The folks at Sierra Bicycle Werks have come through for me 3 times in a little over a year, and…read moreit's about time for me to drop a note here about it.
Back in April, 2020, when my job changed to WFH, I was able to make some lemonade out of the lemons and start getting in a lot more mountain biking at my favorite location.
Now, there's one thing I've always said about mountain biking: if you like bike maintenance, you'll love mountain biking. And my trusty 2012 Trek Lush SL ("Surprise") was going to need some suspension maintenance sooner rather than later, and I didn't want to miss a chance for a ride because my bike was in the shop. So I realized I wanted a second bike that I could trade off with Surprise.
There was a real run on bikes at the time (and there still is!), but Christian and Drew and SBW helped me find just the right bike. There weren't many left in the US (2020 Fuel EX 9.8, Small, 27.5" wheels), but they got one, and I had it just a couple weeks later. What a revelation! (Named it Conway, after the great mathematician JH Conway who had sadly died not long before of COVID-19.)
Fast forward to the fall, and my (adult) son who lives in the Bay Area was ready to do some mountain biking--there are a couple of county parks with some pretty nice MTB trails within biking distance of home for him. But he needed a mountain bike! (His hybrid commuter just wasn't going to cut it.) I'm the kind of mom who can't resist buying a mountain bike for one of my kids (even now they're not kids anymore).
He's in the Bay Area, so I first tried some bike shops there, but I couldn't get any of them to even talk to me on the phone. Sheesh! This isn't the kind of thing that works well over email. And part of the reason I can buy mountain bikes is because when I'm not mountain biking, I'm working pretty hard at my day job--I don't have a heck of a lot of time for shopping. I really need a shop that has the time for a phone conversation.
At first I was like, what am I gonna do? And then I realized that my son, at 5'11", wouldn't really be a problem to size. And certainly Christian at SBW had talked to me on the phone before. So, yep, ordered his 2021 Trek Top Fuel 9.7 (I wanted to get him a bike that would help him LOVE mountain biking) through SBW.
This time it took a bit longer, and there were a couple of delays (on Trek's side), but SBW was great about keeping me posted, so I didn't fret. Delivered in March, it's the perfect bike for the riding he's doing, and he's loving it.
Now, remember what I said about bike maintenance up at the top? Ever since I'd got Conway, I been riding it (my A bike) 3x per week and Surprise (my B bike) once a week. That means some regular suspension service (other things like brake and drivetrain maintenance I take care of myself). I haven't been using SBW for service in the past--it's a half hour drive from where I live, and since they have to ship out the suspension parts anyway, I've always just shipped them out myself. And the tech I've been sending them to for the past ten years has been quite reliable, always getting the parts back to me within 3 weeks, usually 2, and occasionally in just 1 week.
So I sure didn't expect when I shipped Conway's fork and shock to him for regular maintenance not long before Memorial Day, that they would still not be finished (but that's a whole nother story). And not only that, but 3 weeks into riding only Surprise (and already realizing there were delays ahead for Conway) Surprise's shock blew up.
Well I wasn't about to send Surprise's suspension off into the black hole with Conway's, and I was like--what the heck, bring Surprise to SBW, and not only get its suspension fixed up, but have them do a bunch of other maintenance and install a dropper post too. There were a few delays for parts (of course--that's just the way it is these days), but yesterday I picked up Surprise from them, and this morning I had a great (EARLY so I could get home before it hit 100°) ride and it's riding like new! Jacob (and another mechanic, whose name I neglected to get) did a great job. I couldn't be happier.
The past few weeks I've been riding my 20-yr-old hardtail, and getting back on Surprise all fixed up--well! it's not the same as Conway, but it's still pretty great, and I'm so happy about it that I had to call them on the phone to say thanks. And then I thought--I never write yelp reviews, but I really owe them one. I want them to get all the customers they need to stay in business so they're there for me when I need them.
So yeah, if you want to buy a bike or get a bike serviced, they'll take care of you. And you don't have to buy a ton of fancy bikes like I do to get good service, either. I totally have watched them provide the same care and attention to all their customers.
