovered! It cost exactly $139.58. I'm absolutely thrilled beyond belief and can't wait for the rain to stop so I can have evening summer rides on the fabulous trails around this fine city! I used $25 of the money I saved to buy a basic bike computer to track my mileage. The sales dude wasn't judgmental that I just wanted a really basic item and happily showed me the features to compare and answered my questions.
YOU DECIDE
The next time you need new gear or bike repair, you will have to decide whether to choose The Bike Rack in Logan Circle or City Bikes in Adams Morgan. While I usually support GLBT businesses, I usually do this because they differentiate themselves from the competition with their superior products and services. Unfortunately it was not the case this time. Mo absolutely has a new straight primary care provider in Adams Morgan!
