I placed an order for SKS mudguards with the CTC Store. Several days later a large box arrives but guess what... it's a Schwalbe tyre! I let them know about their mistake but they won't send my mudguards until they get their tyre first - recorded delivery, yet.
Wouldn't you think they would send your order straight away? They'll get their tyre back and if they don't they have my credit card on file.
Is it just me? What's up with customer service these days? Now I'm thinking I'll cancel the mudguards, send their tyre back and never use them again. I guess business must be so good that they can afford to lose a few customers through their arrogant behaviour.
I feel better now... moan over.
CTC Store Woes
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simon l6 and a bit
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reohn2
Simon L6 etc
Your reply misses the point( though its a generous offer of help),this person is being blackmailed over a pair of mudguards.
Birdy, send them their tyre back and tell them to stuff it where the sun don't shine, and take your business where it will be appreciated.
Though I've never dealt with Evans cycles (or ever will) the reports I've heard both on here and elsewhere suggest they couldn't organize the proverbial in brewery.
Its simple don't use them.
Your reply misses the point( though its a generous offer of help),this person is being blackmailed over a pair of mudguards.
Birdy, send them their tyre back and tell them to stuff it where the sun don't shine, and take your business where it will be appreciated.
Though I've never dealt with Evans cycles (or ever will) the reports I've heard both on here and elsewhere suggest they couldn't organize the proverbial in brewery.
Its simple don't use them.
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birdy
Simon -
I'm with r2, and from various comments on various threads on this site, I think that a lot of other people are too.
Why not use your local bike shop? I don't know whether they will be dearer than the CTC shop or not (my LBS is just a little cheaper, even with the members discount), but its your local bike shop and, from time to time, you'll need him. If everybody shops elsewhere, the LBSs will have to close.
My take on the switch from Bike-Plus (whom I have satisfactoraly recently dealt with - by post) was driven by money and agenda, rather than the best interests of members.
I'm not, however, happy with the CTC running in competition with our LBSs and the better postal service shops (Spa-Cycles, Bike Plus, SJS et al). The CTC always (as long as I've lived, anyway) had a small retail department, selling badges, jerseys, monogramed bits and bats etc, but the move to being a mainstream supplier is comparatively new.
I hope everything works out for you birdy, you'll be tyred of Evans now, I expect : their name will be mud with you and you'll be on your guard against using them again.
JohnW
I'm with r2, and from various comments on various threads on this site, I think that a lot of other people are too.
Why not use your local bike shop? I don't know whether they will be dearer than the CTC shop or not (my LBS is just a little cheaper, even with the members discount), but its your local bike shop and, from time to time, you'll need him. If everybody shops elsewhere, the LBSs will have to close.
My take on the switch from Bike-Plus (whom I have satisfactoraly recently dealt with - by post) was driven by money and agenda, rather than the best interests of members.
I'm not, however, happy with the CTC running in competition with our LBSs and the better postal service shops (Spa-Cycles, Bike Plus, SJS et al). The CTC always (as long as I've lived, anyway) had a small retail department, selling badges, jerseys, monogramed bits and bats etc, but the move to being a mainstream supplier is comparatively new.
I hope everything works out for you birdy, you'll be tyred of Evans now, I expect : their name will be mud with you and you'll be on your guard against using them again.
JohnW
I was put off them not by any problems with their service (never used them) but by the way that I say some of their sponsored riders behaving in an open race: i.e. there were some people brand new to racing in it and being shouldered into the bushes by a 'team' rider who was yelling abuse probably did little to encourage them to continue racing. Although it was unfortunate for one of the Evan's riders too when I later managed to take his front wheel from under him on a tight bend 
If you are happy for your sponsored riders to behave like this to your potential customers then I'm happy to continue with my LBS.
If you are happy for your sponsored riders to behave like this to your potential customers then I'm happy to continue with my LBS.
I got an excellent pair of SKS mudguards off Spa cycles cheap and no hassle. The only problem is it has some funny little black plastic bits with it that I havent a clue what they are. Everything works fine without them, it just puzzles me.
Dealing by mail order has its problems I had a misunderstanding with Settle cycles. They werent very happy about my questioning that they supplied me an unsuitable piece of kit but happily gave me a full refund on the grounds I didnt like it! Problem is we both lose out on the deal which in a shop would not have even happened.
Dealing by mail order has its problems I had a misunderstanding with Settle cycles. They werent very happy about my questioning that they supplied me an unsuitable piece of kit but happily gave me a full refund on the grounds I didnt like it! Problem is we both lose out on the deal which in a shop would not have even happened.
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reohn2
meic wrote:I got an excellent pair of SKS mudguards off Spa cycles cheap and no hassle. The only problem is it has some funny little black plastic bits with it that I havent a clue what they are. Everything works fine without them, it just puzzles me.
Dealing by mail order has its problems I had a misunderstanding with Settle cycles. They werent very happy about my questioning that they supplied me an unsuitable piece of kit but happily gave me a full refund on the grounds I didnt like it! Problem is we both lose out on the deal which in a shop would not have even happened.
Meic
They could for over the end of the stays providing a none scratch or stick in ya leg end,or if thy're the squarish bits they could be the quick release bits for the front mudguard that clip fit on the eyed end of the stays so if anything gets caught between wheel and guard they unclip and you don't go over the top.
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Paul Smith SRCC
- Posts: 1198
- Joined: 13 Feb 2007, 10:59am
- Location: I live in Surrey, England
- Contact:
This picture may help:
To quote the manufacturer re' the clips at the front, "The quick release Secu-clips are far safer than standard fixings, preventing front wheel lock up in case of a foreign object getting trapped between guard and wheel"
The other little plastic bits are as reohn2 correctly stated, they are simply little caps to cover the sharp stay ends
Paul Smith
www.bikeplus.co.uk
[quote="meic"]I got an excellent pair of SKS mudguards off Spa cycles cheap and no hassle. The only problem is it has some funny little black plastic bits with it that I havent a clue what they are. Everything works fine without them, it just puzzles me.
Dealing by mail order has its problems I had a misunderstanding with Settle cycles. They werent very happy about my questioning that they supplied me an unsuitable piece of kit but happily gave me a full refund on the grounds I didnt like it! Problem is we both lose out on the deal which in a shop would not have even happened.[/quote
To quote the manufacturer re' the clips at the front, "The quick release Secu-clips are far safer than standard fixings, preventing front wheel lock up in case of a foreign object getting trapped between guard and wheel"
The other little plastic bits are as reohn2 correctly stated, they are simply little caps to cover the sharp stay ends
Paul Smith
www.bikeplus.co.uk
[quote="meic"]I got an excellent pair of SKS mudguards off Spa cycles cheap and no hassle. The only problem is it has some funny little black plastic bits with it that I havent a clue what they are. Everything works fine without them, it just puzzles me.
Dealing by mail order has its problems I had a misunderstanding with Settle cycles. They werent very happy about my questioning that they supplied me an unsuitable piece of kit but happily gave me a full refund on the grounds I didnt like it! Problem is we both lose out on the deal which in a shop would not have even happened.[/quote
Paul Smith. 39 Years in the Cycle Trade, I managed the CTC Shop from 2001-4. My personal cycling blog, Bike Fitter at C & N Cycles
Member of the Pedal Club
Member of the Pedal Club
I wish I could send photos but it is too dificult with my equipment.
I already identified the stay end covers(like teats) and the plastic pop out eyelets that bolt the front stays to the mudguard braze ons.
The mystery pieces are 6 black plastic pieces.
They are shaped like a pan with a groove running in the top of its short squat handle. Coming out the bottom of the pan, going up, is a cylinderical pillar with a slight flat towards the handle.
The pan is 10mm diameter and 4mm deep. The total height including the pillar is 10mm. The handle is 5mm long and 3mm wide.
They each have the SKS logo stamped on the base of the pan and a different number on the inside of each one (7, 9, 13,23,24 & 26)
They remind me of the little trim caps you get to put in screwheads to hide them from view.
This is quite a little riddle isnt it. Sorry if it drives you as mad as the last clue on a crossword!
I already identified the stay end covers(like teats) and the plastic pop out eyelets that bolt the front stays to the mudguard braze ons.
The mystery pieces are 6 black plastic pieces.
They are shaped like a pan with a groove running in the top of its short squat handle. Coming out the bottom of the pan, going up, is a cylinderical pillar with a slight flat towards the handle.
The pan is 10mm diameter and 4mm deep. The total height including the pillar is 10mm. The handle is 5mm long and 3mm wide.
They each have the SKS logo stamped on the base of the pan and a different number on the inside of each one (7, 9, 13,23,24 & 26)
They remind me of the little trim caps you get to put in screwheads to hide them from view.
This is quite a little riddle isnt it. Sorry if it drives you as mad as the last clue on a crossword!
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reohn2
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Paul Smith SRCC
- Posts: 1198
- Joined: 13 Feb 2007, 10:59am
- Location: I live in Surrey, England
- Contact:
If you had all the pieces that enabled you to assemble the SKS guards as I show above then they are not needed.
There is a possibilty that the wrong stay to the mudguard bridge fittings have been sent, perhaps packed wrongly at the SKS factory and unoticed by SJS Cycles, an easy things to miss, a retailer would normally assume that all fittings are correct. Some guards have only six attachments, two each side at the back but only one each side at the front. Some also have a slightly different attachment from the stays to the guards, they do indeed have groved plastic discs that allow the stay to slide up and down to effectively adjust the length, quite common that these were also double stays, most common with atb guards that needed extra rigidty.
If this is the case you would more than likely only have six fitting bolts as well.
They may also look slightly different from the above as well as they attach to the discs in a slightly different way that the stays to the bridges do normally (as below), the disc effectively forming part of the bridge
.
This is only one possibilty of course, but the fact that you have six of these pan shaped discs would match up with what I mention above. I found the SKS website of no use either and confess I don't recall the brand of the attachments I mention, they are not common these days so am working from memory!
Paul_Smith
www.bikeplus.co.uk
There is a possibilty that the wrong stay to the mudguard bridge fittings have been sent, perhaps packed wrongly at the SKS factory and unoticed by SJS Cycles, an easy things to miss, a retailer would normally assume that all fittings are correct. Some guards have only six attachments, two each side at the back but only one each side at the front. Some also have a slightly different attachment from the stays to the guards, they do indeed have groved plastic discs that allow the stay to slide up and down to effectively adjust the length, quite common that these were also double stays, most common with atb guards that needed extra rigidty.
If this is the case you would more than likely only have six fitting bolts as well.
They may also look slightly different from the above as well as they attach to the discs in a slightly different way that the stays to the bridges do normally (as below), the disc effectively forming part of the bridge
.
This is only one possibilty of course, but the fact that you have six of these pan shaped discs would match up with what I mention above. I found the SKS website of no use either and confess I don't recall the brand of the attachments I mention, they are not common these days so am working from memory!
Paul_Smith
www.bikeplus.co.uk
meic wrote:I wish I could send photos but it is too dificult with my equipment.
I already identified the stay end covers(like teats) and the plastic pop out eyelets that bolt the front stays to the mudguard braze ons.
The mystery pieces are 6 black plastic pieces.
They are shaped like a pan with a groove running in the top of its short squat handle. Coming out the bottom of the pan, going up, is a cylinderical pillar with a slight flat towards the handle.
The pan is 10mm diameter and 4mm deep. The total height including the pillar is 10mm. The handle is 5mm long and 3mm wide.
They each have the SKS logo stamped on the base of the pan and a different number on the inside of each one (7, 9, 13,23,24 & 26)
They remind me of the little trim caps you get to put in screwheads to hide them from view.
This is quite a little riddle isnt it. Sorry if it drives you as mad as the last clue on a crossword!
Paul Smith. 39 Years in the Cycle Trade, I managed the CTC Shop from 2001-4. My personal cycling blog, Bike Fitter at C & N Cycles
Member of the Pedal Club
Member of the Pedal Club
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thirdcrank
- Posts: 36740
- Joined: 9 Jan 2007, 2:44pm
Once upon a time, before phone ins and reality TV, the entire nation was gripped by watching a panel of experts do this sort of exercise on the telly.
My theory: SKS produce all sorts of stuff - the style of mudguards we are talking about used to be made by somebody else (Esge?) and SKS just incorporated that range in their products when the original manufacturers went belly up. I'll bet they do all sorts of others we never see in the UK.
I'll guess that the fittings are from a kit of six-stay guards with a different type of stay-to-guard fitting and they are caps for the retaining nuts. The handles with grooves would locate them on the stays.
My theory: SKS produce all sorts of stuff - the style of mudguards we are talking about used to be made by somebody else (Esge?) and SKS just incorporated that range in their products when the original manufacturers went belly up. I'll bet they do all sorts of others we never see in the UK.
I'll guess that the fittings are from a kit of six-stay guards with a different type of stay-to-guard fitting and they are caps for the retaining nuts. The handles with grooves would locate them on the stays.