Anyone else had problems with All Terrain Cycles? It’s made me realise how good Wiggle, Merlin*, Ribble and Chain Reaction Cycles all are.

Last Friday I ordered three components, a stem, a seatpost and a bottom bracket. On Tuesday I am told that the stem isn’t available and the bottom bracket is on route to them from the distributor. I asked that they cancel the bottom bracket and just send me the seatpost.

On Wednesday evening I am called to say they can’t get the seatpost either (despite it being in stock the previous day), so, now, almost a week on since the order and All Terrain Cycles simply cancel the order. I just this minute came off the phone after speaking to the chap there who simply said it’s not ideal but that’s the way it is – no attempt to appease the matter.

So, now I go back to trusty Wiggle, cap in hand, and order items for next day delivery learnign the lesson to stick to the guys with the live stock indication.

So, who comes as the most recommended for the combined price, delivery charge, description accuracy, efficiency etc. Who comes out on top?

* Merlin Cycles live stock indicator isn’t always very live but they are at least helpful when things go wrong.

CRC, Wiggle, Merlin, Dotbike, SJS – all good

maybe Evans too, if pushed

I don’t bother with anywhere else these days. Just not worth the hassle.

Just CRC and merlin for me.

Rutland – gets a thumbs up from me.

Merlin – spot on every time.

Wiggle – OK, despatch a bit hit and miss if you just go for free delivery. Very good at sorting out warranty issues & customer services prompt enough at replying to emails.

CRC – random despatch times. Not the cheapest by a long shot anymore, but a huge variety of stuff stocked, including random light bracket mounts and the like. Sometimes have phone top ups added to order 😉

thebikechain – not used much, but spot on every time.

CRC- Credit Card issue aside, normally very good, quick delivery and competitive prices, although probably not the cheapest nowadays.

Wiggle- Normally OK, customer service can be iffy, sent 2 replacement items which had the same fault as the original, how hard can it be to check?

Merlin- maybe don’t have the stock choice of CRC but for more common parts they seem to be better on price, delivery is good, no problems so far. Probably the first place I look these days.

Biketart- Only used them once but no problems.

Leisurelakes, Freeflow and All Terrain are ones I’ve had stock problems with, really annoying when they charge your card straight away too.

CRC has always been good for me, as have Merlin. Decent Gear are also very good.

I’ve used Tredz once as well, they delivered quickly and were cheap.

CRC, wiggle, Merlin and on-one

crc 90% of the time here
wiggle and merlin for other bits

CRC
Wiggle
Lexs
Anyone else who’s got the best price and has a stock indicator for each item

Have just used Rose bikes to order some new pedals, cheaper than any where in the UK and delivered in 3 days.

Agree the CRC, Wiggle and Merlin are all pretty good.
Used Ribble for a lot of road stuff recently, quick despatch and very cheap.
The Wooly Hat shop were pretty fast and cheap to but limited range

I’ve used ATC several times no probs – plus the couriers ATC use, their depot is on my way home so perfect if they’re unable to deliver.
I use
CRC – lots
merlin – lots
on-one – few
rutland – few
ukbikestore – few
parker international – mainly road but some mtb.

Used CRC and wiggle regularly without too much stress.

Evans were OK but didn’t bother writing my address on the package so I had to ring the courier myself to tell them wehre to deliver it.

Ribble seriously messed up one of my orders several times and were incredibly rude to me on the phone about it (at no point did I actually try and give them grief either).

Wiggle, Merlin, CRC, ATC, JRA, Action Sports (german) are all good. On-one and ukbikestore always deliver but seem a little slower.

Leisure lakes are the only ones I actively avoid as they just seem too imcompetant for words. 3/3 orders utterly mucked up.

Ribble were so rude and unhelpful on the phone and email during enquiries that I’ve never actually wanted to order from them.

I also don’t buy from any site that isn’t completely up front about postage costs. For some reason it really gets my goat when you have had to register and get almost to the end and then they add postage. Why not have it appear in the basket or at least have a big button to click that explains postage charges?

Can I stick up for ukbikestore – Not always the cheapest but very good service 🙂

jejames any good? never used them but only they have stock of a rim I’m after

Shackleton – Member
I also don’t buy from any site that isn’t completely up front about postage costs. For some reason it really gets my goat when you have had to register and get almost to the end and then they add postage. Why not have it appear in the basket or at least have a big button to click that explains postage charges?

We (thebikechain) struggled with this for a while. Despite mentioning in several places that we don’t charge postage, we’d regularly get emails asking what the postage costs were.

Cyclesportsuk have been great with the stuff I’ve got from them.

Try to avoid:
Ribble
Cycke Surgery

Won’t even consider:
JE James. But everyone knows that.

Always look on Merlin first now, followed by Wiggle then CRC

Delivery times with Merlin are so much quicker – embarrasingly so – over Christmas the wife’s present didn’t arrive in time for the 25th, even though it had been ordered a week before. Bars I ordered on the evening of the 22nd from Merlin arrived the next day!

Good:
AW Cycles
On One/Priceshaggers/Planet X
Stif
Billys BMX
18bikes
Edinburgh Cycles
Pedal-On
Parker International

Bad:
Evans
Fisher Outdoor – had to chase them up for a refund, so won’t use them again. (Aka B’spoke)

JE James are usually ok. Sometimes not.

All Terrain Cycles are my nearest big bike shop and they are useless. I have often called to check something is in stock before going down only to find after a 40 minute journey they don’t have it. Their prices seem over the top too.

Good online retailers include:

Merlin
Stif
CRC (back orders can be hit and miss when they don’t inform you that the delivery date has been pushed back again)
Wiggle
actionsports.de (really good prices and always received within 3 days)
We Love Mountains (Great service but terrible website)

So so
UKbikestore (not the cheapest, charge for delivery and show in stock when not but always delivery within a week)
Ribble (pretty much as above but can keep you waiting for delivery without any updates)

http://www.thebikechain.co.uk are always awesome and as druidh says, no postage charges. Just got myself a new rear hose and a Renthal stem from them and a wee PSA on the Renthal stems – £70! I couldn’t find anywhere cheaper for those right now.

Crc
Descentgear.com
Merlin
Wiggle
Descentgear were awesome for me, had a niggle with an order and they refunded my money and sent the goods anyway, fifty odd squid it was, not a small amount, still amazed by them, superb!
Very nice on the phone as well

Completely agree

All Terrain Cycles are my nearest big bike shop and they are useless. I have often called to check something is in stock before going down only to find after a 40 minute journey they don’t have it. Their prices seem over the top too.

Im not too far away from them but they are hopeless, prices are way off the mark and service is surly and patchy. Id rather dirve another 20 mins to JD Cycles in Ilkley (never ordered online from JD though).

I like Merlin, Ukbikestore, bikechain, CRC and Wiggle, Ribble have been ok for the road stuff too.

I’ve used ATC over the years generally Ok though not very fast.

Last order was annoying though – specified delivery to work address and they still sent it to my home which meant a trip to the couriers to pick it up.

CRC – Good if paypal, but getting expensive & slow dispatch compared to the the past + Quidco
Merlin – Good, Cheap,not great selection, v fast delivery
Ribble – can be very cheap, slow dispatch
Wiggle – expensive, but quick delivery + Quidco
Woolyhat – limited selction, quick & very cheap
Evans – retail normally, good for sale items + Quidco
Rose – after a few teething issues with them, extremly quick, quciker than CRC, can be very cheap if you want German parts
One-On – don’t use on-line anymore as close enough for to me to ride to them, but when have used on line, have been quick & cheap

CRC-people will steal money from your card.Wiggle that bloomin’ website takes too long to load.I like the Merlin boys or somene on E bay with powerseller ratings?

My experiences and the only ones I’ve used;

Merlin – normally cheapest, quick delivery, not the greatest selection.

Chain reaction – cheap, excellent selection and ‘most’ things in stock. Delivery/despatch times been a bit random on the last few things I bought.

UK bikestore – Can highly recommend. Excellent service and you can actually speak to someone who knows what they’re on about, sometimes cheaper than chainreaction too. Delivery only a pound but they don’t use Royal Mail so that means I have to drive a lot further to pick the parcel up if i’m not in.

J.E.James – Due to living close to chesterfield I normally call in to pick stuff up (they’ll get stuff transfered from a different shop for you too) they are quite unreliable sometimes tho. Only ordered something online off them once the other year, a saint mech, it came quick enough but then I was charged something like £5 p+p so bit of a rip off really (it did still work out cheaper than anywhere else).

Ribble good if you pay a bit extra for next day delivery – which is ok as prices appear to be cheaper than everywhere else in particular roadie bits – very good for campagnolo
High on Bikes on ebay really are superb too
CRC a bit hit & miss delivery & not as cheap any more.
UK Bike store very good
Also used a few other ebay stores wthat have been very good – check the feedback

For international customers …….

Im from N Ireland originally , been in Oz for 9 yrs

WIGGLE : Free postage to Oz over $85 orders (less than 50 quid) , some places charge $85 for postage , absolutely awesome customer service thru email, cant fault them on any point.

CRC : Used to be 7 miles from my home , it was a lil shop on the main street last time i remember , free postage to OZ on orders over $465 (300 quid) awesome customer service , but loose a lot to OZ because of their high free postage threshold.

A set of tyres gets free postage from wiggle here .

As far as international is concerned , WIGGLE is a godsend !