Calfee Service - A Critique: Bikefanclub.com

Recently, I was dismayed to find a small fracture on the underside of my Tetra Pro's down tube. With this type of problem, it was obvious that I didn't have a lot of options. I had to send the bike back to Calfee for the repair. I had dealt with Calfee only once before and that was simply a few questions over the phone regarding clear coat "ding" repair. I called Calfee on the phone to make sure that I knew what they needed from me in terms of sending the bike in properly. They gave me the information that I needed, and the bike was soon on its way via UPS. I sent a letter with the bike giving Calfee all of the pertinent information about the bike and the problem. In the letter, I asked them to call me after inspecting the bike as I wanted to discuss some "clear coating/ding repair" options with them before they worked on the bike. Sure enough, a few days after I sending them the bike, I received a phone call from Dean at Calfee. He said that they had received the bike and had inspected it. He quoted me two prices: one for re-clear coating the entire bike in addition to fixing the frame and the other for just repairing any "dings" that they noticed in addition to the frame repair. I ended up choosing the latter option. A few days later, I again received a call from Dean telling me that the work was completed and that they were ready to send the frame back to me. I gave Dean my credit card number; and within the next week, I had my frame back. I was hoping that I would be satisfied with the result. When I opened the box to inspect the frame and fork, what I found was a NEW frame and fork. Okay, I'm exaggerating a bit, it was my old frame and fork, BUT THEY BOTH LOOKED BRAND NEW!! Not only had they done a flawless job of replacing the down tube, but they had fixed every ding on the bike and done something to the clear coat so that it had that NEW luster. The mechanic at my LBS who helped to dis-assemble and re-assemble the bike swore that it was a new frame and fork. To give you an example, the underside of the fork crown had a number of very noticable scratches in it (probably only in the clear coat) when I sent the bike to Calfee. When I got the frame and fork back, that area looked perfect (AND I HADN'T EVEN ASKED THEM ABOUT THAT SPECIFIC AREA WHEN WE DISCUSSED WHAT I WANTED DONE).

We've all had an interaction with someone or some group that was so positive that it sort of renewed our faith in other people. This was absolutely that type of experience for me.

In the future, when someone asks how I like my Tetra Pro, I will give them my stock answer (i.e. "I love it"); but that won't be the end of it. I will also tell them how appreciative I am for the very professional and conscientious way that I was treated by The Calfee Design Group when I needed their help.

Thank you Dean and Steve. It was a pleasure.

Mike Hassur
Puyallup, WA

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Mike H