Conte’s Bicycles & Fitness

This is a new location for Conte’s and much smaller than the shop over on Laskin, however what they lack in space and inventory they make up for in the willingness to order or transfer parts and the better customer service.
In my quest for a new Triathlon Bike I visited bike shops from Richmond to Virginia Beach and have found that each has different amounts of customer service and a large variance in pricing. Most shops are trying to sell off what they have in inventory because they have to get rid of the stock that they currently have before buying new bikes. In my case I already had a specific bike fit done by an independant bike fitter and I had a few options of bikes that would fit me well. Of those the most ideal was a Specialized Shiv. I originally went to Conte’s Virginia Beach as they are closer to where I live but the salesman (Dan) there wasn’t very helpful and couldn’t give me an accurate price (the bike will be «about» $ 4000).
I then went to this location and talked with Tony and Jennifer who were much more helpful. I explained to them what I was looking for and they asked me to wait a few minutes while they called Specialized to find out what was left in my size and what the current pricing was. Tony gave me the exact price $ 3000 and told me that they could have it in a week. I was buying last years model at the end of the season so they were able to get it at closeout pricing from the manufacturer and passed some of the savings on to me.
When the bike came in they called me, told me that it would take a couple of days to build the bike up and scheduled for me to come in and make final adjustments to fit the bike to me. Jennifer is the fitter and does a good job explaining what she is doing as she fits the bike to you. Each fitter has their own style of fitting and with triathlon bikes there is a tradeoff between highly aerodynamic agressive fit and less aerodynamic but more comfortable fit. Jennifer tends to be on the less agressive and more comfort oriented fit but will adjust based on your preferences.
Ultimately this is a great shop if you know what you want. Their inventory is small and they may not have it in stock but they can get it quick. Build quality and prices were excellent and the staff is friendly.