akkahagar

Am thinking of finally plunking down some money and buying a new bike. So far, my experience in terms of bike shops has been Bikeworks, the place on Main owned by Bruce. He is good, but usually he doesn't have time. Also, there isn't much of a choice in terms of test riding at his place.

I have been told to stay away from Durst Cycles by more than one people.

Champaign Cycle has been recommended by a few. I am going to make a trip to them today.

Just wanted to know what other people in this area think of them, and if there are any other bike shops worth going to (I know of only the above three).

Thanks in advance.

delay

I have lived in Champaign for 8 years now. I can say that Champaign Cycle is (nearly) the only place I shop. Sometimes I go into Durst for things like a tube or something because it is on my way home from the university.

Bruce at bikeworks yelled at me once when my seat was stolen. Somebody unbolted it and made off with the seat and half the clamp. He yelled at me for some having a chain on my saddle....all logic would have indicated that if the thief was willing to unbolt it (how you get the chains on in the first place) such a device would have been useless. That said, he yelled at me and I refuse to go back.

The problem is, Champaign Cycle only stocks Trek and Lemond. Durst only Giant and Cannondale maybe Specialized but I think so.

If you are going to buy a bike, and don't want a trek, I would strongly suggest driving to St. Louis and going to Big Shark or Mesa. Both are fantastic shops. Chicago has ALOT also, but I have found the St. Louis shops to be a bit less pretentious.

PM me if you have any more questions about Champaign....

Jamahoran

Yeah, Champaign Cycle is amazing, they treat you like an old friend. Fritz (the half owner) has given me freebies from time to time. Once he replaced my tube and changed my tire at no cost, another time my brother asked him a question about training and Fritz gave him a $22 book right off the shelf and didn't charge him for it. Their service is first rate and the mechanics are excellent.

Jamahoran

And yes, do stay away from Durst. They look at customers as a source of revenue, not as cyclists.

richardmasoner

My experiences at Durst were very negative, to say the least.

I used to bike commute from Sidney to the business park on the northwest side of Champaign. Everyday: rain, shine, snow, sleet, day or dark. In seven years of that I only had to call for a ride home once because I wasn't quite prepared for the 20 below temp, 20 mph winds and blowing snow everywhere.

RFM

akkahagar

Thanks everyone.

Yeah, Bruce yelling at people is an all too common spectacle. Often it is for no reason in particular. But he is cheap, and still good, so students call him a bike nazi but still go to him. He has so far either refused to work on my bike, or fixed the problem pronto - unfortunately mostly the former. Which is one of the reasons I want to try other options for buying.

I suppose I would try Chicago as well, my family is moving there, and so I would be driving over quite frequently anyway. I wanted to use a local shop because of the convenience. Just found out there are three Performance stores there. Any experiences related to those?

SchreiberBike

Fritz at Champaign Cycle is a great guy. He helped me with some highly custom stuff for riding with one leg a while back. Then he wouldn't take any money for it. I brought them pizza at least and I refer all my friends there.

There are more professional places in the Chicago area, but there aren't any nicer people.

Bruce @ Bikeworks is a character and has helped me find some rare and used stuff on occasion. Do they still have the huge snake in the showroom?

akkahagar

Nope, no snake.

Rare stuff would be right down his alley . It is the more common stuff that he holds in disdain, such as my beaten up old Schwinn.

STEVO820

if you go to chicago check out chicagoland bicycle (cbike.com) thier website is only for their high performance stuff but they sell trek, lemond, and fuji. frank is a great guy as well as the rest of the guys and gals their. i was going to buy a 200 dollar selle smp saddle to replace my itallia SLK and one of the ladies there told me not to and bring in my bike and she would have the tech put me on a trainer and size me on it for free to get the right fit for my SLK.

delay

I have gotten some good bargains at the performance shop on Halsted before. I am up their with some frequency do to various work and pleasure oriented things. I have never found the service at any Chicago shop to top what Champaign Cycle gives (thats why I mentioned some St. Louis shops- around u-city their is a huge, very active roadie community). My only problem is that I can't ever see myself wanting a Trek or Lemond. I do however buy every single other item their I can and get all my repairs done there. I am always astounded at their willingness to loan me a tool or even just do the repair on the spot of it is something simple for no charge (even though I have never bought a bike there)

Here is my Durst story:
I blew out a tube on the way to work one day and called my girlfriend and asked her to get me a new tube so I can ride home. I told her just to get the cheapest one and had her write down the deminsions and mentioned about how much it should cost. She goes in to Durst, and they obviously noticed that due to the written down size ect. that she is not a cyclist. They proceed to sell her the fanciest tube they have in stock. That just pissed me off.