General Cycling Discussion - I love REI.

I've been trying to decide if I should buy a new helmet. My old one (Giro Animas) was red when I bought in April 2003 but had faded to ugly orange by October. Too much mid-day sun. :rolleyes:

I was browsing the helmet area at REI yesterday and telling the salesperson about my old helmet and he suggested I return it. Gee, I never thought of doing that. But their return policy is phenomenal. Just bring it back and no questions asked. They had the record of the sale in their computer so.....
I'm now the proud owner of a 2004 Giro Eclipse (white). No more colorful helmets for me if they are just going to fade anyway.

http://www.giro.com/usa/images/cycling/helmets/eclipse_white.jpg

Damn! It makes me wish I'd kept the tent that fell apart in a rainstorm when I was in Italy. Well, the next time something of that caliber happens, I'm going to bring it back for sure. Thanks for the heads up!

Koffee

REI has one of the best return policies I have seen of a large store. The best thing is you can buy the returned items at their scratch and dent sales. Most stores have at least 1 per year. You can really find some good stuff for a great deal. I picked up a brand new sleeping bag that was returned because it smelled new for almost half price!

Never had one fade on me.

LLBean has the same no questions asked return policy. In fact as I recall they used this in one of their ads when a customer returned a 67 year old pair of boots for a new one.

Dang......I returning my 5 yr old Compaq PC to Costco...

I love REI too. I took my 5 year old REI road bike in for an overhaul and they discovered a hairline crack in the frame. They called me up and said, "Do you mind coming in to pick it up a few days later? We're having a new frame shipped down from Seattle."

Now that's an overhaul!

ps: I have that exact same helmet. I put 3M reflective tape strips all over it and you can hardly see them during the day but they light up beautifully at night.

Hey, Caloso, REI also has some of the most interesting, heads-up bike designs and spec of anyone. Novara's beat most LBS bikes not only for price but for design and parts pick.