Singlespeed & Fixed Gear - Thumbs up to bensbike - excellent service

I've got to take this opportunity to give great praise to the fine people at bensbike. aka. ben's cycle and fitness in Milwaukee.

I bought one of their formula/Alex fixed wheelsets off ebay back in november. Out of the box, the hubs were great, however after a couple of weeks the rear hub started squeeking. I asked bensbike if they'd ever had a similar problem. they said no, but asked me to keep an eye on it and if it got any worse, they offered to replace the hub. the squeaking never away, but i kinda ignored it.
Fast forward 3 months.
last weekend i decided to check the hub for play. Upon doing so, I discovered that the hub was not only still squeeking, but the axle was catching or binding in one spot in the rotation. figure, bent axle, dead bearings?
so back to bensbike.

Jim immediately offered to not only replace the hub, but ship me an entire new wheel! no questions asked.
Plus, he said he'd pay for shipping both ways. Even after I'd offered to pay.
Plus, he's going to send my new wheel right away, and not wait for me to send the dead one.

I just thought i should share.

Nice to hear possitive stories about shops for a change.

That's good to hear, I had a not so good one with them, but it looks like they've turned it around, and are doing really good customer service now!

I bought my Eno hub from them and the service was great. I'd buy from them again without a second thought.

i got my clips platforms and starps from them for a great price and nice quick service

I'll add to that. They are super fast and their prices rock. It took awhile, but they did get around to giving my positive feedback.

I will always consider them when making a buy. They are the only seller I have saved.

Not to ruin the atmosphere or anything, but I had a little bit of communication trouble buying from bensbike. Nothing too significant, but it's kind of silly.

I was watching an auction of theirs for a set of pedals, and at the top, below the current price, the shipping cost was listed as $5.00. Then, in the item description in bright red bold font, it said the shipping was $6.50, and a little below that, the shipping was again listed as $5.00. Finally, at the very bottom, it said $5.00 one last time. So I e-mailed them (1 day before auction end) to ask about that since the red bold lettering was somewhat ominous and didn't get a response by the time the auction was ending, and I figured I'd buy the pedals either way so I bid and won them. I used their Andale checkout thing to pay for the item, and the shipping was again $5.00 so I thought that was the end of it. The pedals were shipped later that day and all was well. 2 days later, I get a reply e-mail from them saying that shipping is in fact $6.50...However, I had already paid $5.00 shipping and the pedals came the next day and that was that.

So, the only issue I have with them is slow communication and a misleading item listing. They seem to have fixed it, and consistently charge $6.50 on the pedals now.

In the end, I got the item quickly and I guess I got a deal too. I suppose that story shows that they stand by their posted prices too since they didn't bother me for the extra $1.50, and still gave me great feedback. So I also recommend bensbike because their prices are good and their shipping is super fast.

yeah they are my lbs and i must say they do rock. i can usually call them up and get stuff that none of the 4-5 other shops around me have like track pedals,lock rings, actually any track stuff. plus i get to drool over that sweet milwaukee cycles fixed every time i go in.

Good to hear the positive remarks. I just ordered my track cog from them off eBay this morning. Hopefully it will show up soon. :)

I just got some Velocity rims from them, as well as Formula hubs. I wasn't surprised when the hubs had no identification on them. The rims are 28 hole, yet the decal on them says "32 Hole," though its hard to see because someone took a sharpie to the "32 Hole." The other decals are trying to come off, and the spoke holes are barely offset, if at all.

Anybody have a similar experience? And what should I think about it? As long as the rims don't get me killed I don't care, but I have to wonder.

I have ordered from them twice and both experiences were very pleasant. Had to call them to sort out an online order via eBat and I recieved very good customer service.

This makes me feel even better about the order I'm about to place with them. The only thing I can't decide is if I should go with the eai or cobra cog? Is the quality difference enough to justify the price difference?

The only thing I can't decide is if I should go with the eai or cobra cog? Is the quality difference enough to justify the price difference?
Yes.

I just got some Velocity rims from them, as well as Formula hubs. I wasn't surprised when the hubs had no identification on them. The rims are 28 hole, yet the decal on them says "32 Hole," though its hard to see because someone took a sharpie to the "32 Hole." The other decals are trying to come off, and the spoke holes are barely offset, if at all.

Anybody have a similar experience? And what should I think about it? As long as the rims don't get me killed I don't care, but I have to wonder.

i would call them and ask... 32h decals written over with sharpie on a 28h rim sounds really sketchy. i have delt with them once and they were very good so i am sure they will try to help you out. i'm sure your hubs are fine... formulas can have lots of different things written on them, mine are blank as well.

ordered twice, received both items extremely rapidly. no problems with either item.

yeah, its a good shop.

I e-mailed them and they got back to me within the hour. They told me I could return them for new ones if I wanted. They asked for digital photos in case I wanted to keep them. I think that shows an appropriate amount of concern for the their products and quality control.

I took the wheel I built with one of the rims to the LBS (I am blessed with a great LBS) and they think Velocity probably just ran out of "28 hole" decals and threw a "32 hole" on there. They also pointed out that it would be pretty pointless to fake Velocity rims and go through the expense of powder coating them (they're yellow!). So I think all is well. Besides, the hubs I got from them just won't stop spinning.

I'll definitely buy from them again -- Benscycle and Bikeman seem to have the best online prices.

I e-mailed them and they got back to me within the hour. They told me I could return them for new ones if I wanted. They asked for digital photos in case I wanted to keep them. I think that shows an appropriate amount of concern for the their products and quality control.

I took the wheel I built with one of the rims to the LBS (I am blessed with a great LBS) and they think Velocity probably just ran out of "28 hole" decals and threw a "32 hole" on there. They also pointed out that it would be pretty pointless to fake Velocity rims and go through the expense of powder coating them (they're yellow!). So I think all is well. Besides, the hubs I got from them just won't stop spinning.

I'll definitely buy from them again -- Benscycle and Bikeman seem to have the best online prices.

uhh... Mom? You ride a bike now?