Miele Man

This is a spinoff from Support your local bike shop thread.

I've often wondered. If you've move to or a riding through a new town or city and you need to use a bicycle shop for a repair, how do you go about finding a shop that's good or at least is reputable? What criteria do you use to determine if a shop is good?

Cheers

Notso_fastLane

Google maps?

Seriously, that's your first step. But I wouldn't recommend necessarily driving to every bike shop in your area. Call them, find out if they have a bike club. Even if you don't really like riding in groups (I hate riding in groups). Show up at one and ask them about the bike shop and where they go (and what other shops they go to and how they compare).

I suspect there's really no substitute for word of mouth. I don't use local bike shops enough for it to matter (just order parts that I know I want and buy basic maintenance stuff, so it doesn't really matter).

Maelochs

Contact local cycling clubs if there are any. (Be careful ... it seems that frequently the local shop and the local club may be affiliated ) and ask the people who actually ride a lot in the area who they trust.

Google and Yelp can maybe help .... but a lot of stupid people make stupid complaints about user error that they refuse to admit to, and then blame the shop for everything.

sdmc530

google is your fiend but yes be careful of the reviews...can be misleading. If I am in question I actually look at the websites if they have one.

If they don't have one that is the one I always use I love the old school shops

debade

I have a bias for Trek stores.

But, I have used bike shops in many different places across the country. Many just to solve a problem while touring and such. For all my experiences over the last 25 years, I only found one that I was incredibly disappointed (it was a store that sold/rented beach cruisers in Florida and I requested they put my touring bike back together after it was boxed. They did not have that experience but they thought they could do it over the phone) and a couple others were under my expectations but not a total failure.

On tours I have had stores emergency order tires. Store owners who looked through all their back inventory for a cheap wheel to get me through the tour. Moved first in line in the shop to repair XYZ . All worked. All fairly priced.

If I had no one to contact, I would just try one. I expect it will go OK.

Rajflyboy

Find nice people first

worry about the bikes 2nd

tyrion

There's a website nextdoor.com, which is a very localized BBS kind of thing. It's a good place for questions about community, local businesses, etc.

indyfabz

^^This^^ Our club's FB page and list serve get questions about LBS fairly frequently.

Ultimately, I think one asking for recommendations needs to consider that there are usually one or two people who claim to have bad experiences with a shop that everyone else seems to love. Happened relatively recently. Guy posted a rant because the lone person inside a LBS would not open up the shop early for him, let him in, drop what he was doing and fix his broken chain on demand. There could have been a multitude of reasons why the worker could not accommodate him at the moment. Who knows. Maybe worker had a deliverable due at opening time. (One person pointed out that business insurance may not cover incidents occurring outside of official hours.) And I will note that the complainer was not a previous customer. There is no shortage of brats in this day and age.

Once I lost a plate on a chain link during a club ride. Know what I did. I limped to a nearby LBS and waited patiently for it to open rather than banging on the door and demanding immediate attention while asserting my status as a repeat customer. Once the shop opened I was in and out in 15 min. No charge for the labor. Some time later I returned to that shop and ordered a super fly custom ti frame that the shop owner builds himself and had it built up there. Wanna see a photo of it?

indyfabz

I have had similar experiences on tour, especially my group x-country tour. We pulled into Bowling Green, OH, where we had a rest day. I was having more wheel trouble and it was discovered that I needed a replacement. Another guy had a hit a cinder block sized pot hole two days before and needed both wheels replaced. A third guy also needed a wheel dealt with. The shop replaced my wheel, the two wheels of one of the other guys and helped arrange for a warranty replacement down the road at another shop. It also did some minor work on the bikes of a few others in the group of 13.

Probably the coolest place was Alt Bike & Board in Minneapolis, another place where we had a rest day. Not only did the shop have replacement tires of the very type and size I had started the tour with, they did work on my bike (and others') over night, so they were ready the afternoon of our rest day.

pdlamb

When I'm not desperate, I like to go browse shops. (I've done this several times on business trips where I'm likely to be back in the neighborhood, and hopefully I'll be able to arrange a nice ride next time.) If they're willing to spend a little time with you, show you some bikes similar to what you ride or want to ride, have something in your price range, go for the next step -- otherwise your next step is the next bike shop on the google search.

My next step has been to ask for something I either need or want, that my home (or former home) shop didn't have much to show. One shop had a pre-set torque wrench I figured I needed after stripping the stem on my travel bike. (Oops!) Another had a pair of gloves that fit me and work well down around freezing (nothing my home shops had in stock). All nice people, treated me well, answered my questions, and knew what they were talking about. I'd be happy to buy a new bike in a different town, from either of those.

pdlamb

Let me guess, is it a lovely pale green?

Wilfred Laurier

If I am riding through town and I need a repair then I am more concerned about finding the closest shop, not worrying about which is the 'best.'

However, it has been a long time (decades) since I considered leaving my bike for a stranger to work on. I am confident that I can get what I need to fix it myself (a tire or a chain or a cable) from any shop, possibly even from X-Mart or CDN-Tire, and get rolling again.

Here's a place I found when I needed to replace a tire while touring a few years ago -
https://www.google.ca/maps/@46.37252...2!8i6656?hl=en
'Ami du Velo' = ~Friend of the Bike

If I was trying to buy new Ultegra shift levers or a set of HED wheels, I likely would have looked for a different shop, but once I figured out how to describe the size tire I wanted in French (sept-cents par trente-cinq = 700 x 35) I got an affordable solution and use of their compressor to top up my tire.

,

dedhed

Depends on the town. It might only have 1 shop

. Cranky .

Indy, I think you need to make a calendar. Every month could have a picture of your bike leaning against a different wall.

wolfchild

Visit the shop in person and find out for yourself, don't rely on what other people think or say about any particular bike shop...I have 6 bike shops in my city and I would never call any of them bad. They are all different but none of them are bad...It also depends on the employes who work there. Some bike shops change employes regularly. The asshat you were dealing with today at a certain shop may not work there next year. I wouldn't condemn the whole bike shop just because of one unpleasant experience with one certain employe.

Miele Man

I sure as blazes would when the bicycle shop guy hammered my chainstay in order to get a bit more clearance for the small chainring on my Dura Ace AX crankset. I only went there because it was near where I was riding through the city. I had no idea that the guy was going to do that. It was the first and last time I'd ever deal with them. I wanted them to put a thin shim between the fixed cup and the bottom bracket shell. There was room on the adjustable cup for it to be threaded on a bit more to compensate. Instead of doing what I wanted they did this:



That's why I wonder how to tell a decent shop when it's your first visit to a shop in a new town or city.

Cheers

chadtrent

I would first of all ask around on social media. Maybe join a local bike group on Facebook if you're into that sort of thing. Find out about group rides and go to some of them. Ask the people on the rides who they like and why.

Or you could always try just going into the shop. I've found that I have a pretty good feel for how a shop is based on how they treat me when I go in.

freeranger

See if someone on this site lives in the area. With so many riders that this site attracts, seems likely someone would live in, or know someone who lives in the area and could advise on which shops are good.

JohnDThompson 

Take a look back in the shop area. If there's a Campagnolo tool kit on the bench, that's a good start.

Darth Lefty 

Buy some ****ty old bikes, disable them in subtle and clever ways, and take one to each shop

scott967

I generally just like to visit the places and scope em out, maybe buy a couple consumables. I'm always interested in what the shop area looks like, and what kind of components they have displayed. That gives me a good idea of who their target customer is.

scott s.
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CliffordK

What about RIDING to the different bike shops? It could be fun exploring a new city. And, you'll have your bike with you.

I must admit, most of the bike shops I've gone to, I've encountered on my travels, not specifically looking, but keeping my eye out for bikes and bike displays.

veganbikes

I would go into the shop and chat with them and let them know you are new in town and see if you like them. Reviews online don't really effect me much as I have dealt with so many customers you can bend over backwards for and try to help as much as you can and they are still angry and want to write bad reviews or people who just flat out lie because they can. A good way to find a B.S. review is see if they mention another shop or dealer or something as being better that is usually a sign of B.S. and someone trying to trick you. A good shop should be friendly or attempt to be friendly and have some cool stuff around and it is always nice to have someone who knows what you have especially with odd and vintage stuff.