Fraser Bike and Two Wheel Tango

From personal experience, TWT has been fantastic. I'd trust their lead mechanic, Al, with any piece of bike equipment I ever buy. He has fixed everything from derailleur issues to race wheel hubs and everything in between for us, at times for little or no cost. Both of their fitters, Jess and Ken, have fitted and/or refitted Alaina and myself with continued success. We all know that (most times) bikes and their parts can be bought cheaper online, but for anyone who loves his/her bike, there is no monetary value you can put on having a LBS you can trust around the corner.

I've heard nothing but great things about Fraser. Just haven't been over there thus far.

Which brings me to my bottom line: Which one is closer to you? How convenient is it to take your bike to either shop? In other words, who puts the LOCAL in LBS? For me, that's an extremely important consideration. If something goes wrong on my favorite steed, I want it fixed NOW (again, at a shop I trust), and I don't want to schedule it into my life, and then drive an hour to get my bike when it's fixed. I want to be able to stop into the shop and chat up whatever question is bugging me with people with expertise.

I hope both shops continue to deliver great service, and both stay in business for a very long time.

i have heard nothing bad about either .. and i have heard good stuff from both.. so i would go with who is local to you .. i dont think you could go wrong with either. 

Thanks for the input!

Unfortunately neither is local local to me.  Two Wheel Tango is 30 minutes, Fraser Bike is 45 minutes.  So really it's a toss-up.  Up until now with my hybrid I've been going to American Cycle and Fitness (15 minutes) which I trust, but I thought it may be good to also find a store that specializes in tri bikes.  I'm in Novi and I welcome bike store suggestions of those that are closer.  These just happen to be the two stores I've seen being promoted at the triathlons I did.

I PM'ed a response with my experiences from both shops.

Hi!  I am on Team Fraser and have been training there since November 2009.  When I started I raced for another team and was welcomed to the shop and treated just as well as I am now.   

Ron is a fabulous mechanic and has taken good care of all my needs over the past 14 months.  He traveled down to Club Nationals with us and was approached by several athletes needing a mechanic...he was happy to help even though he
wasn't the "race mechanic".  He's that guy!   Fraser also is bike support at many of the 3D races so you may have run into Ron already.  They pretty much have what I need in the shop or get it quickly for me.  I've never had the "it will be here Saturday" only to find out it's not.  That's a pet peeve of mine.

Tony V does the fittings and is my coach.  He is very matter of fact (read: not warm and fuzzy before you get to know him) but VERY good at what he does.  Fittings aren't cheap, but I can tell you that I got off my bike in IMFL and felt pretty good to start the run.  I put in over 5000 miles in the saddle last year with no major issues.  Iknow several BT athletes have been to Tony for fittings, and have only heard good things.

They have all sorts of tri candy in the shop and Newton running shoes as well.  The owner supports Companions in Courage as our team charity and I like that about Fraser too. 

I am biased of course...I train there and feel like they are family, but I have been very happy with my purchases, the service and how they run the shop since I started there and was on another team.  And I gotta say the Felt B10 that Ron, and my coach helped my husband surprise me with this Christmas is AWESOME!    Couldn't be happier!

I hope this helps to answer some of your questions.

My husband and I just got new tri bikes from Two Wheel Tango in November.  We have been very happy with them so far.  They are opening a new store in Canton this spring.

Dennis and Jess and the rest of the staff at Two Wheel Tango are among the nicest staff I have met in any type of retail industry!!!! Not that Fraser is bad...they have a great shop too...but I like the people at TWT a bit better.

Fraser is a very, very strong retailer. So is Two Wheel Tango.

In coopoeration with Two Wheel Tango, Scott Parr, a former Motorola Team mechanic and author, has opened The Tri Shop.com in Canton.

This is a first class resource in the region.

It's tough to compare Two Wheel (ostensibly The Tri Shop.com) and Fraser since they serve different geographical markets seperated by the city of Detroit and a significant distance (40+ miles). Both strong retailers though. The edge goes to The Tri Shop.com because of their on line capability .

Since we are discussing local customers and not so much mail order...

I have been to both and have nothing negative to say about either.  Fraser is much closer to me and it was easy to make them my local bike shop.  They have a great inventory of bikes and parts.  Mechanics/sales are fantastic, helpfull and truly knowlgeable!  They also offer great support at local races.  

If you are interested in any kind of training you will have a hard time beating the coaching offered by Fraser. 

Edited by ParadigmPerformance 2011-02-10 1:55 PM