I though about this review for a bit, but then came to the conclusion that I will never buy anything from this shop again, and I would not encourage anyone to purchase from this shop. So, while I can acknowledge that they carry nice equipment, and it seems that their technicians are competent I think the rating is fair.
My Story:
I bought a Felt F75x in August 2012. Not a top of the line bike, but still ~$2k when everything was added on including some extras and tax. I bought the bike to commute about 12 miles round trip. During the first week both tubes popped, and the rear derailleur went WAY out of adjustment to the point of not really being able to shift. While my sales experience was great, when I took it back to address what in retrospect was a faulty batch of tubes and a derailleur cable that was not tightly attached to the derailleur, they treated me like I was a complete schmuck. I just chalked it up to an isolated experience as my sales experience was pretty good. Fast forward two months to my final fitting, and about 200 miles later I was having a few issues. I was getting sort of a grinding noise from the freehub, and the chain was kinking. The tech was able to determine that there was a manufacturing defect in the chain that was causing it to kink, and the tech said, "yeah I hear the same noise in the freehub." I was expecting that they would just replace the chain considering the warranty, but instead they just popped in three used master links. Although it looked totally shabby, it worked. While Mike (the person doing the fitting) was great, I was again treated like a schmuck by the service person.
Fast forward six more months, and about 1K miles later I had resigned myself to doing all of my routine maintenance myself as I didn't really feel like being treated poorly after I drive 20 miles to drop off my bike and also pick it up. I swapped out the chain for a better one, got pretty good at re-tensioning and straightening my rims, however, I was starting to have what I considered major issues with both my headset and bottom bracket bearings freezing up. I took it in, and got a VERY large quote to fix it. (~$500). This is the conversation I had with the person I was dealing with (not sure if it was a tech or the manager) went something like this:
Me: Isn't this bike under warranty?
BA: Yes, but these are wear items.
Me: How is this possible when I am taking great care of this bike?
BA: Nothing I can do for you, you should call Felt.
REALLY, SERIOUSLY!?!?!?!? Nothing you can do. You could stand behind your products.
I called Felt and posted on their Facebook page. The Felt rep gave me some free stuff, and was very nice, but I still can't get over the fact that Bike Authority treated me like such garbage. I decided to try one last time, and I suddenly found the root of the issue. I don't look like a biker. I am not cool. I did not just prep my bike for the latest triathalon, or century ride. I look like an overweight middle aged guy who rides ~10 miles a month. In actuality, I ride ~250 a month in the summers, and commute year round. After watching the interaction a person had picking up their ride for a triathalon the coming weekend, and my own that day and previous days I came to the conclusion that I was not cool enough to be a Bike Authority customer.
Since then, I learned to do all of my own work, bought all the tools I needed, and have since built up three new bikes buying parts off the internet. I would have been more than happy to pay the premium and have a bike shop do all this for me, but I had had enough. with the service I received there. read more