Alpine Hut — Local services in Seattle

Mixed experience - I don't plan to go back here. They did some solid work, and accommodated some unique requests (drilling a hole in a steel frame to route internal dropper cable), but were not organized, did not respect my time, and overcharged.

On one hand, this place was close to my house, and they were able to fit me in during what is a very busy time for bike maintenance etc. I wanted to build up a frame and replace/transfer components on another bike. Their lead mechanic did a great job with my drivetrain swap, though he mixed up the handlebars between bikes. No biggy, and he replaced it.

I had given them a printout listing al the parts and indicated which components went on which bike, but that seemed to have been misplaced or discarded because later on Kyle mentioned it was me not being clear about which bike should get which handlebar, resulting in an extra wrap job.

For the 2nd bike (built up from frame), they had this bike for just shy of 2 months before I actually went home with it. They struggled with the brake bleed, which I understand that there can be technical difficulties, but I was told it was ready no less than 4 or 5 times, and came in to pick it up only to try it out and find the brakes were garbage. Ultimately they discovered that it was a brake seal needing replacement. The mechanic should have tried out the brakes himself before calling me in!

Another issue I found is that we had discussed moving my dropper post over to the new frame. The new frame did not have internal routing, so the mechanic left it disconnect without saying anything to me about it. So that was another time I came to pick it up and then left it. Another week goes by, the mechanic didn't drill the hole. Then the owner, Kyle, charged me $160 to drill the hole for the internal routing in the steel frame. He claimed 3 hours of work for this - I get this is non standard, but had I known I would've been charged so much money, I could have dremeled it out myself. This can't be more than a 30 minute job!

All in, I was charged just shy of $937 for two bike build-ups, drilling/filing a hole, and a seperate brake pad change. And, I wasted a ton of my time coming in repeatedly to pick up a bike that was not ready.

In the end the bikes turned out well, but with a lot of expense and headache. I plan to find...

I live rurally and was on my way through the city and thought I might check this place out. I understand that a boot fitting appointment is required, but I just popped in to check out inventory on a slow Sunday morning and got talked at and talked over about how I am not allowed to look at any boots because, as stated to me by the guy behind the counter, “I don’t sell boots I fit boots, and that’s why I’m the best boot fitter around.” Sure! I’ve heard good things, and as a professional who works in her boots 5+ days a week I would have valued the input, but I just wanted a quick overview of what they had and to maybe get my feet in a pair of 22s to see if that was the right direction and to go do some research from there (aka make an appointment for a later time) once I knew what was available because I admit that I get overwhelmed in a retail setting so I like to go in well informed, especially when making a large/important purchase, but was told that trying boots “isn’t intellectual”(really didn’t know where that particular comment came from or how to interpret it). It was weird how argumentative that conversation turned, I’ve never had an experience like that. I eventually just had to be firm with the guy that I was leaving (but still expressed appreciation while trying to diffuse the situation) so he would stop talking down to me from across the room and in front of a couple other customers…I was embarrassed for all who were present. Then I said bye to that really nice dog in there and got out. Sounds like this may be an anomaly of an experience, but it hit home for me. Myself and my questions are...

So I cannot say how much the guys at Alpine Hut stepped up and saved the day. I just picked up some new Icelantic skis along with some Salomon Shift touring bindings and Lange XT Free 130 boots. I did not purchase them from the Hut, however after today I plan to make my ski and cycling purchases here.

So how they saved the day... I plan to take my son up skiing for the first time when he gets home tomorrow. Little does he know a pair of Volkl Manta's are waiting for him. In order for this to happen I needed my bindings mounted and I wanted to learn a little more about my Lange boots. So when I arrived I could see they were busy but in a very brief explanation (didn't even mention my kid) that I needed my skis back today so I could head up tomorrow, they went out of their way and made it happen in just a couple hours.

This my friends is pure customer service at its best!

Not only did they hook up my skis, their resident ski/boot guy went over my questions about my boots. Where as another shop had tried to talk me into heat molding my liners now, my new friend said to hold off and ski the boots several times as the liners would mold from use and explained why this was a better method. He could have told me otherwise and I would have paid to have the heat molding, but he didn't try to sell me and focused on the best method to using my boots. He did say once I wear the boots several times if there is a spot which isn't fitting perfect then he could set up to heat mold them.

To finish my story, I have my new skis all set up for tomorrow and have these...