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Due to the negative crap members are quick to post.
Thought its about time we done a positive post for Bike shops you would recommend.
Here's mine -
Dave Hinde
Bike Tart
www.mhollandservicing.co.uk fork and shox servicing
Descent Gear
CRC
Bromley Bike are always excellent.
I popped mine in to Ride Cycles Newcastle this week for few bits done at 1. Phoned shortly after to say it was done! Pretty good service. And they are also now a fox service centre so handy to know you could pop forks or shock into a local shop.
I find it very hard to fault the service from Merlin Cycles.
Very competetive pricing and great communication.
Had a very positive experience recently when I had to change a set of Xt brakes under warranty, got the impression that nothing would have been too much trouble for them.
Now my regular not-quite-local-but-the-nearest-thing shop!
Cyclestore.co.uk cheapest for an Oakley pack I wanted and delivered very quick also Biketreks Ambleside also cheapest for some Teva shoes and delivered quickly. Wouldn't hesitate to use them again 😀
69 cycles in Hoole Chester,
Fantastic service
Arragon Cycles Penrith Cumbria are fantastic good shop with lots of positive promotion of the sport in the local area.
activesport
Mark antony cycles
Dave Hinde
all top companies
the bike chain in edinburgh, winner winner chicken dinner!
lol @tazzy
Streetlife Cycles in Norwich. A proper LBS. A bit random compared with the corporate chains, but does all the things a good local bike shop should, plus they're happy to build you a bike from your bits (for a fair price), and are all keen riders. Always something interesting to look at too.
I always use icycles in Innerleithen. Good prices and great coffee.
seriously:
singlespeed.nl
29ersquadron
Fallon cycles
Charlie the bikemonger
BETD Goldtec
all brilliant to deal with and really passionate and into their stuff.
Cheltenham Cycles Excellent Excellent and in recent years Quality Tea TETLEY :lol:NICE BIKES TOO 😉
Christ ! Nearly swallowed my tonguebren2709 - Member
Bike shops you would recommend.
Dave Hinde
Always had good service from Merlin (both over the counter and online) and Alpine bikes in Glasgow.
Just Riding Along. Popped in today with a wheel. Nothing short of brilliant service.
Hot pursuits in kingsteinton
Great service and shop, spent far to much in there.
Swinnerton's in stoke, brilliant service, great prices, lovely people who make their customers tea (if you're nice to them)
All the guys and gals at Mammoth Cycles and Swinnerton Cycles Forest Centre have always been brilliant. So much so that when I've paid my holiday off I've decided that im going to go and spend over the odds on some new bars and stem rather than going to CRC. Which have been faultless too but i'd rather go in store.
Quest Adventure in Worthing, always have had had good service from JP and co there plus good stock, good advice and always friendly.
However, they did introduce me to Strava... 😉
Pedalon : not my local bike shop but very impressed with the service. ordered a complete bike with them but called first with a couple of questions, one of which they didnt know the answer to and i got the dreaded ' ill give you a call back in 5 mins' , two mins later the guy called me back with the answers. ( that never happens with my LBS) , my bike then arrived 4 days earlier than the sales guy estimated. Bike was expertly packaged and im over the moon with it. I'll definately use them again. brill.
Members have every right to post up negative experiences and this doesn't automatically make them "crap". 🙄
However i will second BETD Goldtec and raise you the big bad CRC who have nearly always been good and when they've been less than good, they've always been prompt to rectify the situation. Communication has also been very good from them.
Another one is Spen Velo (lbs) who I'm sure is in the business simply for the love of tinkering with bikes. Chris who owns it puts the same effort into his work (passion/hobby) whether it be fitting a new cable or a full build. I do genuinely feel lucky to have him as the lbs owner.
Bike Scene, Guisborough. Big range of stuff & very knowledgable.
The Bicycle Smithy, London Road (A6) Hazel Grove, Stockport.
Jon has always been really helpful, knowledgeable and has a weekly night ride from the shop.
Cheltenham Cycles.
www.stonehengecycles.com
Lovely people, great shop
Always had good service from [url= http://www.mountain-trax.com/ ]Mountain Trax[/url]. Friendly folks, lots of nice shiny stuff, and only a short trip from Swinley. 🙂
A big +1 for Cycle Centre in Congleton. Very fortunate to have them as my LBS and I know they're pretty hot on the mail order front too. Also found good service from Merlin, 18 Bikes and On One / PX. I think the key in these places' success is the people who work there know their stuff, ride bikes and price sensibly. Just my 10 cents...
Wheelbase in Stavely, Lake District.
We bought my sons bike from there recently, and even though it was one of their cheapest offerings they treated us like we were buying the most expensive.
I've said it before, because it's true: Al and his team at
[url= http://www.garagebikes.co.uk/ ]www.garagebikes.co.uk[/url]
in Morley.
Boneshakers in Harrogate
Crc have always been great for me
Like it, like it..
Thomas cycle revolution- for being superb at bike fitting and road testing.
Elmys - for having great staff who give advice for biscuits.
Halfords- for having great value parts.l
+1 Wheelbase great bunch.
Patriotpro - maybe so but it the crap that follows with the negative post 🙄
I always liked The Bike Shop in Hexham.
But they closed for good this week 🙁
OP are you linked to Hinde in someway? I say this as your original post read as though you take the comments personally.
Another vote here for Mountain Trax - top shop. 🙂
Swinnerton cycles forest centre have always been good to me.
I've also heard nothing but good things about Sandwell Cycles in Blackheath.
Cycle wise whinlatter, especially for Sean's spannering.
Another shout for Garage Bikes in Morley.
Also always had fantastic dealings with JD's Cycles in Ilkley.
I'd like to recommend Bicyclechain in Taunton..
Always coffee (if you bring your own..)
Friendly service (if you don't mind abuse..)
The "tame spanner monkey" is really friendly if you feed him Jaffa Cakes !!
Can't fault them really, except they keep making me part with my money !
Been going to them for years !!
I'd like to recommend Bicyclechain in Taunton..
Always coffee (if you bring your own..)
Friendly service (if you don't mind abuse..)
The "tame spanner monkey" is really friendly if you feed him Jaffa Cakes !!
Can't fault them really, except they keep making me part with my money !
Been going to them for years !!
Bicycle Smithy, Hazel Grove, Stockport.
Great service, knows his stuff. Honest.
Keswick Mountain Bikes (in er Keswick)
Cyclewise in Whinlatter they have sorted heaps of my stuff and had some skills coaching from them (and the odd BBQ)
Bikereks in Ambleside friendly and loads of demo bikes to be ridden
Sprung in Launceston (Tas) awesome shop
Stows cycles in Windsor and Slough. Mainstream Trek and Specialized. But very knowledgeable and helpful in all matters. Sam in Windsor is a great guy.
Twelve50 cycles in Frodsham nr Delamere
Thatto Cycles St Helens
Winstanleys in Wigan
Cliff Pratt - Hull. Restored my faith in the LBS after being treated like a muppet in a rival shop. Great attitude to punters and willing to give honest advice and even talked me out of buying stuff that I didn't need. Good mechanics too ( well with my road bike., not willing to give up my mtb to anyone yet)
Chevin Cycles- my mates LBS. always been treated well there and found the staff very helpful.
Crc and wiggle have been good too if I'm honest.
MuddyBum bikes in Cardiff, friendly, great service, always happy to chat about stuff and they genuinely love mountain biking.
A third shout for FatBoyJon @ Bicycle Smithy
Also the nice people at PLush Hill Cycles in Church Stretton, they were most helpful when we visited, and Rich and Shona at Keep Pedalling in Manchester who do fine FatBikes amongst other things
Solent Cycles a proper lbs. Never less than helpful and a nice environment to shop in. Staff are courteous and knowledgeable too ime.
2 of the 3 IanW recommends I won't set foot in due to very poor attitudes by the Saturday staff and I spent thousands in one of those 2 in the past.
Bosmere in Needham Market and Lifecycles in Bildeston get my money nowadays.
A very nice man at an LBS got me a seat post that fits my new frame today.He had to send all the way to Italy for it as only a specific Dedacciai post would fit. It even worked out cheaper than anywhere else in the UK could get it.I can now finish building it this weekend. 😀
18bikes
Two Wheels
Fred Williams
The Bike Chain
The rest don't compare
You can get crap following every post. Once again it doesn't make the OP or the resulting posts crap by default.
We're all free to post up our negative and positive experiences without them being called "crap".
Actually your OP seems as bit aggressive and vengeful.
Two Wheels.
Sideways Cycles.
Triton Cycles.
Any other shop that cares to treat me like a customer and not just the thing attached to the end of a credit card....
Spiral cycle in Ashford kent
And Biketart
The Bikechain because if I don't, they'll kill me. But you get small shop service and attitude with big shop professionalism and prices, ace
Icycles in Innerleithen- because I trust Steve's wheelbuilding, and he can usually be trusted to inexplicably haggle with himself.
That's it for LBSs really, I don't need any more!
The Bike and Ski Clinic in Maddiston, quick friendly and very reliable
Hora - no not linked just had great service.
Crap might have been the wrong choice of word, just know what some are like for following! 😉
Ask yourself this about the shops you have bigged up:
Do they have a 40kg basset hound
What is their sofa like?
Do they have bacon sarnies
Do they have chris king freshly ground coffee
Do they give you a confused look when you ask for rear gear degangler
Do they shut the shop and take you down the pub...
Do they?
Charlie the bikemonger, givin you shit you don't get at halfords.
Truth is cyclists are generally nice folk and the were bike consumers before being bike shop dudes, so unless they are proper ****s they will treat you right, even if they don't have a shop sofa, basset etc
If you guys are heading over to the Garw in South Wales, pop in to see Colin at Rush Cycles in Brymenin (just down the road) good local knowledge and with the bonus of a proper independent tea shop (run by Sarah, Colin's better half) with good coffee and homemade cakes, not to mention homemade pies from a proper local bakery too... Oh yeah and they also do bike stuff too, 5 minutes from my house so often use them for breakfast too
+1 for Plush Hill. We came in looking like drowned rats, dropped about 14kg of mud on their clean floors, whilst they effectively completely rebuilt my mates broken Giant for about £3.50 😉
Station Cycles in Histon are good, as is Dave their mechanic. I keep on accidentally buying bikes from them though as they occasionally have some irresistible deals on.
What is their sofa like?
No sofa, so I guess that's a minus....
Al @ Garage bikes Morley <where's the thumbs up a smiley!>
+1 for Merlin.
Only dealt with them in the shop, but they always have time to advise and have a chat about your requirements.
Also CRC, had a few delays / damaged stuff with my first orders, but they have always sorted things out quickly.
I'd like to give a big thumbs up to Graham and Sheila At slam69 in Gloucester.
Always friendly, very reasonable prices and great service.
Nowt bad to say at all
And they don't mind my twin boys running amok around the shop 😀
Made a decision to go with one shop and build a relationship with them rather than just "use them' Its really worked but, its not about the bike its about the attitude.. so a big thanks to Mark and Brad at the Bike Chain in Edinburgh whose standard response seems to be "We can do that, or yes, I'll sort it"
Perfecto. We give them random cakes, they give us good advice and the world keeps turning..
I would like to say thank you to Buckingham Bikes who really helped me out with an issue that they had no obligation at all to get involved in. Great service and a very grateful customer.
Cheers 😀
I wish I trusted my most local bike shops but I won't spoil the thread...
I miss having Fred Williams Light Weight Cycles of Wolverhampton as my local bike shop.
Merlin are fault free.
On One do a quiet and efficient job for me.
Wheelbase may get my next bike purchase as they are the best bike shop local to me.
Bothy Bikes, Aviemore, top blokes
Triton Cycles, good online service
Keep Pedalling, Cheshire, all round good eggs
Singlespeed.nl
bikediscount.de
Boneshakers in Harrogate. Welcoming even if you're not spending, chatty, good night rides.
Cookson Cycles who fixed my broken rear mech with 2 minutes' notice just before HTN4 last Saturday!
Bike& Run - in that there North London, quality everything.
Biketreks - in the Northern wilderness , again , quality everything.
2 Wheels Stourbridge: do good deals, happy to give advice on constant bike deliberations... kit, maintnance and sorting out 'home fix' dramas.
Local - Revolutions in Ross mainly as Nic the mechanic fixes the many things I break, and responds well to demands of 'can you just build me this by tomorrow' 😉 Dave @ chaingang cycles in Hereford is a nice fella and has lots of stock of nice things.
Not Local - Sideways Tim @ Alsager. Sold me many nice things over the years and a top bloke to boot.
No mention of Blazin Saddles in Hebden?
2 grumpy (but very funny) old men, one of the quickest CX and XC racers in the country and of course James, the best mechanic on the planet.
If only they weren't 12000 miles away 🙁
Eddie McGrath in Urmston. More roadie orientated but always very helpful, friendly staff who know their stuff. Reasonable servicing costs too.
http://www.westbrookcycles.co.uk/ in Stokesley N Yorks.
Always helped me out with repairs at a good price and honest blokes (I.e don't try and change something that doesn't need changing or fixed something FOC I didn't know was broken!).
They always round your total down a bit in the shop as well with a bit of on the spot discount which is nice.