[Closed] 18 Bikes in Hope

We live probably 100s of miles away but between myself and my husband we have spent £100s with them - they are great and the personal service is smashing.

I've only dealt with them over email and phone and they have always been really helpful.

I brought a Hope press fit bottom bracket for my Giant Anthem 29er from them and it didn't fit as the Anthem shell has a step down and it would not fit.
Gave them a call to say it didn't fit and they said sorry can't help you, you brought it, you ordered the wrong part. Even when ordering I stated what bike it was for.
So phoned Hope,they there is an issue with the Anthem having clearance problems. Just tell the bike shop you have spoke to us and to give us a ring if needed and we will take it back and sort it with the shop.
Great I thought, phoned 18 bikes and told them what Hope had said.
Sorry you ordered the wrong part you fault we will not take it back.
Will you phone Hope ? No.
So back on to Hope, they again said no problem we will phone shop and get back to you.
10 minutes later Hope called back saying all sorted 18 bikes will give you a call to arrange taking it back.
No call from 18 bikes that day or the next.
Gave a ring and they did reluctantly take it back.
So from my experience Hope are a top company and have great customer service. Can't fault them.
18 bikes, well they won't be seeing any money any time soon.

Great shop, I always try and stop in and buy something when I'm in the Peaks (4hrs drive for me), I buy stuff mail order which isn't stocked by equally good lbs Nirvana Cycles.

Always been great for me-built up several bikes for me using a mixture of own bits and new bits with no problems. More recently, they've built a dynamo front wheel for me which has been great. Highly recommended!

Good guys. Saved me a year or so back in the middle of a 55-mile Peak epic, when my SPDs died mid-ride, by 'selling' me a set of XTs on trust despite me having no cash or cards with me, then giving me a discount when I phoned up to pay for them next day.

Currently avoiding the place out of fear of inadvertently splashing out on a Solo or a TRc - or probably both... 😉

Went in today for the first time. Seemed OK
What they had was nice but there was not a lot of it.

It's a lovely looking shop but IME the staff don't want to help unless you're spending lots and want to sell you something expensive when something cheap will do.

Used them a few times. Once for a Rocket demo which they didn't charge me for, if Cotic hadn't run out of frames I would've bought it through them. Also bought a bladder from them when I managed to leave mine on the sink at home. Been in quite a few times for mule bars and the like as well. To be fair they seem okay, if they don't want to talk to because I'm not going to spend thousands of pounds on a new bike then fair enough.

Thered +1

Tried getting parts for forks and a saddle through them. Two separate occasions, both times they couldn't be bothered

Blastit - "brought" and "bought" are not interchangeable.

Yeah Blastit, your misuse of English like totally lets the shop off the hook for piss poor service 😀

TBH two(?) blokes own/run it. So not enough to source/sell widgets. They can really only concentrate on the new frame/fork/software stuff thats got less hassle. Unlike someone like Evans with each store having lots of sales staff etc.

So you can see why they can't cover both mechanic-stuff and sales with one of them (or two tops) in store in the time available.

Some nice stuff in there (and quite abit considering its a tiny store) but the kit alone in there must be a huge outlay interms of £££ just to stock the place.

It's a lovely looking shop but IME the staff don't want to help unless you're spending lots and want to sell you something expensive when something cheap will do.

This is my experience / observation on the few time I've popped in. That's their business model, and I'm fine with that but it doesn't strike me as a friendly LBS.

18 bikes are ace IME. I was buying a bike frame though, and a saddle. Service was friendly and excellent too.

I've only used them on a couple of occasions, but found them very helpful. They went out of their way to help me figure out which bits and pieces I needed to convert my Roadrat to Alfine gearing. I'd happily use them again.

Always spot on for me. My first experience was fixing a bent mech hanger and drop out on a steel frame. No other shop in Sheffield would touch it (admittedly it was pretty bad), but 20 mins and £10 later and it was as good as new. Been going back ever since. I don't buy everything from them, but if I want good service, it's where I head.

They're not the worst bike shop I've used, but they're far from the best (which is Independent Cycleworks in Cirencester, btw).

The two bro's are sound, always had time of day for me and my Q's when i have nipped in on days when I have had my bike up in HOPE
If you drop on the other Gooner that works there,just walk on bye
I suppose service depends on who you get manning the ship.

lol

We were in the Peak a few years ago and a mate's Hayes's needed bleeding, got to 18 just as they opened on Sunday morning and they wouldn't even entertain doing them- fair enough, if you've got a load of work booked in but the chap's attitude was 'off' to say the very least. We ended up at JE James's in Sheffield, expecting the same treatment after reading comments about the shitty service there in the past, but they couldn't have been more helpful, and cheap too!

Cheers,
Jamie

The two bro's are sound, always had time of day for me and my Q's when i have nipped in on days when I have had my bike up in HOPE
If you drop on the other Gooner that works there,just walk on bye
I suppose service depends on who you get manning the ship.

Nice username 😉

Another with good service here, Not local by any means but one I've traveled to on many occasions.

Bike Garage in Bamford is a vastly underrated / underhyped shop and only a couple of miles away and are my preferred shop

Bike garage are very good on the mechanical front

We were visiting the area a year or so ago when they were at the old shop, there was 6 of us who waited patiently for 30 mins or so for them to open only to be told "sorry I'm too busy you can't come in, you'll have to come back another time"... pretty poor show to be honest and not a good impression to new potential customers. ( It might of been the other Gooner by the sound of it)

Bike Garage looks good, free bike wash too! Will have to remember them when I'm next that way.

Cheers,
Jamie

free bike wash?

Thumbs up from me for 18 Bikes. When I had my bikes nicked a couple of years ago they could not be more helpful in answering questions, knowing that I wasn't necessarily going to spend my money with them. Most of my experience is with Si; I struggle to think of a bad thing to say about him based on my experience.

I should, however, publicly apologise for my kids who went into the changing room, locked it from the inside, then escaped under the door with neither me nor Si any the wiser 😳

Si is a good lad, knows his stuff and very helpful

Always been great for me.

My daughter attempted the same stiltortoise, and I recall they said someone elses tried.

I guess these thread are a bit like trip advisor, we brits don't go reaching for the keyboard when we have a good experience with a shop / company / day out etc. But a slightly bad one and we hit the review button.

Best thing they ever did for me had ZERO money in it for them. I built up and refurbed an Isla bike, bought off here for my daughter. To make it a "special" experience for her I wanted her to goto a shop to buy her first pedal bike. 18 Gladly let me plant the bike there the day before, we turned up and Isla hunted down her dream pink bike with tassles on the bars in the shop. she was so made up, thanks chaps 🙂

Way too busy for their own good (?) when I visited...I'd made a nearly 90 minute drive to visit them with a view of buying a frame or bike but they were just too busy to be able to have a relaxed chat about it so I left (having drooled at a lovely but out of budget Nicolai which I went on to purchase 2nd hand). Bad timing perhaps.

Pro-Tip.

If driving 90 minutes to visit someone, let them know you're coming first.

Always had great service off Si@18 Bikes.

Had a Old frame from ebay sorted by them a couple of weeks back,
some nugget had appeared to have hacksawed the headtube down and made a right mess.
Emailed them with pics beforehand to see if it could be sorted and had a quick positive response.

Matt did a excellent job facing & reaming it so its now usable again.
Lots of shiny things in when I went ,not enough pennies at the moment to splash out though.

Again its not that local to me living the other side of Glossop.

If driving 90 minutes to visit someone, let them know you're coming first.

..but don't be surprised if it makes zero difference

Sorted me out a couple of years ago when they sourced a new Scott frame for me at a very reasonable price after my MC30 had developed a terminal crack

I've always been pleased with customer service etc

I buy tubes there. Preferred the old shop.

Si is really friendly and helpful, can't fault at all.

Mixed experiences too, snapped pro 2 axle near the beast and popped in with my wheel covered in shit/mud to buy or at least order the spare parts instead it was rebuilt entirely FOC : )

Any other time i've been in they've been a bit grumpy to say the least...

No complaints about 18 from me.

They've always been great to me and free with good advice and excellent workshop. Sometimes their advice involves not spending money - I value such honesty.

They don't really market themselves as a budget shop which is probably wise - who really wants to compete with CRC and have to do it in a tiny shop in The Peaks? What they stock isn't unreasonably priced but is simply good stuff at non-volume prices. This is a standard LBS thing, and not really fair to complain about. You really need to carry on using small shops if you want them to still be there for you. It's easy to forget when browsing the web that a Thompson dropper and a Reverb are actually very close in RRP, for instance. Reverbs tend to get discounted a lot more heavily.

I've heard complaints about every bike shop within an hour of Sheffield at some point, I think.

I'm certainly going to carry on going there!

No one said they were a budget shop or really complained about prices

The main gripe is customer service and general attitude

No complaints here. Spent ages in there on numerous occasions before eventually buying a frame & stuff for it.

The main gripe is customer service and general attitude

I've been in plenty of bike shops I could say this about, but 18 is not one of them.