I was urged to exchange a pair of Castelli Arrivo Bib Tights (size Large) to a larger size. Size Large was "available" (not in stock) which therefore took a while to get. But to my surprise I got a pair Castelli Sorpasso Bib Tight size XLARGE. I decided to keep them and got a refund of the difference. So the response was quick, but to send another model was a disappointment. Therefore only 3 stars.

The bike I received was in a satisfactory condition. I've received bikes from other retailers in much worse condition. The rear and front derailleurs were both tuned perfectly on my new purchase which I was impressed with as have often had issues with this before. As for the Brakes, the bolts were not quite tight enough which led to them losing alignment. A simple fix however. My only criticism is of how the headset was put together. The bolts seemed to be torqued correctly, but the internal expander wedge was not lowered enough which meant there was a lot of movement in the headset. The headset is one of the most important components on a bike and should have been correctly set up. My first ride was horrible, I could feel the headtube moving about all over the place and my handlebars were rattling a lot. I find this unacceptable with the cost of carbon fibre bikes and the risks involved if not correctly installed. Apart from the one major issue, I'm relatively happy with the purchase. I think more attention should be paid to getting the fundamental parts of the bike perfectly set up to ride for the less experienced mechanic.

The service was excellent. I was very happy with the runner bike from the same manufacturer but I did forget i had to adjust bearings (headset and wheel cones) as they were over tightened at least for my liking. The same was true with this bike. One of the lock nuts on an axle was crookedly threaded and needed replacing. The rear sprocket is also not true on the wheel but given its low rotational speed and little legs with no torque acting on it I'm not too fussed. The gearing is almost too high, he is strong for his age and small inclines are too much so I think replacing the rear sprocket with something larger will make this more workable. My son is at the bottom end of the size guide for this bike with an inside leg 2cm longer than the smallest size I think the bike is just a little too big but he is growing fast so we'll manage. The cranks are long (125mm) but use a square taper and could also be replaced if needed but then we are into gearing issues again. Looking around the market I think its hard to find much difference here unless you go into the £200+ bracket and that is not worth the spend. Plastic clips that hold the rear brake cable to the frame are too cheap and flimsy. One is lost already and i think I'll have to wire the cable to the frame. The plastic caps that cover the crank bolts were fitted with a big hammer, one was not serviceable. They also have no slot for removal so a sharp tap with a hammer has needed to remove the serviceable one. I'd only recommend this for prospective bike mechanics. He had a 12" runner bike for 12 months and was great on that but the bigger frame caused balance adjustment issues. I took the pedals off while he learned to coast on this one then a couple of afternoons on flat tarmac with some traffic cones he was off. The only issue he had was getting started on his own.