Condor Bikes - what's your secret...

jalapeno

can't relate physical shop experience but i have been treated like a dim tw@t on the phone when i called to find out bearing spec for replacement headset bearings for the condor branded headset on my pista. Having said that i imagine plenty of dummies do ask stupid questions.

Widdle

I popped in to the shop today to see what I could get with my Halfords cycle2work voucher (Bikehut Putney retail Condor bikes so was going to order through them).

I was happy to just browse but was asked if I needed any help and ended up being given an excellent 30 minute talk through of what would and wouldn't suit me plus a fitting. I was there an hour in total and placed an order with the comfort that the bike would be a great fit and the cycle2work could be processed too.

10/10 to Wei in the shop (he also got a good reference from a colleague of mine when I was telling him how good the service was)

PS It was lunchtime
PPS I have no connection/allegiance to Condor whatsoever!

walkernomore

Not sure if I am allowed to post here as I have not got my bike yet, but reading the thread I thought I would pass on my experience so far. I do not think this is typical because I saw others receiving far more attentive service, but I am feeling a bit cross that the gloss has been taken off one of life's great pleasures - buying new toys.

I didn't mind waiting for the service as such, though I was a bit miffed when some poopinjay who had been waiting a mere 10 minutes - 20 less than me and he knew it - almost leapt on the assistant to try to jump the 'queue'. I overcame that using the special traffic assertiveness technique which I have been working on for when I finally get back on a road bike after 20 years. ( I remember in my bar tending days that it was a matter of professional honour to know the exact order of everyone waiting for service - oh how the world has changed). Anyway, waiting gave me a good opportunity to watch others being served and how they were carefully taken through their needs and the rather scary range of new-fangled options open to them. I was nearly salivating.

But it turned out they must have been special customers - perhaps even couriers - because I received what I presume was the standard middle aged slightly (ahem) overweight man service. I was all ready to run through what I thought I wanted but to add that I was way out of the loop and was open to alternative suggestions. I didn't have a budget as such but rarely leave a 'toyshop' without spending at least twice as much as I intended when I went in. Anyway, this was all clearly too much information.

As soon as I explained that I wanted a road bike with as fast a geometry as I could get while still accommodating mudguards and a light rack, and that for nostalgic reasons I was leaning towards a steel frame, I was cut short literally mid-sentence and told that a Fratello was the bike for me. Now I had already been thinking about that, but wanted to discuss the options including whether I needed to take off my rose-tinteds and look at some more modern materials; whether I should get some gorgeous hand-built wheels, whether Record hubs still had those sexy little lube holes (I've always had a thing about wheels); whether anyone had invented puncture proof tubs...

Anyway, to cut what is becoming too long a story, the assistant took a step back, looked me up and down, told me to wait while he went over to the sizing jig, called me over a couple of minutes later to try it, swapped the stem, wrote some stuff on his sheet of paper and told me that was that.

When equipment was mentioned I said 105 as an opening bid and it must have the right answer, because that was ticked on the sheet. Shame really because Campag Record has always held a special place in my heart though I am not surer about all this carbon nonsense.

I was then taken upstairs to pay my deposit. On the way up I managed to get in that I would like old fashioned pedals with toe-clips so I could wear ordinary shoes for short trips but that was as far as customisation went. In hindsight I should have insisted but didn't, so probably deserve what I got.

I am sure the bike will be fine when it is finally ready and all the extra bling bits that I would probably have chosen would merely have been for my own pointless gratification and I still wouldn't have won the T de F. Anyway, I should look at them as future purchasing opportunities...

But it wasn't the self-indulgent shopping experience I had been hoping for and I felt short-changed not to have been craftily tricked into spending an additional grand or so. In fact I have to take a day off work tomorrow to take delivery of a new shed to house my new bicycle collection because in my mind my new Condor has already been relegated to winter hack and I'm going to get a fully blinged up custom job from someone who is prepared to treat me like, well, like a courier - not something I ever imagined myself wishing for.

ddraver

I wen tin havinf asked them to get some brakes in from the warehouse (which i later found out i had to pay delivary for!!!)

when i went in i politly qued up and got to the fron wherte the bole just raised an eyebrow at me - asked him for the brakesd he got them out and placed them on tyhe counter - still not saying a word - then i poinrd out my admittadly very embarasing appollo roadie and asked him if they would fit, cos the old ones didnt

my god - it would have been better if i'd asked him to fellate me there and then

was it the race face shorts, the bike, - or was he just a tosser....

I read this thread a while back and though nothing of it - now i know what the OP means - they re goods - but they re not THAT good

wildmoustache

ddraver wrote:

I wen tin havinf asked them to get some brakes in from the warehouse (which i later found out i had to pay delivary for!!!)

when i went in i politly qued up and got to the fron wherte the bole just raised an eyebrow at me - asked him for the brakesd he got them out and placed them on tyhe counter - still not saying a word - then i poinrd out my admittadly very embarasing appollo roadie and asked him if they would fit, cos the old ones didnt

my god - it would have been better if i'd asked him to fellate me there and then

was it the race face shorts, the bike, - or was he just a tosser....

I read this thread a while back and though nothing of it - now i know what the OP means - they re goods - but they re not THAT good

sounds like condor have got some issues. having learnt a bit about bikes i'm tempted to open a store in central london that specializes in repairs. or rather, doesn't almost explode when asked to do something but charges for everything. no favours.

top_bhoy

wildmoustache,

I'm unsure what you're trying to say - are you being critical of Condor or ddraver, not exactly clear who from your post :roll:

wildmoustache

Top_Bhoy wrote:

wildmoustache,

I'm unsure what you're trying to say - are you being critical of Condor or ddraver, not exactly clear who from your post :roll:

well it sounds like condor have some issues with their customer service.

aside from that my thinking is:

1. People get parts much cheaper online.

2. When people buy parts from their LBS at inflated prices, they do so in large part because they value being able to have work done quickly and well on their bike and perhaps also value some advice ... they know if they buy the parts from the LBS then they will be treated well.

So, my proposition is whether, in this day and age of wiggle and ribble, it doesn't make sense for a new store to concentrate almost entirely on fitting / repairs/ servicing / maintanance with quick turnaround times. it would have first-mover advantage ... and could advertise itself as the place to take your cheap online parts for fitting when your man at the LBS has clucked and sucked in his cheeks etc.

maybe i'm speaking for the london roadie markeit here, but it seems to me that lots of people have cash, but little knowledge about how to fix things on a bike, but still don't want to have to pay full whack for their parts when they are so obviously available cheaper online.

Uranus

Courage Monsieur wrote:

I've found Condor OK [ . . ] but I really don't understand why people get so hung up on them [ . . ]

One example that rarely gets a mention: Edwardes in Camberwell. They have some serious machines there, and service is extremely prompt.

Edwardes in Camberwell every time over Condor. Only good thing about Condor is their bargain bins, you know, tyres for £10 or three pairs of socks for a fiver type of thing.

Anything else you can get cheaper elsewhere, and with better service. For exotic roadie bikes, fixie bits, Campag and carbon fibre, anything mechanical, go to Edwardes. For clothes go to GB in Croydon.

Condor will lick your a*** if you're a City tosser with more money than sense looking for a carbon fibre toy to park in the air-conditioned garage next to the Ducati Senna limited edition - or a black-clad messenger rider with worse manners than the staff. Otherwise it's overpriced, and you get ignored. It's been like that for as long as I can remember, at least 8 years, pretty disingenuous to express surprise at the stories of bad service in there.

Edwardes can be a bit chaotic too but Gary and the older staff members have real knowledge in depth, decades of experience. They deserve medals for keeping such an excellent shop going in such a sh?te neighbourhood.

Condor are part of Cycle Surgery anyway, aren't they?

Oh, and you'll never see a Frenchman riding a Condor . .

Skinbeast

Condor are part of Cycle Surgery anyway, aren't they?

No.

Oh, and you'll never see a Frenchman riding a Condor . .

Yes you will.

reverendmark

Since I've been using Condor (the last six months or so), I've generally had good service - sometimes, yes, it can take a while to get served, but the staff (and I've dealt with a fair few people in there) have always answered my questions, and even bothered to alert me to potential compatibility issues when I'm buying certain components.

Inevitably, I ended up buying a Pista - and again had very attentive service during the fitting and speccing (although I was very careful to ask them when was a good time for me to come in for the fitting).

A couple of weeks ago I bought my first pair of road shoes (I'd been running on MTB pedals before, since most of my riding has been commuting up until now). I'd already got the pedals online (they were a spontaneous purchase after seeing a really good deal), but the guy in Condor happily offered to fix the cleats on for me. A small thing, but I hadn't done it before and appreciated someone offering to get the placement right.

ddraver

The end result was nt bad - its just that they were so bloody rude to me getting there, they did go and check if the new bvrakes would fit but why did it need such a scowl

was it because i'd conned them out of another 20 squids by fitting them myself?! well sod off, i spent 70 odd that morning and cycled past most of the other bike shops in london to get there especially - next time i won't bother - evans it is!

Uranus

Skinbeast wrote:

Condor are part of Cycle Surgery anyway, aren't they?

No.

You quite sure? Well some remarkable similarities in some of their brochures then.

Skinbeast wrote:

Oh, and you'll never see a Frenchman riding a Condor . .

Yes you will.

Con d'or?

mtb.boy

walkernomore wrote:

I was a bit miffed when some poopinjay who had been waiting a mere 10 minutes - 20 less than me and he knew it - almost leapt on the assistant to try to jump the 'queue'. I overcame that using the special traffic assertiveness technique which I have been working on for when I finally get back on a road bike after 20 years.

Questions-
1. What is a poopinjay?
2. You overcame getting annoyed with a "special traffic assertiveness technique" - what is this technique?
3. Why did you just not say "hey wait a minute fella - I'm next in line". What are we - Germans (who do not queue orderly like us Brits).

reverendmark

Uranus wrote:

Skinbeast wrote:

Condor are part of Cycle Surgery anyway, aren't they?

No.

You quite sure? Well some remarkable similarities in some of their brochures then.

Those are probably distributor descriptions. Seems to be a pretty common practice.

Bern.

Sorry it has taken a while to respond, but nobody likes bad reviews and it takes time to investigate. It is good to know some of these things as when a store is very busy you can't be checking each individual staff member 100% of the time.

Hopefully Walkernomore's situation has been resolved now. This should never, ever happen to one of our customers as we base our entire business around customer service, whether you are a courier, pro rider or someone making the first tentative steps towards riding a bike for the first time.

ddraver, again this should not happen and re-training us underway.

wild moustache, good luck in your venture.

reverandmark, it is good to hear positive feedback as well. I am happy to say we still get more positive than negative.

Uranus, Condor is definately not associated with Cycle Surgery in any way. We write all of our own literature so maybe someone else is copying us as we only have a brochure for our own brand, unless you are talking about the generic catalogue that is supplied by one of our suppliers and is stamped with our logo. That would explain things.

We don't favour couriers or city tossers over anyone else, but couriers do come in a lot so when they do they normally say hi to our staff as they are regulars.

As usual, it is good to have the feedback, both positive and negative as otherwise it is hard to tell what we are doing right and what we need to change or improve on so thanks for the honesty.

GreenLake

In my experience the bad service comes from one staff member - XXXXXXXXXXX. I don't know his name. Others I've experienced, XXXXXXXXXX for example, have good customer service even when they are busy. My experience of XXXXXXXXX - and this is backed up by two friends of mine - is that he is very condescending. If you address it with him, you might just make good progress to improve the shop's reputation.

I thought it was good honest feedback - at your request I've edited out the names

Bern.

Thanks GreenLake, hopefully these incedents should now become a thing of the past. Best not to name staff members here as all staff will be re-trained on how to deal with customers in the correct manner.