My bike is a full-suspension mountain bike, which I used to actually bike in the mountains back when I lived in Virginia. It’s about 4 or 5 years old now, and the bottom bracket (the assembly that the crank runs through) was beginning to exhibit quite a bit of wear, causing my pedals to wobble.

Some of you may expect that I would simply fix my bike on my own, considering that is my usual practice with cars. However, I have little (ok, no) experience doing bike repair, and none of the special tools it may require. So I found myself in need of a repair shop.

When I can I like to try and help out new local businesses, and it just so happens that there is fairly new bike shop in town here in Richmond, the Cycling and Fitness Warehouse. I decided I’d give them a shot and I took in my bike. At the time it was right at the beginning of the summer season, so they were swamped with repair work. After about two weeks I recieved a call letting me know that the bike was done and I went to pick it up.

I had expected to have racked up a somewhat sizable repair bill, however I was pleased that instead of replacing the entire bottom bracket assembly they had simply redone the bearings and put everything back together. I paid my $8.50 and headed home a happy customer.

Fast forward a couple weeks … I’ve ridden my bike some around town and the wobble has returned, indicating that something was still amiss with the recently-repaired bottom bracket. I called up the shop and they told me to bring it in and they’d have it looked at in a day or two.

When I came to pick it up, I was shown that the pedals were once again tight, and told that this time they re-packed the bearings again and replaced a bushing. I was impressed that they were still trying to fix the problem without replacing parts unnecessarily. I was also pleased that when I asked what I owed they said “nothing” since it was my second trip to see them about the same problem.

This time I rode the bike home, and by the time I got back I noticed the wobble was already starting to return, though not as bad. I called the shop back (by now I was on a first name basis with the guy) and he said to bring it in again and they’d have it fixed in a day or two.

So this past Tuesday I rode back down to the shop, talked to the guys there for a bit, and dropped the bike off. The plan now was to go ahead and replace the entire bottom bracket assembly. There’s a part of me that thought “finally … this is what I expected them to do in the first place.” However, I also think they were right not to replace it if it wasn’t really defective. Finally we were all in agreement that yes, it was.

Saturday morning I was back at the shop to pick my bike up, hopefully for the last time (at least for this problem.) I was greeted by a friendly “hi Matt” as I walked in the door. After getting my bike back I once again asked what I owed, expecting to at least pay for the price of the new bottom bracket assembly. But once again I was told that I was not going to be charged. Needless to say, I was pleased.

As I rode my bike home the difference was like night and day. It felt so good I rode far past my house, just to ride. Now I could be cranky about the fact that it took three trips to the shop to get this problem right, or that the whole ordeal took over a month, but I’m not. And why is that? Great customer service.

I think that in the modern age of internet shopping and mega-marts, we often forget what really good customer service is like. In our phone conversations I quickly went from being “Mat, the owner of the full-suspension Mountainsmith bike” to “Matt with the bottom bracket problems” to just “Matt.” The people I talked to at the shop were sincerely apologetic that the problem had not yet been fixed. And I know that the shop ended up spending both time and money to make sure I was a happy customer. All this for someone who had never set foot in their shop before all this began.

And so I am a happy customer. They will recieve more of my business and I’ll gladly spread the word of my experiences there. Having worked in customer service before, I know it isn’t always easy (or even possible) to keep patrons happy, so I applaud this shop’s efforts to do so. Now if only all my online customer service issues were handled in a similarly pleasant way.

If you’re in or around Richmond, IN and need a cycle shop, be sure to check out the Cycling and Fitness Warehouse. (Be forewarned that their website, while flashy, is rather obnoxious.) Tell them Matt with the bottom bracket problems sent you. I’m sure they’ll be glad to know their good customer service paid off.

1. After 22 years I will finally be done with school. For a while at least.
2. From now on I will be able to buy books because I like them, not because they’re required for class.
3. Two words: Gainful Employment.
4. I will finally have a bit more regularity to my daily schedule. Hopefully.
5. Because it’s a great excuse to see family and friends I haven’t seen for a while.

It’s been a great three years here at Bethany, and there are definitely some things I will miss about being in school. However, I must admit that I’m pretty excited to be done and get out into the “real world.” See you there!

Any other graduates out there? Any thoughts on graduation in general? Feel free to share in the comments.

Friday5 is a weekly column that lists five items on a theme drawn from one of the various categories covered by From Bits to Bites & Windshields to Worship.

Today marks one year since those 33 people’s lives were abruptly brought to a halt. Simply typing this and thinking of the sadness of it all brings back those familiar emotions from a year ago. I hope that you notice that I choose to remember 33, not 32 as the media tends to do. I hope that you will also remember 33, because even though Cho was the one who perpetrated this tragedy, he was a victim as well. A victim of a society that often does not know how to deal with diversity in healthy ways, a society that would rather shun and break people down instead of including them and building them up. In addition, the pain of Cho’s family is no less than the pain of the other victims’ families. If anything, theirs may be greater.

I’ll be wearing my maroon and orange again today, in solidarity, in unity, in remembrance of 33.

We are Virginia Tech.

Be sure to see my wife Becky’s post on this same topic.

1. Read it

Ok, this one might seem a bit obvious. But sometimes it’s good to start with the obvious things. Wander around the site a bit, get a feel for not only what’s here already, but what might be yet to come. Check out the about page for a little more insight into what I’m trying to do here. I know the topics might seem a bit disjointed but hey, if we’re honest isn’t life a little disjointed?

2. Bookmark it

Http://www.mattmckimmy.com/blog . Right click and “bookmark this link …” (if you’re using Firefox at least.) Of course you could use any number of methods to set up a bookmark to this, your new favorite site. Or you could do one better and …

3. Subscribe

I realize that some folks don’t have a clue what it means to “subscribe” to a website. Fear not. I’ve written a post just for you. If you’re already on board with RSS and looking for new food for your feed reader, check out the links on the right in the subscribe section. You’ll find what you need there.

4. Leave a Comment

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again. What makes blogs great is that they’re not just a static medium. They’re interactive and communal. They allow for conversation between me the writer, you the reader, and anyone else who happens to stumble across this corner of cyberspace. So speak your mind, question my sanity, grace us with your wisdom, and make your mark in the comments section at the end of each post. You don’t even have to register. Unless, of course, you want to …

5. Register

Why register? Well, it makes leaving comments a lot easier for one. Plus it helps to create consistency. Once you enter in your information once it will appear exactly the same on each comment you post. And if you use an email address you’ve associated with a gravatar that will show up too. How cool is that?

Well I hope these suggestions give you some ideas of how you can get the most out of this site. I figure that if I’m going to take the time to write this stuff I mind as well try and make it useful for people, right? Here’s to hoping you’ll get something out of your time here …

Friday5 is a weekly column that lists five items on a theme drawn from one of the various categories covered by From Bits to Bites & Windshields to Worship.

From Bits to Bites & Windshields to Worship!

I’ve put a great deal of time and effort into getting this blog up and going. I hope that it can be a source of information, insight, connection, and community. One of the advantages of ramping up slowly before going live is that I’m able to launch with quite a bit of content already posted, so feel free to poke around and get a feel for what this blog is all about. Check out the categories listings, peruse the archives, and maybe even leave a comment or get a subscription (or at least figure out what getting a subscription means!)

One of the things that makes blogs so great is the opportunity they provide for conversation. Therefore, I hope you’ll feel free to contribute your own thoughts, retorts, and suggestions in the comments sections you’ll find at the end of each post. The beauty of the internet is that it doesn’t have to be a one-way communication medium, so let’s make the most of it!

Now that you’re here, why don’t you go ahead and take your coat off, kick off your shoes, and hang out for a while? I think this gonna be a lot of fun …