Gil Avidar

Review of Podium Sports

If you value your safety and health, I recommend ...

If you value your safety and health, I recommend that you avoid using any equipment they touched.

Brought two sets of road bikes. I wanted to add gears so I can climb more easily. We discussed what which crank set and rear cassette they would put. When I came to pick up the bike it turned out that they made a mistake on the information the gave me and a cassette with the big rings the said, does not exist. The chose not to inform me and installed another cassette that provided no additional gears. Just a change from 9 to 10 gear with the lowest gear the same as before the $600 I paid. When I got home and took the bike for a ride both the front and rear derailleurs were completely of tune with the chain flying off on every change on the front gear. Both side handle tape caps fell and the taping job was amateurish. After 4 trips to the shop my front derailleur is still off. The owner's attitude was horrible saying that they would not help me since "you already formed an opinion"

The second bike I brought with a a left shifter that did not work. I asked to get a quote for a new shifter. They told me it just needs a tune. After charging me for a tune up, the bike was returned with the original problem and the additional rear derailleur now out of tune.

subsequently I went to another mechanic. Upon taking a glance at my bike he noted that the front derailleur and shifter are incompatible with the narrower chain and would never work right. It looks like the Podium mechanic did not know of this or just tried to save money on my account.

A more elaborate inspection revealed that the rear shifter was not mounted correctly and essential parts were omitted.