Review of local Bike Shop - The Path

They had a good reputation and carry a large number of parts and stuff.
So I began frequenting there a couple years ago. Recommended a friend
who bought a bike there and I bought countless items from armor to lube.
Nothing major but a fair amount of stuff. Prices were a little high,
but fair and they usually gave me a 10% discount, plus it was good to
support a local bike shop.

Once I had an extra set of Shimano brake pads and a new Cutter hat I was
never going to use and gave it to them to resell, no charge, just
figured they could more easily dispose.

Then came the bad stuff...

1- I needed a loosing of some older style cranks and didn't have the tool.
They tried to charge me $10 for 2 minutes of finding the tool.

2- Went in there yesterday to have them pound the race and star nut onto
my new forks and pick up a couple things. The race and nut took less
than 5 minutes to install, mostly finding the tools. 2 people refused to not charge me $7 to do
this.

Now I could care less about the $7. Its more of a customer
service issue to me. You give your customers the things that cost you
little and keep them with you for the long term. Now if I came in and
asked them to cut down, set up and install my fork, then I would expect
to pay. However, 3 minutes of easy work with a smile to build a
relationship is basic business 101. If they were smart they would have
done the work for free and then upsold me on some other items. As it was I left without buying the things I came for and very bitter about the shop in general.

I know the arguments that "they have a business to run", "can't give away
the shop for free", etc... They don't hold water in this type of simple
situation.

Bottom line I will actively attempt to never use The Path again!!!

This may seem petty, but I went out of my way to frequent the The Path over other local shops.

I agree with you, it was a very quick labor job. It would have taken them longer to ring you up for the money than to just say thanks for your business and pound your star.

It's like....I'm doing YOU a favor by shopping at your bike shop when there are plenty to choose from. I expect them to do me the favor of not nickel and diming me.

The shops that loan tools, and do lil free services do have their good will taken advantage of. But, they are also the shops that get the loyal money spending customers. Way worth it.

I've only been to The Path twice and was very impressed with their selection. The guys were very friendly and helpful, but then again, I've also never had to get anything serviced by them because I live so far away.

My bike shop of choice is ITSA Bike Shop in Point Loma. I bought my Knolly frame at another bike shop, but bought my entire build kit from him (parts were either handpicked by me or suggested by Eric, owner of ITSA Bike Shop). He gave me an awesome deal for the parts, the suggestions he made were fabulous (purple nipples!!), and I get free service on my bike. He actually forgot to charge me for my purple headset when he installed it after it the bike needed a complete service from being ridden in the rain at Chiquito. Haha. I reminded him, of course because that would just be rude not to pay for it.

For my SlopeStyle, it's serviced by Ben from TheChainRing. He does great work and if something isn't quite right (say he bleeds the brakes, but after a day of use it still feels weird), he'll re-service it at no charge. He even re-routed all my cables at no charge because it didn't look pretty. Your bike is also returned looking brand spanking new. I mean, he really cleans up your bike. The pick-up and delivery is a great service too. :)

Another cool bike shop is North of the Border bikes. They're just plain cool guys and it's a cool shop. I've never had anything serviced by them, but I think JHill used to frequent there A LOT before he moved away from Mira Mesa.

Thanks for your assessment if the Path.

I've been there too, and not to friendly of service.

Adrenaline bikes in Orange nearby is way better, and even offered a beer as I waited.

The Path is overrated.

My take on bike service is Drake helps me out with my service needs.

I go to The Path to buy stuff I wanted ASAP! aside from that... I do all the work myself or buy stuff online or slightly used.

1 thing that I didn't like... I bought a Bash guard and chain ring bolts from them... I asked twice if they gave me the right bolts before I walk out of there... they said YES 2x... I got home and yeap... they're too short... return it? It'll cost me more GAS money to drive there in exchange for a $6 bolts!

I'll still shop there, I just have to make sure that I get exactly what I need!

Oh and Perfektus bought an UZZI frame with Cane Creek angleset headset... Headset was installed upside down! :lol!:

The level of customer service depends on who you deal with over there.
I try to only deal with Karl, Brian, or Tani. Those guys are typically more than willing to negotiate pricing with you, especially Tani.

Charging you $7 for the star nut is just a low level employee simply following procedure. That same guy might have gotten chewed out last week for offering too much free service or undercharging.

The younger, less permanent, employees tend to be less customer service oriented and less knowledgeable. Sometimes you will ask them questions and just tell you what they think you want to hear in order to make you go away.


If you dealt directly with Tani, I doubt he would have charged you for the star nut. I recently bought a frame and ton of parts from them and Tani gave me some extremely generous discounts.

i admit that shop carries more stuff than anyone else locally, but my
experiences with them have been bad. and both times I dealt with the
owner.

First time: i needed a few parts to finish my bike build. I
spent about $700 on parts including a CK headset, told the guy that I
had a canfield frame in my car and was hoping he could install the
headset real quick (i would even pay). "nope sorry, we are too busy." I
gave him some shit, he then replied that he just gave me 10% off. I then
said, you give EVERYONE 10% off, just saw you give it to the last 5
customers.

Second Time: let me first say, I hated calling them.
But i needed some wheels built up and they where the only gig in town.
Asked what his thoughts where between CK, Hadley and Hope hubs. he didnt
seem to have an opinion, but then told me to go with the Hadleys. So I
ordered them. Called a week later to see when they would be done, told
me that the 135/12 where back ordered and said he could get CK sooner...
but they only come in 135/10. Sure I said. Went to pick them up and he
asked me why I didnt order the 135/12.... wtf?

to top it off, I was anxious to ride, just wanted to come home and throw the wheels and
take my bike for its first ride before dark. I didn't feel like driving
all over town, so I bought UST tires from him, just to be down with it.
He acted like throwing them on the brand new hoops was a pain to do....I
told him to forget it. He sighed, I told him he was lame. paid for the
wheels and tires and left.

ALONZO wrote:Oh and Perfektus bought an UZZI frame with Cane Creek angleset headset... Headset was installed upside down! :lol!:

That pissed me off

dude you were going to pay for that?that can be done at home...

I guess it all depends on who you deal with. I went to The Path one time about 10 min after they were closed. I needed a star nut asap before my trip. Tani was able to help me out and get me what I needed after their doors were closed. I go to them for the little things that I need quick, or special orders no one will have.

The Path can be hit or miss but most times better than worse. When the place is crowded .. service goes down. Really the only time I go there is if I need something NOW that the typical bike stores around me wont have. They do have a huge selection of DH & AM bike parts unlike almost all other shops. Some of their prices are higher and some are the same you see online suprisingly.

They did put on the Life Cycles premier party amoung many others, thats awesome for them to do that when no one else is.

Just my 2 cents, check it out for yourself and make up your own decision.

-Scott

420 if you ever need help wrenching on your stuff hit me up im right down the street from you.