BICYCLE

My brakes were completely out, I had a flat tire (got hit by a forklift, embarrassingly), my derailleur wasn't shifting right, my wheels needed straightening. . . Plus I learned I needed new tires and new brake shoes. I'd used another repair shop in past but my repairs, particularly my brake cables, never stayed repaired so I thought I'd try this place since it was walking distance from my house. It looks like nothing, I'm not even sure it has a name, and the owner does everything, there are no employees. But I'd seen a few reviews of this place on another site, and, although it was downgraded for customer-friendliness, no one called the owner's expertise into question. I can see why now. First, though, a word about the customer-friendliness: I was prepared for a really unpleasant encounter, but was ok with it as long as I got my bike repaired properly. However, I saw nothing in his demeanor that would even begin to elicit a poor review. Quite the contrary, he listened without interrupting, told me what I needed done, and did so politely. I can't speak for other people but as far as my experience went, he got an A for communication & customer service. Two things he did do: 1) He not only told me why I needed the extra work that I did, he demonstrated using new parts & showing me location & the extent of wear & damage to my existing parts (I'd bought the bike used so I have no idea how much stress it was subjected to prior to my ownership); 2) He gave me A LOT of lessons & information on owner care. For instance, I learned that bike chains don't like petroleum oil for lubrication, they just like to be clean, and when you do lubricate, teflon (or was it silicon? I have to go back & ask) is much better than oil, it's like a wax that cleans, which is what a chain really needs, AND it needs to be used sparingly. I'd always doused my chain with WD40. . . . Also, he showed me how to tell by chain color when I need to re-lubricate. I went into information overload but I retained some of it & am much smarter about owner abuse than I was last week. The upshot is, based on my experience, he's not a salesperson, if he tells me I need to spend more money, it's because I do. (A couple of people on the other review site wrote the same thing; I partly came here because I trusted what they said.) My bike is fixed, it rides noticeably better, and the brakes are staying tight! (Another thing I learned: my brakes were loosening mainly because my pads were so worn, which they were, there was nearly nothing left of them. I'm not sure why the other shop didn't tell me that & recommend a pad replacement rather than tightening my cables every few months. . . .) A word on price. The basic tune-up he quoted me was a bit more than the other shop quoted, but the owner explained exactly what he was going to do, showed me the equipment he would use & exactly what he was going to do. I came away feeling I got what I paid a little extra for. All in all, I was pretty impressed for such a nondescript shop & a supposedly unpleasant owner. And I admit I was a little verbose here but I wrote so much because, from what I'd seen, he was as pleasant as any bike shop person I'd ever dealt with, and certainly didn't deserve the level of meanness of some of the reviews on the other site.