Reply to Comet Trail Cycles in Smyrna

I would not recommend renting or buying from Comet Trail Cycles under any circumstances. Their owner, Jeph, lied and deceived my friend and I, and if for not our outright anger, would have left us stranded 45+ miles away on two defective bikes.

We rented two long distance endurance road bikes from Comet Trail Cycles with the intent of doing a 110 mile ride on the Silver Comet Trail. Within 40 miles we had our first flat. Over the course of the next 10 miles, we would have 6 total flat tires occurring on all 4 of our tires. We received help checking and reinstalling inner tubes from a handful of experienced bikers on the trail, yet every time we found ourselves with another flat. The utility kits the bikes came with had one inner tube in each, and minimal supplies to repair a flat. We had already run out of the provided inner tubes and C02 canisters to inflate them. So, after flat tire 2 out of 6, we went to a nearby Walmart to buy more inner tubes, a hand pump, more C02 canisters, and lights to put on the bikes as we now knew we'd be biking back in the darkness.

After popping all the replacement inner tubes we had bought from Walmart we knew this was not simply bad luck, but something was wrong with the bikes, so we called Comet Trail Cycles for help, now being stranded 45 miles away. Originally the store wasn't going to do anything to help us and wanted to leave us deserted on the trail. They eventually gave us the phone number of a random individual who they said might be willing to pick us up. He didn't answer our calls or texts. After getting more and more upset and calling the store back, eventually the store owner, Jeph, agreed to come pick us and the defective bikes up.

Upon returning back to the store, Jeph apologized and admitted there was obviously something going on with the bikes. We told him we had spent just shy of $100 buying replacement tools and parts at Walmart and he kindly offered to pay us $60 for our hassle. Two days later I see my credit card had been charged for $60, not refunded $60. When I called Jeph back to ask him to fix this mistake, he told me that he actually intended to charge me, and that getting flat tires is just part of cycling. So, not only does Comet Trail Cycles rent defective bikes, but they also will lie to you.

If you rent from Comet Trail Cycles, just know that Jeph, the store owner, believes that getting 6 flat tires over the course of 55 miles is normal biking practice, and you might find yourself stranded in the middle of nowhere on defective bikes.