Cycling UK Forum

wearwell wrote:

Samuel D wrote:S.... What are you hoping to achieve with the repetition? We noted your message the first time.

Just a reminder!
Do we run threads in support of other bike shops? If not why not?
I got some excellent brake blocks from Wiggle, by the next post! Marvellous! Over the moon! Miraculous! I'm sooo excited!!

Start the "I got good service from..." thread, perhaps.

wearwell wrote:

Samuel D wrote:S.... What are you hoping to achieve with the repetition? We noted your message the first time.

Just a reminder!
Do we run threads in support of other bike shops? If not why not?
I got some excellent brake blocks from Wiggle, by the next post! Marvellous! Over the moon! Miraculous! I'm sooo excited!!

This is the Cyclists' Touring Club forum and Spa are one of a very few touring bike specialists, so it's hardly surprising they're high profile here. Brake blocks, I can walk round the corner and buy those.
I'm not impressed by the ordered X and got it before I put the phone down stories, that isn't service it's logistics, any business that can't get that right is unlikely to last long and I can't think of a time when waiting a few days for something was critical. I've had variable service from them, a few things have had to go back, they're not the first place I look but they are quite frequently the only place that have what I'm looking for. Either way, good or bad, I may tell it once, I certainly wouldn't keep repeating it, what's the point?

wearwell wrote:

Samuel D wrote:S.... What are you hoping to achieve with the repetition? We noted your message the first time.

Just a reminder!
Do we run threads in support of other bike shops? If not why not?
I got some excellent brake blocks from Wiggle, by the next post! Marvellous! Over the moon! Miraculous! I'm sooo excited!!

"We" run the threads that people start and others post on. There's nothing sinister. If you have anything to say about another bike shop, this is unlikely to be the relevant thread. One of the reasons for this thread starting was the Jekyll and Hyde thing. People who had only experienced one were bewildered/ incredulous about tales of the other.

wearwell wrote:

Samuel D wrote:S.... What are you hoping to achieve with the repetition? We noted your message the first time.

Just a reminder!
Do we run threads in support of other bike shops? If not why not?
I got some excellent brake blocks from Wiggle, by the next post! Marvellous! Over the moon! Miraculous! I'm sooo excited!!

It's hardly in support of Spa. If you read through the thread, it's a mix of good and bad. As others have said, the forum here has lots of discussion about touring and utility cycling, so it's no surprise that Spa has plenty of posts.

If anything, this thread is so long mainly because there has been discussion about some poor experiences. The SJS thread, on the other hand, only has 5 posts, all positive.

On the bad side, my second Spa Audax frame has the same problem as the first: the seatpost slides down. I noticed this with the brand new frame before any corrosion could affect things, so this time I know it to be the case. The seat tube was reamed too large by about 0.1 mm as far as I can tell without specialised tools. Maybe Spa needs to replace their reamer or something.

Back to the second clamp for me (that solves this problem at the expense of looking ugly).

Samuel D wrote:On the bad side, my second Spa Audax frame has the same problem as the first: the seatpost slides down. I noticed this with the brand new frame before any corrosion could affect things, so this time I know it to be the case. The seat tube was reamed too large by about 0.1 mm as far as I can tell without specialised tools. Maybe Spa needs to replace their reamer or something.

Given that you've had the problem with two frames, and given this recent thread reporting something similar with a Spa Aubisque frame, I wonder just how common this is. I assumed that the frames were reamed by the manufacturer (in Taiwan?).

Maybe they are reamed in Taiwan, I don’t know. The frame manufacturer is sloppy in another way: the tubes are not perfectly rotated before welding. So, for example, the drilled holes in the bottom bracket shell are not centred on the ends of the down tube and seat tube. Both my frames were like that. More importantly, the bottle cage mounts are off to one side on both down tube and seat tube on both frames (on the first frame, the seat tube one was so far off that a bottle would have looked silly on it, though that didn’t matter to me because I don’t use a second bottle cage).

But all of my welds are beautifully done, the paint is great on both frames, and of course the tubes are high quality. It’s a good-value frame at the asking price, but it’s not a perfect object. More care would be needed for that, and maybe more care would cost money.

I was recently surprised to find that Spa are selling their TD2 cranks as single ds and non ds parts. I needed a new ds side as I'd put a big 'orrible scratch on mine.
Good work fellas!

Good to know but why would a scratch be of concern vantage?

Battle scars surely?

(or maybe I''m trying to rationalise the appalling ding and very long scratch I put on my Ridgeback expedition)

I wanted to get the crank off to give it a good thorough clean and as I gave the 8mm allen key a bit of brute force to undo the crank bolt, it slipped and put a big deep score in the arm. Soooooo, I set about using some wet'n'dry and wire wool to polish it out. I'd forgotten that the cranks had a clear laquer over them to keep them shiny. A big horrible mess followed and as I'm a complete tart about my bike looking good, a new crank was ordered to keep it looking good.

Vantage wrote: and as I'm a complete tart about my bike looking good,

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Samuel D wrote:S.... What are you hoping to achieve with the repetition? We noted your message the first time.

I forgot to say - the reason I'm still going on about it is because I am still ****** off about it!
Specialist shop failed miserably with their specialist flagship product, not just a few brake blocks. They were obviously pleased to not have to do anything because of the passage of time.
They dealt with the wheels out of true promptly but by the time the sand in the frame had showed and the SRAM Apex gear lever had failed too much time (for them) had elapsed.
Just don't give them the benefit of the doubt, as I did at the beginning.
I've had a few new bikes from ordinary LBSs over the years: Elswick Lincoln Imp (long time ago!), Raleigh Royal, Raleigh Randonneur Dawes Galaxy. All perfect - then Spa Titanium Audax fiasco.

I urgently needed bits for my Tubus pannier rack - not stocked anywhere else. When I rang Spa they said buy them on line, don’t bother with the £5 next day delivery, because they’d make sure they were dispatched ASAP under normal delivery to reach me next day. They did! Excellent customer services.

On the whole I've had good service from Spa Cycles. The odd occassion I have felt like the invisible man and had to laser lock eye contact to get anywhere. I remember the old shop that was quirky and in a pleasant location. The new location has more of a "Get Carter" feel about it, so maybe it''s as subliminal as that.

Anyway it's an 8/10 for me which is good.

After my recent XD2 questions (thanks for your patience folks) ordered some chainrings and bits Wednesday evening.

Got a mail Thursday to say that they had been sent though in rather typical Spa fashion didn't say by what service.

I was expecting some sort of 2 or 3 day post office thing but they were sent on some 24hr PO service so, expertly packed, they were able to drop through my letterbox today.

All post free as I hit the £50.

And it was nice to see that apart from the now standard grey plastic outer, they had been packed not in more plastic but in bits of cardboard salvaged from their own deliveries with judicious use of bits of tape.

Excellent service.

And the chainrings look like simple things of beauty.