meeting ben

[Climb01742]

it was an absolutely miserable day here in boston today, snow, sleet, ice, rain. waiting for the locust next.

but there was one highlight. ben serotta was in town being a father -- a daughter lives here -- and he kindly, very kindly, took time out to meet with me. we had exchanged e-mails and spoke once on the phone. the topic was how to take an ottrott i wasn't thrilled with and make it one i was. and ben wanted to take the extra step of meeting with a customer face-to-face to get the detailed scoop.

ben is an incredibly nice guy. not an ounce of pretense about him. he seemed very genuine. very knowledgeable, obviously. and sincerely interested in making me 100% happy.

we spoke for about an hour. he asked many questions and really listened. i felt his passion for building bikes. but perhaps equally, building bikes that riders really love. he takes great pride in serottas, perhaps an extra pride in the ottrott.

we have a plan for a new ottrott. which, of course, i'm happy about. but i'm happier about something else. serotta is a company -- and a guy -- who really cares. i feel as though ben will do whatever it takes to make a customer -- me -- happy. what more could a rider want. a perfect product is a hard goal. maybe an impossible one. but a company that strives for that, that is attainable. ben went the extra mile for me today. i really appreciate that. i think he'd go there for all of us.

[shazer]

I had the exact same feelings last year when I met Ben in Phoenix. He spent about 30 minutes talking with me at an open house/demo fleet day. He was genuinely interested in my fit issues/problems and felt that he could get a bike built for me that would actually fit and perform to the riding that I do now without compromises.

I had all but put money down on a Legend Ti, but rode an undersized Ottrott that day and after talking to Ben, I never looked back. Took delivery of my Ottrott ST in May '04 and rode the rest of the year at 6X/week without all the nagging injuries and fit problems that I suffered with for the last ten years. Yeah, I probably didn't need the Ottrott and fit alone may have solved a lot of my problems, but I'm very happy with the outcome. I'm back to riding everyday with my wife in the mornings and that is oh so special when two years ago we were considering giving up this obsession/sport for good. I thank Ben and his staff and Bicycle Ranch for giving cycling back to us. We cherish every mile!

shazer

Sometimes you don't appreciate what you have until it's no longer available to you. It makes the comeback so much sweeter!

[Smiley]

Doc Don , I never knew , you and the Misses should get a tandem and come ride with us at a Santana rally. I ride a Co-Mo the Serotta of Tandems.

Ben is the greatest guy , I have had the pleasure of knowing him as a customer, an employee and a friend. Its no wonder why we are serotta fanatics here.

[SPOKE]

now you know why i have 6 Serotta's in my collection! the entire staff takes great pride in the product and knows that if they do their jobs the customers will continue to place orders.

[shinomaster]

what a great story. I hope he comes back to Portland so I can meet him. Hear that Ben?? Come back and I'll be nice and bake cookies! I'll hide my cannondale.

xxoo shino

[BumbleBeeDave]

. . . After you posted a picture of a monkey with his bare wee-wee hanging out on his forum?!?!

Oh, all right--he is such a great guy I’m sure he will forgive you!

BBDave

[shinomaster]

Dave..if you were a monkey rather than a bee you would have a wee wee too!! And you might throw your poop!

[Tetraptych]

I drive by the factory on the way to visit family from Burlington, VT to PA, and stopped by when I was thinking about buying an NOS '93 Colorado Legend CR. I happened to catch Ben walking past as I came in the door, and he was incredibly nice and personable. We ended up talking about a lot of things bike-related, and he told me a great deal about the tubing they were using at the time, geometry changes since then, etc. He even rooted around in the office for a while to find a '93 catalog, and brought me to the photocopier to copy the geometry and anything else that seemed interesting.

Needless to say, I bought the frame, and when it arrived it was way more beautiful than expected; from the pictures it looked like a simple black to dark blue fade, but when it got here, it turned out to be a metallic black to deep purple fade with little black accents on the fork crown of the purple fork.

Anyway, though there was no money directly at stake for Serotta, Ben took quite a bit of time out of his day just to talk to someone interested in maybe buying an old frame. Great guy, and my next new bike will be another Serotta, as much because of Ben's attitude as anything else.

[BumbleBeeDave]

. . . I don’t USUALLY throw my poop . . . but for you I will make an exception! :eek:

Don’t draft on me!! :p

BTW, didn’t you see that I am the “Immortal Drone?” Drone bees DO have wee-wee’s! In fact, they are the only bees that do!

BBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBDave :rolleyes:

[flydhest]

BBDave,

I thought "immortal drone" was a reference to your conversation skills

:D

[shinomaster]

LOL ha ha ha ha ha...that was so mean Flydhest!! Where have you been buddy?:beer:

[BumbleBeeDave]

. . . doctors were supposed to be KIND to their patients??? :confused:

BBD

[shinomaster]

If you come back to Portland I'll make you a cool
"custom" serotta mug!!! ...as long as you don't sue me for using your logo! What do you think??
Just ask Steel Serotta Sandford....His mug leaks but...I know I can do better!!!

Shinomaster

what is your favorite color??:banana: :beer: :banana: :beer: :banana: :beer:

[Kevin]

Sandy's mug has been leaking for a long time, if you know what I mean. We just don't talk about it because of the charity work he is doing for kids.

[BumbleBeeDave]

. . . This is one ROUGH crowd in this thread!

Time to take my bruised ego and sidle on down the cyber road . . . How ‘bout you, Sandy?

BBDave