The Pro's Closet at it again

[fa63]

My contribution to the TPC experience.

A couple days ago, a riding buddy brought in a gravel bike that he had purchased from them. He was having some issues with the tires. When I pulled the wheels out to take a look, I noticed that the inner chainstays and fork legs were both worn, presumably because the previous owner ran a tire too big to fit properly. The fork looked OK but the chainstays had worn completely through the paint and into the carbon.

Also, the bike looked like it had been thrown together using whatever parts were available in the parts bin; cheap non-tubeless Mavic wheels with tubeless tires, Forte brand handlebar, post mount calipers with the world's ugliest adapters to work with the flat-mount frame/fork, mismatching bolts, 42t chainring with a random 11-36 cassette (SRAM Force 1 typically comes with a 10-42 or 11-42 cassette), etc.

I told my buddy to contact them and get his money back, which he did and they agreed. It wasn't a bargain either; actually, far from it.

[Gsinill]

They didn't like my C40

[pbarry]

But $250 off complete bikes during the TDF. 🙄

[raygunner]

I clearly see the benefit of the purchase of the Radavist. Vertical shilling integration.

[echappist]

...

[slowpoke]

Eh, it's always been PRolly Newswire without any critical reviews. Good for him for making some dough.

[fmradio516]

Originally Posted by Gsinill

They didn't like my C40

They didnt like my Seven Axiom either

Its ok because someone else liked it twice as much.

[kppolich]

Got a mailer from them today as well advertising the $250 off.
I'm grateful they paid 2x what I was asking for a Giant TCX a few months ago, but won't be purchasing anything from them in the near future.

[d_douglas]

I have to say that if I had been smart enough to start writing about bespoke bikes a decade ago, that would be a pretty blissful career path! Not sure he contributes much more than 'stoke', but from a selfish perspective, he writes about something he is passionate about, he gets to try pretty much every amazing bike I have ever wanted to try, he gets to travel for his work and he makes a solid living doing it (I presume).

Add to that, he and I ride the exact same bike size and apparently he is also trained as an architect, so we are like twins.

I have always wondered how so many bikes get(got) in his hands in his size - did he develop such cache that builders would build a bike in his size for him to thrash, then sell it off as a demo bike afterwards? Why didnt I ever get my hands on one of his castaways?

[krooj]

Originally Posted by slowpoke

Eh, it's always been PRolly Newswire without any critical reviews. Good for him for making some dough.

I remember getting interested in some Aeolus D3 wheels around 6 years ago or more. The Radavist had a review on the D3s, so I shot them an email to ask their opinion on the wheels and if they could offer any further insight. I got a reply, which was cool, saying that they were great, etc, so I went ahead and paid a Trek dealer $50 to test them out on a ride around skyline (South Bay Area / Santa Cruz Mountains) and was seriously scared at how badly they braked. Like, there were points where I was going down Redwood Gulch road on those wheels and thought I was gonna die.

[BobbyJones]

Originally Posted by kppolich

Got a mailer from them today as well advertising the $250 off.
I'm grateful they paid 2x what I was asking for a Giant TCX a few months ago, but won't be purchasing anything from them in the near future.

This is where the wheels start coming off of their VC cash infusion. The next year or two should be interesting for them.

[tkbike]

Originally Posted by fa63

My contribution to the TPC experience.

A couple days ago, a riding buddy brought in a gravel bike that he had purchased from them. He was having some issues with the tires. When I pulled the wheels out to take a look, I noticed that the inner chainstays and fork legs were both worn, presumably because the previous owner ran a tire too big to fit properly. The fork looked OK but the chainstays had worn completely through the paint and into the carbon.

Also, the bike looked like it had been thrown together using whatever parts were available in the parts bin; cheap non-tubeless Mavic wheels with tubeless tires, Forte brand handlebar, post mount calipers with the world's ugliest adapters to work with the flat-mount frame/fork, mismatching bolts, 42t chainring with a random 11-36 cassette (SRAM Force 1 typically comes with a 10-42 or 11-42 cassette), etc.

I told my buddy to contact them and get his money back, which he did and they agreed. It wasn't a bargain either; actually, far from it.

Did your shop contact TPC?

[fa63]

Originally Posted by tkbike

Did your shop contact TPC?

No. My friend was standing by while I was looking at the bike. I pointed all the flaws to him; he took bunch of pictures and sent it to them. They hadn't disclosed the wear to the chainstays in their description so they agreed to a full refund.

[tkbike]

Originally Posted by fa63

No. My friend was standing by while I was looking at the bike. I pointed all the flaws to him; he took bunch of pictures and sent it to them. They hadn't disclosed the wear to the chainstays in their description so they agreed to a full refund.

Which they should have done, and they did.
Cust spending that many$$$$ should have requested and would have been sent a pic of every centimeter of the bike.
Having been a part year active member of the Atlanta bike scene for the past 60 years, I can assure you due diligence was not done!
Curious, what shop do you work for downtown?

[avalonracing]

I sold my perfect, scratch-free, carbon Santa Cruz Chameleon (with a brand new Sram NX group and wheels) to The Pros Closet for about $2K knowing full well that they were selling similar ones with scratches and wear for about twice that much. They were cool to deal with and I was looking for an easy sale, so I was fine with it. That said, I checked back each day for a few weeks just to see where they would price it and I never saw it come up for sale. Either they have a deep well of bikes or someone said "Oh I'm keeping this one for what we paid the seller!"