absoluteBLACK Reviews 40

Quite happy with their products and support. I recently caused some major accident damage to an oval chainring and chain guide and their customer service personnel were quite swift and supportive to respond to my queries.

Terrible company. They list items as being in stock, but after you place an order and pay you will soon get an email to say the item is out of stock. But the item will continue to show as in stock. Crafty crafty company.

I purchased oval pvd, Hollowcage and graphene lube. Very happy with setup and performance. Customer service has been excellent. Prompt emails when asking questions. Self help videos informative.
I was told the Hollowcage would be out by 12 weeks and pleasantly surprised it arrived with the chainrings in a little over a week. I’ve purchased other products and never had any issues with customer service. In addition, I have called AB prior to order to confirm fit. After all, if I ordered it wrong then it’s on me. As with all components, installation is key. My other oval was installed per factory spec and no issues over the past 2 years.

Customer service at absolute Black is by far the best customer service I have ever encountered. You know the kind of customer service you hear your dad/grandfather talk about. I purchased a 30T chainring for my Stache, super easy to install but had a alignment issue. Stan at AB was super responsive and informative and stuck with me the entire way. The issue was created by the previous owner and quickly rectified.

As for the Oval ring vs round. I’ll never go back and will order one for each of my bikes. Super smooth, eased my knee pain, and most importantly has helped my climbs on technical ascents ten fold. Absolute Black for the win!

very happy with the service, i didn't knwo what to get for my bike but after a quick email exchange they were able to help me choose the right chainring and chain guide.
delivery is not the cheapest but it only took 3 days which is super impressive
i will buy again

Loved the item. Really. My first order came within a few days. However, my second order which was a small chainring to complete my setup has been delayed for over 11 weeks already. Every time you follow up you get a standard “please wait for 2-4 weeks”. It’s now almost 3 months and still no chain ring. Really bad experience. Should have gone with the rotor ovals.

I have been using chainrings from Absoluteblack for many years now, always longest lasting and with the best chain retention. My last one got smashed by a rock, and AB gave me the crash replacement discount with no problems at all, even throw in a cool metal sticker!
Super easy to contact and very fast too.
Recommended !

Place and order online. Three days later they took payment. A few hours after payment was taken I got an email saying there was no stock available of some items and that it would be three weeks wait time. Items ordered were all black. Chainrings and cover bolts. They suggested I take silver bolts. I then looked at reviews in here and it looks like their three weeks can mean 5 or 6 which in the cycles season considering it’s end of July is race season over. Terrible way to do business. By all means take the order. Then check you can fill it but don’t take a €230 payment and within hours say you can’t supply the order to the customers satisfaction. In addition they now say it takes up to 2 business days before they process refunds. So in a week I’ll have the funds back. PURE COWBOYS.

I purchased an Oval chainring directly from their website. It originally shown the item as being available and "confirmed" but 3 days afterwards I received an email stating the item "just run out" and expect a delay of 2 weeks. 3 Weeks later I email them asking for an update (they never pro-actively reached out again) and received a follow up that it will now be 5-6 weeks. I received the item 5+ weeks afterwards.

I installed the item but found that I stripped the 4th bolt after installing the first 3 without problem. I reached out to their support for a bolt replacement and received an reply to send a picture of the bolt. I sent them the picture and received another email requesting a picture of the tool used. I then received an reply stating that I used an incorrect tool and that their "bolt" webpage indicated what tool to use. The chainring purchased did not include any details on how to install, the web page of the chainring has instructions on install but it does not indicate the tools needed to do the job. That same web page also does not link to any "bolt" page or any of their other pages that would of helped with the install. Their offer was to replace the bolt but I needed to pay for the part shipment. I didn't feel that this was a fair way to resolve the issue but they wouldn't budge on their offer. They deemed it to be my fault, I disagree wholeheartedly. I bought 2 chainring from them but will now take my business else.

Ordered a chainring and had shipped to Canada. They no longer offer international mail, and only offer DHL express. It is fast, but I received notice I owe $28 in brokerage and duty fees. E-mailed AbsoluteBlack but no help, not interested in other options which would avoid these fees either (ie. DHL Packet, or Int'l mail). So, head's up, factor in additional $28 to the bottom line cost when shipping to Canada.

Terrible product only beaten by their terrible customer service. Chainring and components failed after 3 miles. Wouldn’t offer refund only a discount on a new one. Also seem to be able to tell how you assemble things without being there.

excellent customer service and products ! Very in depth technical advice and super frendly staff. Highly recommended.

Regardless of whether the product is a good one or not, Customer Service does not exist. Once they got my money, it was radio silence. It has been 2 weeks since I got my order confirmation and nothing. I also paid $12 for DHL Global 2-4 day shipping. I will file a dispute with my credit card company. Go elsewhere if you need an oval ring.

Just had the worst ‘Customer Service’ experience of my life with Absolute Black!!!!!! I own several of their chainrings and they are great products. Just bought a new MTB and wasn’t sure of which chainring would fit, so I emailed them with the make, model and year of the bike. They replied with a link. I purchased the product and it doesn’t fit. In order to rerun an item you have to email them. They replied saying it would cost me £15 to return (for an item that weighs less than 100g). I explained that although I was a little frustrated that I’d already paid £7 for the delivery (and it was going to cost me similar to post back to them) that I would take these costs but wasn’t prepared to pay the £15. They replied saying that they hadn’t done anything wrong and it was my fault for not checking!!!!! I asked for a name to escalate my complaint but they won’t provide one so I’m now having to resort to doing something that I’ve never done before, which is warning my fellow cyclists that if you want to use their products (and they are good), please make sure you order the correct size and don’t assume that the information that the people at Absolute Black give you is going to be correct. Hope this is helpful. Thanks.

Horrible, it’s good until it goes wrong. Ordered some elements, some of them didn’t fit (production issues). Then it starts; you become part of their service story; they continue to ask questions about your problem.. and continue.. and continue... But: don’t solve it

Don’t buy direct from AB use a UK retailer. I ordered an internal chain ring in error. They state they accept returns but make it so hard and expensive it’s not worth it. £15 to return from UK, if you try to use your own postage method you’ll notice you haven’t had a receipt or order confirmation so you don’t have the order number. 6 emails later and I gave up accepting a £49 loss.
This is why you’ll see so many BNIB absoluteblack chain rings for sale second hand.

Ordered an oval chainring, the customer support was absolutely excellent with fast reply’s. Product is second to none, perfect quality. HIGHLY recommend them.

Fast delivery from Poland. Quicker than most items I have bought from the UK

I purchased an item from the company’s website. They had two choices for delivery DHL and International Postage Services. Being located in Australia and the cost both the same I selected the International Posrage Services. After 2 weeks I contacted the company to see why I hadn’t received the product. I was advised that it would take 22-25 Days to get to Australia. In their response “I would also like to point that we write very clearly at the checkout about delivery times for International post service and DHL service. “
If that was the case why would I select the longest delivery time as my option. I wouldn’t, because the expected delivery time was not displayed. Basically calling me a liar.
Not happy.