FRIENDLY BIKE SHOPS

greenstiles

Old School Grand Master
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Come across many these days ? So many of them are all snooty and try to be over-professional when there not. I like good honest bike shops.....I used to run one and I'm glad to say there is one in Worcester call THE GREEN BIKE CO who I think are really nice people, if they don't know something they will say so.....or try and help you out there and then....non of this ' well you didn't buy it here so we're not gonna help stuff. Who's your favorite bike shop and why ? :D
 
theres a good shop in my village called HERBIES BIKES , it's a great shop , sells park tools and lots of silly wee things that you can't find anywhere else :LOL: i'm not too keen on the bike brands he sells (merida & umf) but they do seem gvfm with the spec's they are :cool: herbie himself is really freindly , knows his stuff and always try's to knock a couple of quid off thinga when i'm buying bit's :LOL: :LOL:

i bumped into him at last years 10 under the ben so he's into bikes too not just doing it for a living :D

i'd recomend it to anyone in central scotland ;)
 
The Green bike co have a shop in Halesowen as well, very helpful and Pete in there built up my Zaskar and didn't charge me labour cost's. I can't fault em.


Matt
 
My LBS seems pretty friendly (Peddlers in Redcar), they like to talk bikes and won't try to sell me something I don't need. I recently took a bike in thinking I needed a different shim for the seatpost, but was told I had the right size shim and to clean up the inside of the seat tube and use grease and perseverance.... it worked :D and I didn't need to fork out for a new shim. :D :D :D

On the other side of the coin though...a work colleague was telling me a couple of months ago that he was going to sell his Giant (Yecora iirc) as he hadn't used it much, and would I mind helping him sort out the brakes & indexing.
He went on to tell me how he was new to mountainbikes when he went into a large bike shop near his home looking to buy his 1st "proper" mountainbike, and how he felt that the people he spoke to in the shop looked down their noses at him and basically made him feel belittled because of his very basic knowledge of mountainbikes.
Not only that but the bike they "sold" him was a 20" frame and waaay too big for him, I think this was part of the reason he was reluctant to go out and ride it.
Anyway, after helping him fix the bike up, and explaining what bits were called and what they did along the way, he decided to hang onto the bike for a while and get out on it. Last I heard he was selling it still, but getting a new bike which was the right size for him
:D

I really don't understand much of this bike snobbery, where unless you have this years latest model costing £2k or more then you are a "Nobody", and if you don't know your headtube from your seat tube then you are plainly an illiterate retard and should be viewed as nothing more than dogshit on someones bike tyre.

I wish there were more friendly bike shops, but it seems they may be an endangered species :cry:
 
The CycleStudio in Stratford-Upon-Avon

Used to ride with the owner (Russell) Many years ago & lost touch for over 10 years. Got put in touch from another ex club mate, so went over to see him. Nice shop, good mix of Road & MTB. Extremely helpful & will go so far out of their way to help out with anything. Russ did a lot with my Lobster build. He has run his own mechanics schools and is responsible for the training of many of the top cycle mechanics in the UK, so you know your Retro pride is in good hands...

Can get to them along the Stratford Canal, so good excuse for a lazy day. Easy ride of around a couple of hours each way, a chat & a brew at the shop & maybe treat yourself?...
 
Coombes in Hereford is my LBS. Invariably helpful and keen to find a solution if I go in with a problem. They don't mind explaining to the less experienced how to tackle a task and will allow a "mere woman" into the workshop to watch what's going on. They've been known to bail me out when I make a hash of things as well!

And best of all they won't sell you something you don't need! :LOL:
 
Very lucky in Exeter as most of the LBSs are pretty good.

The Bike Shed are excellent, friendly, and always willing to dig around for little bits - I took a fork with a stuck headset race on it to them and they took it off whilst waving away my attempts to pay :)

Sidwell Cycles are lovely guys, again very friendly and always happy to chat. They also like retro and interesting bikes.

Richard's Bikes are another good 'un. They did move a more out of the way site a few years back, so I don't get in there very often, but Richard is a nice bloke who knows his stuff.

Partridge Cycles get some bad press - largish out of town (though independent) bike shop that sell a lot of tat, but it depends very much on who you get serving you......I've had excellent service at times, and at other times it's been laughable. They do seem to be good for random spares that no-one else stocks......but only of the staff member you talk to knows what it is you're after and where it is - their stock room seems to have no order to it!
 
Conversation last week with a bike shop !

Kev - "would you reccomend the formula K24s over the Avid Elixer CRs"

Bike Shop - "No"

Kev - "Oh so you would go for the Avids"

Bike Shop - "No"

Kev - "Oh so you think the Formulas are better"

Bike Shop - "No, I only use Hope"

Kev - "OK, but you dont sell Hope, I also dont want Hope, so as an expert which out of the 2 do you think are the best"

Bike Shop - "There both ok"

:x

I personaly reveived both ont tinterweb and went for the K24s.

F!&K ME !, it was like pulling teeth, however this is similar to most conversations at many bike shops!
 
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