London Fixed-gear and Single-speed

Thought it was about time I introduced myself

My name is nick and i'm reprazenting on behalf of my boys here at SJS Cycles (we'll keep it informal cos that just how we roll)

As i'm sure you're aware, we have agreed to sponsor LFGSS for a 3 month trial period. I would love for us to be able to commit for the full 12month period but obviously have to determine whether its financially viable. I like everyone here, hope that it is and that it benefits the both of us equally.

To make the most of this trial period we'd like plenty of feedback from you guys. Over the next couple of weeks i'll post threads re products you'd like to see, the website etc etc.

Please dont use the forum for general product queries/advice as it wont be seen by the relevant people. We are more than happy to deal with these in the normal manner, either drop us an email or a call (see website for details) and we'll do our best to help out.

Anyway thats enough business, i'll let you know a little about myself.

As i said my name is nick but feel free to call me dawesie, dirt, dude; whatever i'm easy. I'm 20, a first year student studying Architecture at the University of Liverpool and have been a keen cyclist for some time. I used to do a lot of road racing but have seen the light and love nothing more than to hit the mountains now. I've worked at SJS Cycles for 5 years on and off (between education) and have worked my way into a developmental role, so anything that pushes the business forward.


Right so pleasure to be a part of your community, lets make things happen...

Even Hippy?

Probably. Dogs on the other hand ;)

That's almost the same as liking two standard sized people.

That's a lot of bromance.

I rang up SJS sales dept today to ask about the clamp size on a stem I was thinking of buying. Was told by a rather rude girl that there was no-one there that could help me at the moment, and that she could take a message, but she didn't know if/when anyone would call me back. I was a bit taken aback to be honest - I've used SJS in the past with no problems.

Needless to say, I bought the stem somewhere else.

Architecture at liverpool? my commiserations ;) Are Jack Dunne and Mike Knight still there?!

I dont know about Jack but Mike certainly is

ive bought from you before and had great service.

next i want a f+f with bars/seat/chainset, 120rear, with bottle/rack/guard mounts, in steel painted green with steveestir decals (discrete)

please deliver it next week wednesday.


tvm.

tee hee. i miss that place. i've just finished my diploma. good luck with it!

Has progress been made on how to track the success of the sponsorship in terms of revenue generated by the forum?

i.e. will we be issued with a code to use when placing an order or something of that nature?

welcome to the forum, er..Blud

I can only apologise and hope that this doesn't prevent you from shopping with us again. You have to appreciate that it is a Monday, so we have to deal with the backlog of orders, phone calls and emails from the weekend. Our sales team will always attempt to give priority to incoming calls, but this is not always possible.

Regards,

Nick

good shout

How about getting Goldtec or Gran Compe track hubs? Your selection is limited to Formula and Miche.

Please promise us that you are not scouse. We already have one of them and one is quite enough.

Clefty, maybe we need a hotline then?

I know personal experience is a hard one to put right and it's entirely anecdotal that the experience I've had has all been good. ladystardusts' Thorn Audax comes from there, as do quite a few parts I've purchased, and the Schmidt hub for the forthcoming Robin Mather is going to come from there too. Basically I've shopped from them, and am happy to recommend them because I've only ever had good experience. But of course, individual experience isn't representative of the whole service and if there's something wrong then I'm pretty sure Nick can help put it right... obviously not by giving you info now redundant because you've shopped elsewhere now, but certainly by making a note and raising it elsewhere within SJS so that it hopefully doesn't happen again.

I've been speaking to Nick loads this last week or so, and he's genuinely a great guy and I'm personally really pleased that SJS Cycles are interested in the sponsorship as they're a great bike shop with equally great heritage. I wasn't restricted to who to go with for sponsorship, but I am biased towards selecting a company who have a rich heritage in British cycling to be the sponsor and I'm not disappointed at all that it's SJS.

Aside from the forum getting sponsorship which helps relieve the financial pressures we have, we also get a chance to help influence SJS Cycles too so that the benefits are more than just monetary. Sure we can help them consider new items to stock, but we can also use this relationship to help shape things like service into the kind of stuff we generally expect.

I really think they're a great match for us and I wouldn't want to see one bad experience taint that from the outset.

word, hope that you get a good return on your sponsorship fella, lots of nice shiny bits in your shop, ya feel me

your logo and website could do with a bit of looking at tho :^]

@VB Totally agree, as I said I've had nothing but good service from them in the past, I saw the post this morning asking for feedback, and happened to have tried to deal with them this morning so thought I'd give some. It wasnt meant as an 'attack' on their very good reputation and I'll proabably use them again.

@Nick, as I have been shopping for stems today - it would help if you had a little more info on your stems, none of them seemed to have clamp size on them. Also if you're searching for a particular stem, you wont just get a particular brand/model then a list of available sizes, you get a completely separate page for each size - this is annoying and makes it really hard to find stuff, as you have to sift through a load of things you don't want.
So in conclusion, if your website had, had a little more info (as BDW says) then I wouldn't have tried to ring up, and wouldn't have had this problem in the first place :-)

So when do we get our 50% discount code? ;]

Good to have you on board, Dawesie... Even tho' you are a dirty scouser...

we can have a thread for designing a new logo :)

im sure there are plenty of creative people on here to get involved. Nick can choose the best one.

I've lost count of how many times I have bugged Dave Whittle for spoke measurements! Ha !

I got a lot of time for SJS. Welcome dude.

it will be BDW's

I have only had good experiences with them. I bought an ancient Regina freewheel for BARGAIN price on their eBay shop. There was small amounts of surface rust and I complained that this wasn;t mentioned in the desription. Got free postage with next order and super-nice apology from SJS.

Welcome SJS.

I think you're mad to have stopped selling your own brand of singlespeed, just when sales of single speed bikes when through the roof! Its about time Thorn did a snglespeed-friendly audaxy/commuter bike IMO. Fillet Brazed, traditional geometry, 753 with 525 stays or similar (a la Dave Yates), Audaxy-type medium level brazeons/routing so it'll still work as a fixed bike nicely without looking like an unused boss-fest, maybe with a choice of fork for lowriders or not, with clearance for 32s with mudguards, and keep it fairly light (unlike the SJS training bike). Maybe have end that would suit fixed/single or a sturmey. Sell it complete with nice clean-looking parts like Sugino 75s or Record, Phils or Royce hubs on DT rims.

I'd snap it up! I really want a Thorn.

..but if Specialized had taken the hint and thrown some Yankee dollars into the mix it might have been a different story ;o)

Everyone here obviously knows how to use the internet and how to find the cheapest price on stuff. I suppose that your best bet in terms of securing custom from this forum is to offer track stuff which is difficult to find elsewhere (track chainring bolts, lockrings for example), and spokes in a variety of lengths at reasonable prices in batches of 16, 32, etc. You also need to have a returns / warranty policy which is second-to-none, and obviously you have to have postage free shopping. The next suggestion might be tricky to do, but how about a saddle loan scheme where people buy a saddle for a week, then return it for a refund so they can try various saddles and see what suits them (obviously you wouldn't be sending brand new saddles out each time), and if they don't return it they just get charged for it. Finally you could do ride themed discounts. For example discounts on lights in the run up to the Dunwich Dynamo, discounts on tubs before a track day.

Good suggestions^

illy you should run SJS!

Steady on chap, I only go to uni there.

We'll offer a 50% discount when we see a 5000% increase in profits

But in all seriousness, it is something I am looking into. The main problem will be ensuring that it is you, the forum members that benefit, and not every customer who passes through our store.

They would have to have let me redesign the Langster to look more like a Thorn Audax or Surly Steamroller and then to throw out all of those dodgy paint jobs. Oh, and they would have had to give so much money as to make Soloman blush. I'd only compromise my stance for serious moolah.

Last time I dealt with SJS I was more than satisfied. Had a good old chat about Brooks saddles (which they do at fantastic prices) and the guy was very helpful indeed.

i dunno, i think it's all quite charming!

A lot of people here like to build their own wheels... It would be great if SJS could offer best prices on spokes and various hubs / rims which are popular with people here.

Basically what Illy said...

do SJS do wheelbuilding?

You could be issued with a discount/membership code when you have travelled through the nursery and made a certain number of posts?

Far from foolproof I accept.

Other than that the only thing I can think of would be something in the private section that generates a one time code which you then use when placing your order.

Maybe it could be linked directly with the account you have... ie using the same email address as registered on the forum.

Only problem would be making sure people didn't sign up here just to get the discount... maybe a 30-40 post / month long membership before the discount is applicable?

Yes they do.

But take discount away for anyone with more than 3,000 posts or a post rate over 10 a day.

So we have established that you are a tart and are now haggling about price ;o)

*grumble, grumble*

that's a really good idea. not just for the SJS 75% discount code.

Murtle?

Enrico?

I agree. I can't wait to see how the new 90% discount scheme works.

ha! Nice...

however I thought better of it and deleted that post. I think its really good that you're on board. Sorry for messing around.

I've worked out how to side step the discount code thing- I'll happily put an SJS cycles sticker on my frame in return for a set of DuraAce 7710 cranks/BB/49T chain ring.

I'll put on a sticker AND wear a t-shirt.

I'll get a forehead tat for a spok

Yeah... because we're all so good at UTFS..