MYSTERY SHOPPER
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Transition Cycles
STOCKISTS AND advocates of Cube and Specialized, among other brands, Transition is one of those stores where you immediately know that you’re in the presence of riders. Quickly seeing to customers, which for a slightly out of town store wasn’t lacking, Mystery Shopper was quickly greeted. From the start the sales pitch was very much about
brands, with emphasis placed on the reputations of both the aforementioned labels, as well as on Transition’s own customer service reputation. Incentives for buying here were provided in the form of concise and value for money service plans, as well as the promise to make sure the bike was fitted correctly for my dimensions. A Cube slightly above my budget was removed from
a difficult to reach rack in order for it to be properly demonstrated and the assistant’s enthusiasm and personal Cube ownership shone through in his depth of knowledge as a result. Near faultless sales pitch, though could have asked for deposit to cement my custom.
Cycle King
ARRIVING DURING a delivery, staff were flying in and out the front door shifting boxes. Luckily for customers, the boss had a sharp eye on potential punters and instructed a staffer to take a moment to serve those on the shop floor.
Though limited as to what could be offered for my “up to a grand” budget, the assistant was able to contrast and compare the Ferrari ‘Colnago’ line and a new European import label seemingly an exclusive of Cycle King. Comparing and contrasting the two, my helper was
strong on his spiel about build quality, understanding that Colnago’s Italian-made frames were renowned in design and finish, as well as pointing out carbon seatstays on the hardtail and explaining how this benefited the ride in jargon free language. Perhaps the only let down was to leave feeling like I’d done the sale part, speculating about when I would return to buy, without any suggestion of deposit. Otherwise, I can’t fault the knowledge and advice given here on the day.
BIKEBIZ.COM
Pedals Cycles
A SPECIALIST of family cycling with a penchant for collecting retro and antique bicycles, Pedals is as interesting as a museum as it is a bike shop. It’s on the scruffier side, with a workshop invading the shop floor slightly, but as such there’s presumably always somebody at the door ready to serve, as was the case on my visit. Two staff were on hand, with one of the pair explaining that with my brief he could order in a bike of my choice inside seven days, if I knew what I wanted. I quoted a few brands off the top of my head with a mountain bike inside my price bracket, though the first of these was ‘unobtainable’. As the conversation progressed, the assistant
suggested that stock of a number of mountain bikes was soon to be available and I’d best pop back in a week’s time for a look. I’d hazard a guess that most would not return, however, the assistant was strong in his emphasis that his workshop would see a thorough safety check on every build, something he said would perhaps be lacking elsewhere.
Summary
TESTING THE worth of a non-specialist chain aside from Halfords proved to be worthwhile on this occasion. Though cycles presumably makes up no more than a tenth of the business, Go Outdoors proved to be strong on the customer service front, with staff incredibly pro- active when meeting custom, despite being by far the largest premises we’ve visited on our travels. Whether or not every store is as strong remains to be seen. There’s no taking the shine off the star store,
however, whose main merits on this occasion was an enthusiasm and knowledge born from actually riding and a knack of charming a customer to a brand, or store. Transition was near faultless.
BIKEBIZ AUGUST 27
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