Trailhouse Village Bicycles — Local services in Winona Lake

UPDATE: Since originally posting a positive review of the Trailhouse (see below), I have to change my rating. They have gone from a helpful store with great customer service to a shop that apparently couldn't care less about customers if they aren't spending hundreds of dollars or more. I dropped off a road bike with a new carbon fork that needed trimmed to the appropriate length (on a Wednesday). After nearly a week of waiting (the following Tuesday), they contacted me to let me know they were finally going to get started on it. On Saturday, they let me know there was an issue with the fork, and they couldn't install it. I went in and picked up the old fork, contacted the original seller (online), and worked with them to get a replacement. The replacement arrived on a Saturday, and I immediately took it to the shop to have the work finished. The mechanic was out for the day, but I was assured they would get it finished up early the following week. After ten days, now, I still haven't been contacted to let me know if the work is done, or if they're even planning on starting it sometime this month. I'm going in after work to pick up the bike and fork and find another shop to do the work.

I have no issue with a shop being busy and taking time to get to some projects. However, this project is about 30 minutes of work (tops), and they don't have to supply anything but a little labor and some wear on a saw blade. I would have been happy to pay $30-40 for this work, so that's $30-40 for less than a half an hour of work, but apparently such a small amount of money is irrelevant to them, so they'll just ignore me in favor of other customers. Until now, I really liked this shop, but from now on, I'll be taking all my business elsewhere.

UPDATE 2: When I went to pick up my bike per the update above, I was told they had to order an additional headset part to finalize the fork install. I was told it would be a couple of days until they'd have it ready. I should have told them to forget it and just left with my bike, but I figured if they'd have it done by Friday, I'd just deal with it and not use them again. Fast forward to Friday when I get a call from the shop telling me they have some other issues with my bike. They try to tell me my chain is worn out (it's a Shimano Ultegra chain with 200 - 250 miles on it; it is absolutely NOT worn out), the rear derailleur and cassette are incompatible (they're from a brand new Shimano 105 groupset that I pulled off my other frame after putting 200 - 250 miles on them and that the Trailhouse performed final set up on), and that my front derailleur won't work with the chainrings (also from the same 105 groupset the Trailhouse set up on my previous frame). The guy tried to tell me he wasn't trying to stick it to me for more parts, but that the rear derailleur would rip the cassette off the bike if they were used together. I asked, then why did they work after you set them up the last time? Also, why are you doing anything other than cutting the steerer and installing the fork. Apparently in the month+ they've had my bike, they kept such poor records they forgot all they were supposed to do is the work on the fork. I have all the parts I need to finish the assembly at home, because any idiot can put together a bicycle; working on them isn't that hard. He then had the nerve to tell me he'd already cabled the bike. I told him that's not my problem; I didn't ask you to do that.

So, this additional issue has totally convinced me to NEVER use this shop again. I'd highly recommend, unless you're one of the owner's buddies, take your business elsewhere. These guys have become one of the worst businesses in the Warsaw area. Absolutely skip them.

FINAL UPDATE: To the shop's credit, they didn't even attempt to charge me for the extra parts or labor I didn't request.

ORIGINAL REVIEW: Extremely helpful and knowledgeable staff, prompt service and...

Really wanted to have positive things to say about Trailhouse... Started well in-house by getting fitted and a bike ordered, but beyond that, there really isn't many positive things to say about our experience.

Short story: Never got our bike, never got any communication about our order, and, really, never received any effort to make things right.

Long story: Stopped in on a Saturday to take a gander and ended up ordering a new bike there on the spot. Was told it would be in by mid week the following week. Come the next week, never heard anything from them. My husband called Friday and they couldn't tell us anything as they had no tracking or shipping information, however the gentleman was confident it would come the following day since it had been so long. Never heard anything the following day or for several days to follow. I called on Wednesday (10 days after ordering at this point) and the gentleman then noticed that the item was backordered from that distribution center. I was told he would call Trek first thing in the morning to let them know that Trailhouse wanted them to ship from another distribution center which had the bike in stock. I was told that they would call me with an update the next day upon getting more information about when it might come. I never received a phone call. Nor the day following. On Saturday, two weeks after ordering, my husband called again. Again, they had no tracking information and could not tell us anything about when the bike might arrive. Was told they would call Trek first thing Tuesday and call with an update. Once more, come Tuesday, we did not receive any update. We call again on Tuesday evening and asked to speak to the gentleman who placed the order for us. He then told us that he could see the bike was at the warehouse in Wisconsin and should come the following day. Never received a call the following day. On Thursday, we call again. This time we are told that the bike was supposed to arrive the day before along with 3 other bikes they ordered and that the three other bikes had arrived but ours has not and that they didn't have any tracking information. When asked what the options were they said they could reorder "and risk it not showing up again." ..... After 2.5 weeks of being told we would be contacted with updates multiple times, even from the manager and being told the owner was aware of the situation and keeping an eye on it, and then receiving absolutely no updates or communication and no assurance of actually receiving what we had paid for, we opted to ask for a refund and will be taking our...

I stopped in looking for a tube for my big box store mid-fat 27.5+ mtb. I had taken the front axle apart and could not figure out how to put it back together. I was leaving the next day for a week long camping/mtb trip without a functioning bike not only because of the flat, and the sales guy made it his mission to not only get my thru-axle put back together, but to teach me how to do it...explaining the function of the different parts along the way...and even had me take pictures so I could remember for next time. Just WOW! When I thanked him afterward, the fella was genuinely happy he had made my day. He took almost a half hour with me and charged me NOTHING but the $12 price of the inner tube I had already planned to purchase. It was among the best customer service experiences I have ever had in more than 50 years of experiences. Truly impressive and worth reviewing. Keep up the great work guys! Oh yeah, I almost forgot. One more thing. I had been trying to convert to tubeless and failed which was why I had ruined my tube and had my wheel apart. He looked at my attempt at taping the rim and explained to me why I couldn't get my tire to seat and what I needed to do differently to make it work. Again, just more free advice. He truly enjoyed teaching me...