Does anyone have any personal recommendations of decent Bike shops in reading? I’ve found the Bike Kitchen which looks like a great option once I have all the major issues ironed out, however my bike has been a state for so long now I’d rather put it in somewhere for a full service to sort it all out. Then ongoing issues I’m quite happy to sort myself, currently my brakes are driving me nuts!

Cheers.

I’ve always found AW Cycles to be pretty good. It’s in Caversham so not quite Reading but certainly not far.

Berkshire Cycle Co on Wokingham road is the worst bike shop I have ever experienced, so not that one. It was a few year back, but essentially made a mess of my bike and left the stem bolts loose so I fell off when I rode it outside the shop. Manager claimed I loosened them off to make them look bad.

Anyway, I strongly recommend Rotec in Shinfield. It’s more a workshop than bike shop and always had a good experience using them.

Again not quite Reading but Pedal On in Tadley is well worth considering. The workshop seems to get booked up well in advance but I think that’s a good sign!

Mountain Trax over Wokingham way also have a good reputation, I’ve not used the workshop there personally but a few friends do and they seem to rate them.

Mountain Trax, worth the drive, best workshop in the area.

Amazing responses – cheers guys! 😀

Griffs Cycle Lab in Crowthorne also sounds quite good – no personal experience though…

Another vote for Mountain Trax. Just make sure you leave your credit card at home, lots of nice bikes and very friendly, easy going staff – makes you want to spend money!

Most of them race (shop team), all of them ride, so they know what they’re doing.

Edit: Be interested in reports on Griff’s. They’re just round the corner from me but I’ve yet to find an excuse to pop in.

Mountain Trax & Griffs are both very good

Another option is Purple Bike Shed in Farnborough – Andy is a mobile mechanic and very good

+1 for Trax.

I’m told AW Cycles ex-mechanic has gone it alone – Ricky something, but don’t know his details yet. Word of mouth recommendation is he’s shit-hot – will see if I can track him down…

velolife in hare hatch. Its a bike workshop, so they dont really sell components as scuh. Lee is very good for bike servicing.

Mountain Trax have a lovely showroom with lots of bike porn in it. Their service however, I have found lacking a few times and now choose to avoid.

AW have pretty wide range of bikes and kit. They are ok once they realise you know what you’re on about. Ricky you could always talk bikes to, genuine enthusiast. Would like to know where’s he’s gone, since I left the area.

Mountain Trax, has my recommendations. they have the ability to do shocks also 😉

BR
JeZ

I regularly used Mountain Trax and AW, I personally prefer AW as they have gone the extra mile to help me out in emergencies and been very reasonable with it.

AW Cycles. Dealt with them a lot over the years.
Helpful guys (who will phone when they say they will) and they have bent over backwards to help me. I now use them as my LBS, even though it’s 45 mins drive away. Worth it.

Berkshire cycles aka ‘the Ranch’. Avoid.

Nothing good to say about AW.

None of the others are in Reading but Mt Trax do have nice kit. Try Martin the bikepimp. He’s a mobile, proper mtber and knows what he is doing.

I have Martins mobile number if you need it. Nice chap, I knew him from when he worked at Halfords. Used to live near Pangbourne. Not sure as to where now.
I do all my own repairs, but know that Pedal On is a decent set up , if I ever needed anything I don’t have , such as Di2 interrogation etc.

I got a quote for some wheels from AW Cycles. They were quite competitive for a full wheel build, but a bit pricy for a wheel transplant to a rim. The bloke sounded pleasant enough though.

Cyclezone at 3 Tuns lights on Wokingham road have been very helpful each time I’ve been there. Mountain bike focus.