Mechanics is not my forte. I can change a tire – and that sums up my skills. That’s why when I come across a shop that earns my trust, I stalk them. This goes for both my car and my bike. I didn’t realize I felt the same way about my bike until recently. Now when I say “bike” I’m referring to bicycle. Putting a motor on a bike is just bad news for me – see the first sentence above.
Cycle Fitness was the “go-to” cycle shop in Fairfield County. It was a local bike shop run by Rick Beasley that was the go to place on Route 25 for decades.
Then sadly, the doors were shut permanently in 2015. When I first met Rick, it was to tune up a Giant road bike I purchased back in the mid 90’s. Every time I went in for a tune-up, he would say the same thing, “Do you have hard time getting up hills?” My response was always the same, “I don’t think so. My last bike was a Huffy. Compared to that, this nearly rides itself”
But he got me thinking. Can hills be easy? Well, the real answer is no but Rick planted a seed (not in an alien way) that perhaps I didn’t have to work so hard to ride in Connecticut – Land of the, “it’s up there.” This is a place where roads are marked as “Hill” more often than “Street.” Rocky Hill, Moose Hill, Cross Hill, Purdy Hill, Church Hill (that one is a real come to Jesus btw.) You get my point. HILLS! At the end of the season I would wheel my bike into the shop (located just past – wait for it – Hillcrest) and Rick would do his magic and give it new life for the next season.
My trusty Giant served me well for 15 years. Then at the end of one summer, it died a death. Remember what happened to the Blues-mobile at the end of the Blues Brothers movie?
That sort of death. With head down and helmet over my heart, I saw Rick. He sized me, and recommended his last Specialized Roubaix of that year. The new ones were coming in but this was significantly cheaper with nearly the same features as the next year’s models. The bike fit and it became the new “Chromo-cycle.” As it turns out, I wasn’t having a hard time getting up hills, I was having SERIOUS problems getting up hills.
When Cycle Fitness closed, I was devastated. I had no trusted or timely bike shop to do the things that made my bike respond in ways I don’t deserve. Then out of the blue I received an email from Rick. He started a new venture, 4WheelBikeShop.com.
I checked out the site and compared his posted prices with that of the other bike shops. His fees were comparable. I called various shops and there was on average a 10 day turn-around time. That’s 10 days during the beginning of the riding season without my trusty steed. I called Rick. He said he could schedule me for next Wednesday and have my bike ready in an hour. SOLD!
Wednesday morning at the scheduled 9:00, Rick pull up in an RV converted into a bike shop. As promised, in one hour, he had my bike tuned up with new tires and brake pads. When he showed me the wire impaling my back tire, we were both amazed it held air or I hadn’t had a massive blow out on a previous ride. The cool part about this experience is that we had a chance to chat without interruption of other customers about bikes, family, business, bikes, etc.
Is this a plug for 4WheelBikeShop.com? Yes! Why not? I received exactly the service I was promised and then some. From a business perspective, what Rick did was take a digital, cold, and impersonal technology, the web, and turn it into a one-on-one, door to door, and home-town business experience. Shark Tank wish they, on their best episode, had an idea of this caliber.
Unfortunately, Rick moved his business to San Diego. How dare he put family 1st over me!... Fair enough. I wish him all the best but forgive me when I smoke a Californian cyclist at any time or place.
At this point, I need to interject a standard disclaimer. According to Article 37, Section 13, paragraph 2 of the Sprocket Bi-laws, the Rocky Sprockets do not “endorse anyone, anything, anytime, anyhow. The views, opinions, and applied Sprocket Logic© or any attempt therein expressed in any form of communication is the sole opinion of the author. Rocky Sprockets is the name of a group and is not a sentient entity thus has no opinion.” - Likely found in some redacted area.