I decided that it was time to upgrade to a new, properly fitted triathlon bike since making the commitment to pursue my dream of completing an Ironman. My current bike, a Cannondale R600, was around 10 years old and I constantly become sore in the neck and shoulders after riding it. If I was going to be riding long distances prior to running a half or full marathon, I want to feel comfortable doing so. Cycles BiKyle in Bryn Mawr, PA was recommended for doing bike fittings and I had heard of them before, so I thought this may be the place to go. It was over an hour drive, but figured it would be worth it. According to their website, Bicycling Magazine even ranks them as one of the “100 Best Bike Shops.” Although, when I searched Bicycling’s website the only article on Best Bike Shops did not mention BiKyles’ at all. So I question the validity of that claim. What started out as a good experience ultimately ended in a horrible one.
In June 2010, I called BiKyle‘s and made an appointment to have a fitting with Kyle, the owner. I showed up promptly at the shop for my fitting appointment eager to get started. Kyle was not there, but showed up a bit late. He pulled a couple a chairs out and set them side-by-side in the front of the little shop. We sat down and he asked me some questions about my goals and what I wanted from my bike. I felt a little like I was on a talk show. He then proceeded to take some strange measurements of me. The strangest was when he dropped a section of broom handle through my open fist and had me catch it when he let go of it. When he was done he told me to hang out and he disappeared to the basement for some time.
He eventually returned and gave me a selection of a few bikes that would work for me in my price range. 2 Quintana Roo’s, a Seduza and a Caliente, or a Felt. He said that the QR’s would work best but I could work with the Felt too. The Caliente had a lot of carbon-wrapped components and frame which made for nice eye-candy. The derailleur components on the Caliente were also higher level Shimano Dura Ace which is nice, but the crankset was a FSA Team Issue. The Caliente did have a paint touch up on it, but it appeared only superficial. The Seduza was plain white and didn’t look as high tech. So I chose the Caliente.
It took a couple weeks for them to get the bike adjusted to my measurements and then I would come back down to ride it on the trainer for a few hours. They would then fine tune the fitting and make any tweaks needed. At least that is what they said. They made it sound like it would be such a professional, formal process.
On July 30th, 2010 I made my way to Philly to get my new bike. The kid that works in the front of the shop was there to setup the bike on the trainer. He had me ride for about 10 minutes and asked if everything felt ok, to which I responded “Yes”. Kyle was nowhere to be found this time and the kid didn’t seem like he was any expert bike fitter. The bike seemed ok so I paid the bill and threw it in the car and made my way home. They told me to come back in a month or so and they would tune it up.
The bike did fit very well and it was so nice to ride. I headed back down to BiKyles’ after a month and they tuned it up for me. All was good for the rest of 2010 and the first half of 2011. I took the bike back down to BiKyles’ in mid-July 2011 for another tune-up which was no charge since it was within the year from purchase.
2011 was a big triathlon season for me as I was venturing into long course distance with my 1st half ironman race in October at Ironman Pocono Mountains 70.3. I had spent a lot of time, money and training prepping for this race. The race turned out to be a total disaster, which you can read about in my other blog post, but the biggest issue was that the non-drive side crank arm came loose halfway through the bike portion of the race! 
I could not believe that a $2500 bikes’ drive train would come apart after a year and a half. I immediately called BiKyles’ and they said to bring it down and they would check it out. I dropped the bike off and told them I would pick it up in 2 weeks. I had signed up for Ironman Miami 70.3 at the end of October in order to capitalize on my training and fitness level, so I needed to pick the bike up before then to ship it to Miami. When I picked the bike up I talked with Ian, who appears to be the main mechanic there. He said he called FSA about the issue but they gave him “the typical corporate reply.” Whatever that means? He said he looked the whole thing over and nothing seems to be broken. He put Loctite on the crank arm and put it back together. He said everything was ok and there was no charge. Yeah I hope not! You sold me a POS bike that falls apart during my most important race of the season!
I took the bike out for a couple of rides and everything did seem ok. I packed the bike up and shipped it to Miami. The race-sponsored bike shop, City Bikes in Miami, put it together(handlebars, pedals, and wheels only) and had it ready for me on race day. I completed the race and the bike worked perfectly. I shipped it back home and continued riding it after a month of recovery, but mostly on the trainer during the winter months. I have a bunch of Spinervals DVD’s that I cycle though to maintain fitness through the winter. They are short but hard workouts.
All was well until about the end of February. While riding on the trainer, I noticed a clicking noise which I thought was my Garmin cadence sensor hitting. Upon further analysis I noticed my crank arm wobbling again. Sure enough, 2nd time coming loose. I contacted BiKyles’ again and they said bring it down and Ian would look at it again. Well, when I got down there, Ian never made it to work that day. Instead the kid from the showroom, Alex, was the only one there. They knew I was coming down there, I had emailed them earlier in the week, from over an hour away and no one is around to look at it. Real top notch service here. Alex said he could take a look at it and ended up tuning the bike up and putting the drivetrain back together…AGAIN!
I drug the bike back home and after a month of riding it comes loose AGAIN! I sent an email to the shop indicating my extreme frustration. They responded and told me to bring it back down there again and they would have there 2 mechanics look at it and figure out the issue. I had asked if we could swap the crank out for another and they said yes and gave me a couple other models WITH PRICES. It will be a cold day in hell when they get any more money from me.
It would be a week and a half until I could get down there again, so in the meantime I stopped by a couple local bike shops. Most thought this was a total defect and that BiKyle’s should resolve or replace the component. One of the responses from Kyles’ made it sound like this is common occurrence and that it was my fault for not checking the bolts…
In our experience with cranks in general, loosening can certainly occur given the time intervals involved. It certainly does with other makes/models. We would recommend to you and any other customer that occasional tightness-checks be made monthly, in your case with size 5mm and 6mm hex keys. It really applies to every bolt on the bike; metal deforms and fatigues and bolts will occasionally back off/loose grip with time and riding stress. – From [email protected]
Really?? I have owned a lot bikes over the years and loosening crankset is not something that has ever happened. I don’t keep a torque wrench handy at home. And every bike shop I went to confirmed that this should not happen. The biggest help was John from Sleeping Dog Pro Cycles in Topton, PA. He was familiar with this issue happening with FSA cranks a few years ago, but FSA had resolved the issue with a small, wavy washer. He suggested I call FSA again.
I emailed FSA from their website and received an email response from them within a half hour. They needed to know the specifics of the crankset model, so I sent them some pictures. They immediately called me on the phone and indicated that the crank arm and bottom bracket do NOT belong together. The crank arm is an old model. So now I am wondering if this is some bike they through together from scavenged parts?
FSA said they would send out the proper replacement parts immediately and contact the bike shop. Well surprise, surprise…Kyle was not around and Ian was on vacation. Do these guys ever work? The FSA customer service person then called me back and said he was shipping the parts directly to me since they were not around.
“we’d like to see the bike on some afternoon both of our main mechanics will be in (Mon, Wed-Fri). We understand that it is a long drive from <My Town> and we do extend our apologies for the inconvenience. We will get several pairs of eyes on the bike when it’s here, ensure proper installation and torque,” – From [email protected]
So I made arrangements with BiKyles’ to come down on a Friday to have item fixed once and for all. I made my way back down to Kyles’ again with the new parts. Well Kyle and Ian were still AWOL and there was only one mechanic, MIguel, working the entire shop. I had never seen this guy before and at first he was clueless about my issue. There were some other customers in the shop, so he was a bit flummoxed by the whole thing. So much for “both of our main mechanics!” I left the bike with Miguel and said I would be back later in the afternoon to pick it up.
Not long after leaving the shop, Miguel calls me and says that the crank that FSA sent does not fit. Then he asks, why I called FSA? I said “because you guys weren’t doing crap!” and the same reason that Ian “claimed” that he did earlier in the ordeal. Miguel said I should have called Quintana Roo. “No, YOU should have called Quintana Roo!! I told him, “look just fix the damn the thing!” Miguel then calls me again later and says that he cannot get it done before the end of the day. So now I have another trip back-and-forth to Philadelphia. I told him I would pick it up the following weekend, just fix it. He also tried to get me to buy a new $500 crankset, which I of course said to get lost. So another failed promise by not getting it done within the day like they promised.
He ended up using the BB that FSA sent, but not the crank arm. I picked up the bike again and have been riding it. So far it has been holding together, but I really have no confidence in this work. There was no apology or anything from them when I picked the bike up.
This shop clearly has no idea what customer services is and their mechanical knowledge is sub par. They are clearly out to just make a dollar selling you a bike and after that you are on your own. A quick Google search will show that others have had similar experiences, so it isn’t just a fluke here. There is a pattern. If Cycles BiKyle was a reputable bike shop that actually cared about their customers, they would have replaced this crankset with one of equivalent value from the beginning. No, they choose to keep band-aiding the problem and then try to make it look as it it was my fault for not tightening the bolts! Of cource if they would have put the correct components on the bike in the first place there would have not been an issue. Next time I will stay local. I am considering going to a local shop at this point and getting a new crankset put on since I have no confidence in their workmanship and the mishmash of components they stuck together.
