Welcome to SRAM Dealer Service Direct - take a tour of our gallery by swiping, tapping or clicking right - David Rome / Immediate Media
Not designed for public access, SRAM Australia's offices sit deep within a Victorian industrial estate not far from Melbourne's best riding. Rob Eva, SRAM’s general manager for Australia, New Zealand and South Africa, took us for a tour of the place - David Rome / Immediate Media
Greeting entrants is the bike of world cup downhiller Troy Brosnan - David Rome / Immediate Media
SRAM Technical University (STU) is where dealers learn how to make your bikes better - David Rome / Immediate Media
Custom mats – not something you'll find at the average university - David Rome / Immediate Media
The STU room can host up to 14 people at a time, but we're told the ideal is a more personal seven, where each person is then always hands-on - David Rome / Immediate Media
All STU workspaces face the front TV screens for a proper learning environment - David Rome / Immediate Media
Each attending dealer is given a workspace with their own tools for the three day course, prizes are given to those who keep theirs the cleanest (the idea being that a clean and ordered working environment is an efficient one) - David Rome / Immediate Media
A drawer of tools belonging to the STU course intructor - James Lewis - David Rome / Immediate Media
Fork dampers sit inside one side of your fork's legs, to control the action of the fork - David Rome / Immediate Media
For those attending STU, there's a casual seating area and a full kitchen too - David Rome / Immediate Media
Wheels from WorldTour and Pro-Conti teams are returned at the end of each season and then redistributed to smaller, national teams. For example, these wheels from Drapac were being passed onto the Australian NRS Search2Retain team - David Rome / Immediate Media
There are enough spares to build forks from scratch, but sometimes that can be inefficient, and so complete brand-new forks sit in small quantities on racks. If rare parts are needed in a hurry, forks may be pulled apart into spares – otherwise in other rare cases, a full fork swap is done - David Rome / Immediate Media
Just about every recent RockShox spare is kept on premises, that includes a shelves and shelves of crown-steerer units (CSU's) and lower legs - David Rome / Immediate Media
Doesn't get much more Australian than this - when you're left with a spare tray of a ute (what us Australians call small trucks), you make use of it - David Rome / Immediate Media
SRAM sponsors the Australian National Road Series and provides neutral service for it - these vehicles are kept on premises - David Rome / Immediate Media
Another neutral service vehicle sits and awaits the next race - David Rome / Immediate Media
Now that's a bike rack! Some are ex-WorldTour bikes, some are for neutral service, some are staff bikes and the rest are used as demo rides for those attending STU - David Rome / Immediate Media
Here’s a look at the vehicle area. The trailer on the left is for off-road events (it's sealed to dirt) and the one on the right is for cleaner events - David Rome / Immediate Media
The brands within the house of SRAM - David Rome / Immediate Media
Need directions to your nearest SRAM sponsored race? - David Rome / Immediate Media
Even the tables are made from SRAM products - David Rome / Immediate Media
The guys at SRAM Australia were still tight lipped about wireless, but they're clearly part of the testing - David Rome / Immediate Media
Rider jerseys line many of the office walls - David Rome / Immediate Media
The DSD workshop is downstairs, with multiple working bays and plenty of space - David Rome / Immediate Media
Some tools are custom made, such as this Reverb post clamp - David Rome / Immediate Media
A custom Jayco caravan sits awaiting the next road event... - David Rome / Immediate Media
...inside, the rear bed section has been replaced with fold-up bunk beds and space for motorbike transport - David Rome / Immediate Media
Outside is a purpose-built washing bay that proper drainage and permanent workstand clamps (clamps not pictured) - David Rome / Immediate Media
Some of the neutral service wheels and equipment sits awaiting the next event - David Rome / Immediate Media
Racks of spare suspension fork, wheel, brake and drivetrain components - David Rome / Immediate Media
Another view from the DSD workshop, with technician David Ferroni working away - David Rome / Immediate Media
Where the SRAM European and US offices have museum-like displays, the Australian collection was far smaller. Still, they had a few pieces of history, with items like Nathan Rennie's world record long-jump Boxxer fork, a Sid'ney fork (2000 Olympics limited edition) and this - David Rome / Immediate Media
The SRAM shop dog - Carlee - David Rome / Immediate Media
In the workshop, the drawers not holding tools are holding service spares... - David Rome / Immediate Media
... and more spares... - David Rome / Immediate Media
... and even more spares - David Rome / Immediate Media
Tucked deep within an industrial area, not far from Melbourne’s best trails and road rides, sits SRAM’s Australian Dealer Service Department (DSD). This custom-fitted building serves many roles from being SRAM’s southern-hemisphere offices, to dealer training, to service support and as a place to store event support equipment and vehicles.
Sitting as one of SRAM’s six global DSD’s, the Australian offices were built off the need for an increasing demand from large bike companies and dealers wanting immediate support for original equipment components, without having to rely on aftermarket-selling wholesalers.
Another view from the dsd workshop, with technician david ferroni working away : another view from the dsd workshop, with technician david ferroni working away
When not wrenching at one of the many supported road or mountain bike events, the small service crew are all hands-on providing service of product – some of that is warranties; plenty of it paid rebuilds (through bike stores).
We spoke to Dave Ferroni in the service department, who explained that the team averages about 25 jobs a day, which includes the admin and phone calls. They push hard for a 24-hour turnaround on repairs and warranty claims, from the time of receiving the item. The intention is to minimise the time for which any customer is without their bike.
Welcome to sram technical university (stu) - where dealers learn how to make your bikes better: welcome to sram technical university (stu) - where dealers learn how to make your bikes better
Another function at the Australian DSD is SRAM’s Technical University (STU). This is a three-day technical course for bike shop mechanics and anyone else in the industry that seeks detailed service and operation training in SRAM products.
Running such courses costs money but has the potential to pay huge dividends in terms of increased workshop efficiency and detail of service – so SRAM does charge for the course. Some 130 people have undergone the training in just the past year, with another 100 spots to be filled by the end of 2015.
Making this knowledge available to dealers creates an extra 'something' that cannot be offered with online purchases, and it’s something SRAM hopes will lead to customers getting the best experience out of their product.
Another neutral service vehicle sits and awaits the next race : another neutral service vehicle sits and awaits the next race
SRAM sponsors the Australian National Road Series and provides neutral support; accordingly there’s a full complement of vehicles and event trailers stored in the building, which are used and called upon for the large events.
Take a tour of the building and find out more of what goes on at SRAM DSD in our gallery above.
