To my delight, i discovered a local bike shop less than 15 minutes walk from me last week - should say, I live in London - were nothing is 15 mins from anything. Don’t know how I missed it before, except that it’s in a slightly separate neighbourhood that I hadn’t had cause to visit in the past.
Anyway. Like most of us, I try to do the majority of my own work on a bike - however there are some things I cannot do, and truing wheels is one of them. As a tester, I threw in a set of wheels last week for a true, and I got the hubs serviced at the same time. Cost £60, took a couple of days and the job was a decent one. Test passed!
When picking the wheels up I decided to book in my Bonty to have bb threads chased, it having been freshly repainted some 6 months ago but evidently not having been properly protected in places during the spray. Booked her in for Monday for a same day 3pm pick up, and was at the shop waiting for doors open that morning.
Had a chit chat to one of the staff as we waited for the guy with the keys to show. He had a bit of understanding of old road bikes, but clearly wasn’t a retro MTB guy, which is fine. In we go. I explain what it was booked in for at the weekend and what needs doing. Fresh professional paint job but oversprayed, chase threads, please.
So he takes the bike from me and immediately parks it in the middle of a large display rack of steel spanners! I wince as they clatter and ping of the frame. “Don’t worry mate - your frame’s fine. No damage”.
Off I go, confidence rattled. Back at 3pm, as arranged, having taken off work. The same guy is sitting at the front desk, texting, workshop is empty. No customers.
“Oh. Sorry mate. Been a crazy day. Can you come back tomorrow? Hopefully done by then”
No thanks, mate. I’ll just take my bike and go elsewhere.
Now I know the above situation isn’t the end of the world - but it got me thinking. Nearly every recent bike shop experience I have had has been disappointing - from a bad job being done on a bike, surly and unpleasant staff etc. They couldn’t care less about the bike or about an ongoing relationship with me as a customer (one that clearly has multiple old bikes).
I suspect that if I rolled a vintage Colnago into a hipster filled bike den in East London that the bike would be properly treated.. buuuut I don’t collect road bikes and I don’t live East.
Has anyone had good recent experiences (particularly in the south east) of an LBS - better yet, one that actually has a bit of an interest in retro mountain bikes?
Anyway. Like most of us, I try to do the majority of my own work on a bike - however there are some things I cannot do, and truing wheels is one of them. As a tester, I threw in a set of wheels last week for a true, and I got the hubs serviced at the same time. Cost £60, took a couple of days and the job was a decent one. Test passed!
When picking the wheels up I decided to book in my Bonty to have bb threads chased, it having been freshly repainted some 6 months ago but evidently not having been properly protected in places during the spray. Booked her in for Monday for a same day 3pm pick up, and was at the shop waiting for doors open that morning.
Had a chit chat to one of the staff as we waited for the guy with the keys to show. He had a bit of understanding of old road bikes, but clearly wasn’t a retro MTB guy, which is fine. In we go. I explain what it was booked in for at the weekend and what needs doing. Fresh professional paint job but oversprayed, chase threads, please.
So he takes the bike from me and immediately parks it in the middle of a large display rack of steel spanners! I wince as they clatter and ping of the frame. “Don’t worry mate - your frame’s fine. No damage”.
Off I go, confidence rattled. Back at 3pm, as arranged, having taken off work. The same guy is sitting at the front desk, texting, workshop is empty. No customers.
“Oh. Sorry mate. Been a crazy day. Can you come back tomorrow? Hopefully done by then”
No thanks, mate. I’ll just take my bike and go elsewhere.
Now I know the above situation isn’t the end of the world - but it got me thinking. Nearly every recent bike shop experience I have had has been disappointing - from a bad job being done on a bike, surly and unpleasant staff etc. They couldn’t care less about the bike or about an ongoing relationship with me as a customer (one that clearly has multiple old bikes).
I suspect that if I rolled a vintage Colnago into a hipster filled bike den in East London that the bike would be properly treated.. buuuut I don’t collect road bikes and I don’t live East.
Has anyone had good recent experiences (particularly in the south east) of an LBS - better yet, one that actually has a bit of an interest in retro mountain bikes?
