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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.
Charliethebikemonger manages to empty my wallet on a regular basis. 🙂
CRC, never had a problem with them.
LoCo for all things bouncy, real top bloke.
Genuinely saddened to hear about the Bike Shop Hexham, I'd only discovered them last summer when I bought a cotic soul frame and other bits from them. I found them really helpful, and offered advice in a non condescending manner (unlike a lot of places)
Wish the lads all the best for the future
Thumbs up for Gavin at Red Ape Bikes in Bishop Auckland, Co. Durham - has got me out of a fix at short notice more than once.
Another recommendation for Edinburgh's 'The Bike Chain'. Great service, competitive prices and wonderful people. As an example I bought a Salsa El Mariachi frame from then a couple of months ago - and I wasn't expecting the BB being faced as part of the service!
ACTiV Folkestone Kent
Staff that know what they're talking about, friendly, helpful and they won't try to flog you stuff that you don't want.
They are Trek dealers and their customer service is great, (see my previous posts regarding warranty claims).
Kids come in wanting to pump up their ratty old BMX tyres and they lend them track pumps etc. If they haven't got what you want and can't order it, they'll try to send you somewhere that can.
Organised rides road/MTB, for all levels throughout the week, where newbies are welcome. Organised rides to trail centres twice a year (Wales normally) and Passportes du Soliel, summer BBQs, Christmas Party etc
Bike fitting service, demo bikes (they'll lend you lights on a winter ride) , workshop, clothing department and spares galore.
They started off as a windsurfing shop and still have a water sports department, but have evolved since the mid nineties into an excellent bike shop and its the only place I take my bike. They still sell windsurf kit and have digressed to kids scooters/roller skates/kites/kite boards/kite buggies/snow boards/ski wear/kayaks/bodyboards/wetsuits/triathalon kit/dive kit/fashion/skateboards. In all departments someone in the store does that sport, but the bikes is where the excel. The owner Steve is a former windsurf instructor, ski instructor, MTB/road rider, orienteerer, adventure racer etc. Other staff have ridden at elite level, do cyclocross, road race, are part of the local freeride scene and the shop sponsor local riders and teams, (Steves wife came second in the world championships a couple of years ago).
They've just got a mini coffe shop (one table and chairs!!!) and it's a standing joke in our house that a trip there never takes less than an hour because you just end up chatting with the staff or other customers. You make think I'm waxing lyrical about this shop and that I'm sponsored by them, but I'm not - I just get good service and I'm happy to fly the flag.
Pearce cycles ludlow. Always happy to price match ( within reason). Always get my little jobs done for when I ask. Good prices anyway. Always happy to stop and have a chat. The young mechs in there really know their stuff. Well stocked. All you can ask for a good lbs really.
Responsible for all the local trail network pretty much. If it wasnt for them, 80 percent of my local trails would not be here or ridable.
Bike UK Bristol, sorted the cracked linkage on my Marin even though its 3 years old and I didn't buy it from them. Also popped in to get a QR for my commuter bike after my front wheel got nicked. They only sold pairs but guy rummaged around in workshop came back with one then refused to take any money for it.
Generally reasonably priced and sell stuff I like.