Can anyone reccommend a good LBS in the Poole area please?

Primera in Bournemouth is the best, only a short drive. if not there is a decent mechanic working in Cycle Paths in the dolphin centre

Charlie the Bikemonger is in Swanage

There’s Ride in Lower Parkstone – only ever browsed though.

Charlie + 1, nice coffee, good people. Things i actually want to buy….

I used to go in Ride (then called Xtreme) as a young slip of a lad and drool over all the Orange 5s and occasionally see Team Animal and X lite people there. Oh the memories.

I used to go in Ride (then called Xtreme) as a young slip of a lad and drool over all the Orange 5s and occasionally see Team Animal and X lite people there. Oh the memories.

+1

My first proper bike, an O2, was bought from there (in 1997 😯 !). It still lives and should really be treated to a Retro bike overhaul.

Is Bikelab still going?

Rockets and Rascals have opened up a shop out the road to Sandbanks. No dealings with that shop personally, but only good stuff to say about the Plymouth store.

i’d choose Ride or Primera poole for xc, both good mechanics, or fit2ride in wareham for road bike, i live in poole and its the only ones i trust. mixed feelings and rockets, strange pricing and varying quality of repairs, i.e. brake hose not tightened sufficiently making for a sketchy xc race…

Good luck with Ride. When I have been in there the staff haven’t even bothered to give me the time of day.

Rich at Ride in Ashley Cross will sort you out well.
Rockets and Rascals (on the Sandbanks road) is spannered by Johnny who used to be in Ride…and has great coffee.
Primera have 2 shops; an MTB angled one a mile up the road from Ride towards Branksome and the more Roadie main store in Charminster.
Bikelab got shafted a few years back and had to shut, but Martin their main spanner is now in The Forge cycleworks in Ringwood.

Bikelab got shafted

What happened there? Friends living that way always seemed to like the shop

I used to go in Ride (then called Xtreme) as a young slip of a lad and drool over all the Orange 5s and occasionally see Team Animal and X lite people there. Oh the memories

It used to be called Poole Mountain Bike Centre when I got my Kona Fire Mountain from there in 1992.

My bike still has their sticker on it.

thanks for the replies. i dont know the area, i was asking on behalf of someone at work… he’s noob.

“Bikelab got shafted”
“What happened there? Friends living that way always seemed to like the shop”

Not really for me to say, but Clive’s got a cracking job now so it all worked out ok in the end 🙂

Bikelab’s Richmond shop was a disaster. Worst customer service ever.

Where in Wareham are Fit2ride?

Charlie is excellent and would be my first option, I’d not touch cyclelabs for spannering after watching them bodge a headset fitting on a frame, it was a few years back but once bitten.

I don’t venture in to Ringwood much but have been impressed with service from Forge.

Ride I tend to avoid after a bad experience when I wanted to buy a bike, ended up at Bikelab buying one instead, still miss Bikelab, helpful and knowledgeable.
Primera in Parkstone are more helpful than the guys in Charminster but that may just be my view having bought bikes from both several times.

Then theirs Offcamber in Blandford who are always helpful.

“Bikelab’s Richmond shop was a disaster. Worst customer service ever”

Not the same people involved. They were the reason the Poole one had to shut…

Yep, I’m aware of that.