Simply put: our mission is put you on the best possible bike for you, your riding style and budget.
Who, what and where we are:
We are a small, high-end mountain bike shop located in Austin, TX.
We build custom mountain bikes from only the best manufacturers on the planet. We are not a parts house per se, we are not trying to be a Jenson, Pricepoint, etc.. We can of course sell you parts to build up your dream bike and of course we take care of you after the sale.
We ride. A lot. We ride year round, day and night, 100+ degrees or freezing rain we ride.
Additionally we travel as much as possible to ride as many varying terrain types as possible and we talk with riders from all over the world to get to know their local terrain. This helps us know what works and what doesn't work in different conditions.
Why would someone spend 2-4K on a mass produced off the shelf bike when for about the same cost they can get _exactly_ the bike they want with no inferior OEM spec products that they most likely will want to or have to replace within 6 months or so? The big companies have people sitting in cubicles whose sole job is to cut cost on built up bikes in order to maximize profit. That's why you will see an XTR rear der on a bike but it may have a crappy 500 gram steel handlebar or seatpost on it. Or a pig of a bottom bracket. They put the nice parts that get your attention in the shop when you are comparing all the various bikes against each other but will sneak in some cheap OEM parts that you can't see or don't notice until the junk breaks on you on the trail. Most shops actually count on the fact that you will "be back" to "upgrade" some of those junk parts with good stuff in 6 months. Fact is, you often spend MORE money on the bike than if you would have just done it right in the first place and got the stuff you wanted up front. We don't count on heavily marked up aftermarket parts sales as a source of income. We want the bike to be right when it leaves the shop.
Our Website:
OK...This lame website is getting better now that I finally got one of my long time riding buddies to redesign it. He works for a HUGE company that specializes in web software, among many other things. And being the good bud he is, there was no charge for this work! So...
We didn't spend any resources to make it "pretty" and no costs were passed on to our customers (like everyone else does). The only thing we spend is our time researching, testing and building the latest frames, forks and parts to get you on the best possible bike for the money.
Consultation and expertise:
Flat out, NO ONE spends more time and energy scouring the planet for the best equipment, always on the cutting edge, getting the latest (often prototypes) in to test and evaluate. We build up and ride almost every frame we carry and put extensive amounts of time on the bikes to really get to know them. We take tape measures and angle guages to every bike and document it all. So we really do know what we are talking about. It's one thing to ride a bike and say "I like it" or "I don't like it" but it's a different thing to truly understand why. We aren't just reciting ad hype.
Why do we do this? Well, for one, because of the love of the sport and our own personal quests for the ultimate ride and two so we can help guide you in the process of picking out the perfect frame. That's where it starts. The frame is the heart and soul of a bike. We want to make sure you are on the right frame for YOU and YOUR riding style. Then we spec the parts build up, the right fork, the right wheelset (95% of our bikes use hand crafted wheelsets tuned for you) etc..
This requires consultation
up front and a considerable amount of time on our part to make sure
that you are getting the right bike for you, that it fits right, that
the parts are up to the task, etc..
This time is well spent though because we sincerely do care and want
you to be thrilled with your new bike.
We don't advertise and most of our business is via referals and repeat
customers, that means we try harder to make you happy.
When a bike leaves our shop it is dialed in and tuned to perfection. We are hyper obsessed about quality buildups. We don't take shortcuts on assembly. We repeatedly hear from customers about how "perfect'" the bikes are when they get them.
The rider profile form is now available, take a few minutes to download this, it really helps get you on the right bike. We spent a few hours creating it, trying to get the information we usually get via email and phone conversations into a (hopefully) easy to use format. If you have any suggestions, please let us know.
Service:
Hmmm...a lot of places talk about service, yet few of them provide it.
We SINCERELY want you to
be 100% satisfied.
We WANT you to be happy and we will do everything possible to make sure
that you are.
How many places follow up with you to make sure you are happy with your
purchase? We do.
Service is more than just spending the time to make sure the bike fits you right, that it works well.
Service is taking care of the problem when they arise, going above and beyond the call of duty to get you riding again. It also means that if there's a problem with your order that we take care of it. Despite our best efforts to make sure your order is perfect, stuff happens, it's how we handle it that counts. And we do.
Our goal is to have 100% customer satisfaction and to have loyal, repeat customers and referrals.
We are the kind of place you refer your family and best friends to. A lot of our local customers become riding buddies. We want to establish and build relationships with you.
Pricing:
With most "retail" businesses you either get great prices or great service. We are the rare exception in that we provide both.
Our pricing is extremely competitive with ANYONE in the country but with the added benefit of unparalled customer service. The kind that you will never get in a big mail order parts house and very, very rarely get at your local bike shop. In fact, we hear all the time how vastly superior our service is to most LBS. We strive to get to know our customers and to take care of them.