I recently bought a custom built Surly Cross Check from BikePro in Melbourne and my simple response is
DON'T DO IT!!!What a terribly, terribly disappointing experience!
You know, before I placed the order, the guy (I think he may be the owner) replied to my emails in the middle of the night, but towards the end, even before I received the bike, he just started ignoring my emails completely.
So here's the last email I received from him on the 5th of January.
Note that he originally promised to send the bike before Christmas."BikePro email" wrote:Hi,
2 of my mechanic have annual leave, I have to build the bike for you. It come up nicely.
I shall able to pack and send by tomorrow
Regards
Andy
PS The Schwalbe tyre don't like the Mavic rims. ( the tyre is to big ) I put a pair of Conti CityContact 700 x 32C on it
And my response
"justD email" wrote:Conti CityContract? For touring????
Damn it Andy, I’m so tired of your steamrolling ahead with whatever you want to do without considering what I want.
You know, in reply to my last email you said that you won’t rush a job and that you’ve had so many really expensive interstate customers and whatever, whatever – giving the impression that I had no reason to bitch, but let me highlight my experience to you thus far:
1. I told you that I don’t know much about bikes and asked that you suggest a good gear ratio for a HEAVY GUY for touring. Fortunately I asked guys on the internet what to go with and they all said to have as easy/light a gear as possible and everyone suggested 11 x 34 for a granny gear. I got the right setup in the end, but no thanks to your suggestion.
2. I asked for mudguards and a rack suited for touring. Can I expect to find these on the bike when it arrives? I later realised that you had never mentioned anything about these, but decided to leave it as I just want to get the bike now.
3. I asked for the touring bars from the outset, but your first 2 quotes just went with whatever you wanted to put on there. I shouldn’t have to double check everything that I have already asked for, same as the mudguards and rack.
4. I asked for the black frame and for you to let me know if you can’t get it in a reasonable time. When I phoned to give you my credit card details I asked you to confirm that we’re getting the black and only then did you mention that you’ve gone ahead with the brown. I agreed to the brown eventually, but just another example of you steamrolling ahead without worrying about what I’ve asked for.
5. I asked you to let me know if you’re not going to be able to send the bike before Christmas and gave you an opportunity to give me a later date. Instead you said that you should be able to make it. I explained very clearly that I just want to keep my expectations in check (ie. I didn’t want to sit here waiting for the bike if you hadn’t even sent it yet), but Christmas came and went and I think I’d still be waiting now if I hadn’t asked you again!! You couldn’t just send a short email on the 24th to say “Hey Dirk, I said I’d sent the bike today, but...”? It’s now 2 weeks since Christmas.
6. I asked for the Velocity Dyad wheelset and you suggested your custom build wheels with the Marathon Plus tyres on because “It will ensure you have trouble free wheels during your trip”.
I think the only problem though is that you’re trying to put the 700x32c on. My current bike has “Alloy double wall 700c x 36H” rims and I’m running the 700x28 Marathon Plus on there because the Marathon Plus are known to be “big” tyres because of the extra protection.
About your comment about your “really expensive interstate customers”. I think this is the main problem. My bike is NOT expensive enough for you to treat me like an important customer.
You know what, don’t worry about it. Just send me the bike today and I’ll get my own tyres from Wiggle.
Regards,
Dirk
To this day I haven't had any feedback from BikePro about that email. In fact, the only reason I finally got the bike is because I kept phoning them and accidentally learnt from one of the other guys in the shop that the bike's standing there in a box waiting to be sent.
Fortunately I love the bike. No thanks to BikePro for that as I ended up specifying everything myself and the only thing I have a complaint about is the tyres, which is a result of BikePro's wheelset which they put on.
So, you decide for yourself, but my experience is that BikePro will treat you well until they have your money and thereafter you fall to the bottom of the priority queue.
