Name and Fame! Great service from LBS.
Discussion
I'm fully aware of PH's name and shame rules (and imho rightly so), however as someone who works in retail praise is really appriciated and far too rare.
I'd like to single out an LBS who has just exceeded all expectations and has my eternal gratitude.
My 11 year old had saved hard, every christmas and birthday gift squirelled away until he decided he wanted a better bike (good lad!)
I agreed to match him £ for £ and we identified the right hardtail for the job.
Knowing they come with below par pedals I'd ordered a set of Acid green DMR v8's (kids like this stuff
); noit knowing that pedals are threaded opposite ways I managed to strip the cranks just as we were about to ride out at Friston...
11 year old is at this point a little upset!
There's an onsite cycle hire company at friston so I popped in there rather than drive to the nearest town with an LBS.
The guys at the shop , measured and replaced the damaged crank, split an old inner to make a chain slap guard, noticed the front hydaulic disk was misaligned, so checked and trimmed front and rear brakes.
What did they charge?
£10 !!!
I paid £20 an felt stingy....
Take a bow Cuckmere Cycles.
I'd like to single out an LBS who has just exceeded all expectations and has my eternal gratitude.
My 11 year old had saved hard, every christmas and birthday gift squirelled away until he decided he wanted a better bike (good lad!)
I agreed to match him £ for £ and we identified the right hardtail for the job.
Knowing they come with below par pedals I'd ordered a set of Acid green DMR v8's (kids like this stuff
); noit knowing that pedals are threaded opposite ways I managed to strip the cranks just as we were about to ride out at Friston...11 year old is at this point a little upset!
There's an onsite cycle hire company at friston so I popped in there rather than drive to the nearest town with an LBS.
The guys at the shop , measured and replaced the damaged crank, split an old inner to make a chain slap guard, noticed the front hydaulic disk was misaligned, so checked and trimmed front and rear brakes.
What did they charge?
£10 !!!
I paid £20 an felt stingy....
Take a bow Cuckmere Cycles.
Edited by Jayfish on Tuesday 1st October 22:56
Edited by Jayfish on Tuesday 1st October 22:57
Great idea for a thread…
May I nominate Barbourne Bicycles in Worcester run by Andy
http://barbournebicycles.co.uk/#http%3A//barbourne...
Fab little shop where I’ve had great service for my 70s Peugeot over the past year or so. Last week he fitted a new rear axle after the old one sheared and gave the bike a thorough fettle for the coming winter – cable adjustments, good lube etc – a gratuit. It wasn’t riding too bad before but now it feels really tight and smooth. Previous to that he sourced and fitted a replacement chrome front mudguard for the price of a few packets of biscuits!
He may be more geared up for older bike servicing and does a good trade in women’s shopper Dutch style bikes (which suddenly Worcester seems to be full of – a very good thing!). He also preps up donated bikes and retails them, with a percentage of the price going to a local charity. I got my daughter an old Coventry Eagle racer off him for a very reasonable price, and she loves it. I’m sure it would have been destined for the tip otherwise.
The only downside is that I have to budget in at least another 30 minutes per visit to cater for the bike chat….not really much of a downside at all.
May I nominate Barbourne Bicycles in Worcester run by Andy
http://barbournebicycles.co.uk/#http%3A//barbourne...
Fab little shop where I’ve had great service for my 70s Peugeot over the past year or so. Last week he fitted a new rear axle after the old one sheared and gave the bike a thorough fettle for the coming winter – cable adjustments, good lube etc – a gratuit. It wasn’t riding too bad before but now it feels really tight and smooth. Previous to that he sourced and fitted a replacement chrome front mudguard for the price of a few packets of biscuits!
He may be more geared up for older bike servicing and does a good trade in women’s shopper Dutch style bikes (which suddenly Worcester seems to be full of – a very good thing!). He also preps up donated bikes and retails them, with a percentage of the price going to a local charity. I got my daughter an old Coventry Eagle racer off him for a very reasonable price, and she loves it. I’m sure it would have been destined for the tip otherwise.
The only downside is that I have to budget in at least another 30 minutes per visit to cater for the bike chat….not really much of a downside at all.
Good on them! I bet they gained a customer for life, or at least when you're in the area.
A few months ago I would have wholeheartily recommended my usual LBS, but they've gone to s
t in recent months. They're pushing for the easy money MAMIL and Commuter crowd I think, every time I wheel my bike in for a little bit of work which needs a specialist tool or involving spokes (dangerous thing) they jump on me for a 'service' which seems to be code for a good clean and some new cables for £100 or check your bike over and fear you into changing bits that "look a bit dodgy" for £50 or try to constantly up-sell me stuff- "oh your lever is weeping a bit of fluid, no you don't want to fix that it'll be 'dodgy' [screw up face] you want a whole new set for £300".
Plus their pricing structure has changed, it used to be - price match CRC for supply, or RRP and we'll fit for free. Now it's book it in, "I'll let you know the damage when you pick it up" which seems to translate into "rrp, plus fitting, plus an hour labour for some jobs you didn't ask us to do".
RRP AND fitting, do they think I'm some kind of fresh off the trail muggle?! I've only been going there for, oh about a decade and I've only bought, I-don't-know twelve grand's worth of bikes from there, oh and taken in every new rider that's ever joined our happy band over the years.
A few months ago I would have wholeheartily recommended my usual LBS, but they've gone to s
t in recent months. They're pushing for the easy money MAMIL and Commuter crowd I think, every time I wheel my bike in for a little bit of work which needs a specialist tool or involving spokes (dangerous thing) they jump on me for a 'service' which seems to be code for a good clean and some new cables for £100 or check your bike over and fear you into changing bits that "look a bit dodgy" for £50 or try to constantly up-sell me stuff- "oh your lever is weeping a bit of fluid, no you don't want to fix that it'll be 'dodgy' [screw up face] you want a whole new set for £300".Plus their pricing structure has changed, it used to be - price match CRC for supply, or RRP and we'll fit for free. Now it's book it in, "I'll let you know the damage when you pick it up" which seems to translate into "rrp, plus fitting, plus an hour labour for some jobs you didn't ask us to do".
RRP AND fitting, do they think I'm some kind of fresh off the trail muggle?! I've only been going there for, oh about a decade and I've only bought, I-don't-know twelve grand's worth of bikes from there, oh and taken in every new rider that's ever joined our happy band over the years.
I'd like to reccomend Bike Tart near Canterbury, bit of a cock up when orderingmy bike on their behalf but the outcome was more than suitable to forgive them. Following on from that they've done something no other bike shop has ever done, kept me informed about progress on my bike when it's been in. So simply for the fact I don't have to phone and chase them when my bike is back there I think they're fantastic.
They quite often have stonking deals on last years kit, and it's pretty much MTB porn in there too. They also do road stuff but it all means absolutely zero to me.
I should add they're far from local, 50 miles either way but all the rest nearer are absolute poop!
They quite often have stonking deals on last years kit, and it's pretty much MTB porn in there too. They also do road stuff but it all means absolutely zero to me.
I should add they're far from local, 50 miles either way but all the rest nearer are absolute poop!
I'd like to give a shout for bike guy based in Southampton. Tobie runs the outfit himself in the marina I work in.
the service he provides is excellent. Often I rock up with an issue and he will always fix it, usually without charge.
he also uses pistonheads.
http://bikeguy.co.uk
the service he provides is excellent. Often I rock up with an issue and he will always fix it, usually without charge.
he also uses pistonheads.
http://bikeguy.co.uk
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