Great Lakes - Madison, WI bike shops

Hey all,

I am currently a resident of St. Louis but have been trying to make a move further north to Madison (among other cities I have looked at). I have had the wonderful opportunity to visit Madison a couple times and have been really impressed with the city and its residents.

I have the possibility of employment at one of the shops in Madison (I will leave the name out in order to get good feedback). I had the opportunity to visit most of the shops in town my last time up and was particularly impressed with the shop I interviewed with. I was wondering how the shops stack up? Any favorites? Any shops to avoid? Any additional info people may have regarding shop is appreciated!

I am not concerned with the move to Madison in general as I have always liked the city and it is still close enough to home to make the drive from time to time to see family. Thanks ahead of time for the info. Just want to make sure I get as much information as possible before making a final decision on location.
~Nick

YJ is the only one I know, but I don't live there.

There are many shops. From rumor (and taken with a grain of salt); Machinery Row/Budget doesn't pay on time, the owner of Williamson is certifiable, the owner of Yellow Jersey is a coke addict, the owner of Middleton Cycles and Fitness cares more about his fishing boat, Erik's is Not Local (a bad thing in Madison), Chronometro is Elitist, Revolution is also Elitist but not for expensive road bikes, Exclusive Cycles is really a front for a golf pro shop, Atkins is way out there.

There may be others I am missing.

There are many shops. From rumor (and taken with a grain of salt); Machinery Row/Budget doesn't pay on time, the owner of Williamson is certifiable, the owner of Yellow Jersey is a coke addict, the owner of Middleton Cycles and Fitness cares more about his fishing boat, Erik's is Not Local (a bad thing in Madison), Chronometro is Elitist, Revolution is also Elitist but not for expensive road bikes, Exclusive Cycles is really a front for a golf pro shop, Atkins is way out there.

There may be others I am missing.

You forgot the Trek Stores. I would characterize them as more retail driven than bike knowledgeable. But you pretty much covered it.

As far as service is concerned, Machinery Row (many brands), Erik's (Seven and Specialized), and Williamson (many brands) give you quality, professional service and has lots of stuff for the full range of cyclists but in a faceless way (as in, we don't remember you). Cronometro (Cervelo and probably other $$$ bikes) does give excellent service (from what I have heard) but it is elitist. Budget's mechanics (many brands) are subpar (IMHO). Atkins (Specialized, Waterford, Gunnar, Aegis) give you individualized service, remembers you, the owner often services your bike, but with less than convenient hours and location for Madison proper residents, and also is rather limited in terms of selection outside of road and hybrid bikes. Trek (might also sell GF) sells you stuff. The sellers are often merely retail sales experts who are not always familiar with the technical end of the bike. They have a good selection of clothes and they drink the Armstrong flavor-aid, naturally. Yellow Jersey is the snob bike shop for the retro set.

Endurance House, which is geared towards the triathlete/Ironman, is another one out there. It is a lot more general as far as bike stuff goes.

If you're out northwest of town to ride some hills, stop in to Uphill Grind (http://www.uphillgrind.net) in Cross Plains. It's a full service shop and a great place if you need to top off your energy drink or get an iced coffee. The owner posts out here on the forums every once in a while.

I think everyone has cover the shops though there are times I would put the owner of the Budget "group" in the category of as certifiable as the owner of Williamson... the two of them have a long and twisted history.

It's funny, every time I mention either Willy's or the Machinery Row/Budget, I get the same mysterious allusion towards a strange and intricate relationship/rivalry between these two shop owners...
~Nick

I think machinery row now occupies the building that willy used to. It's got something to do with that.

Ya I've heard that but it seems like there must be something that runs deeper as it appears to be a bit more longstanding that that. Oh well...doesn't seem to affect the integrity of either shop (at least as far as I can tell).
~Nick

Ya I've heard that but it seems like there must be something that runs deeper as it appears to be a bit more longstanding that that. Oh well...doesn't seem to affect the integrity of either shop (at least as far as I can tell).
~Nick

Shout out to Trek bike stores on East/West side. I'm not totally familiar with the east side store since I never go there, but the people at the west side store really know their sh*t. I wish it was downtown, so it was easier to get to.

They also HUGELY support the UW cycling team. Great for them to help out the local university.

Shout out to Trek bike stores on East/West side. I'm not totally familiar with the east side store since I never go there, but the people at the west side store really know their sh*t. I wish it was downtown, so it was easier to get to.

They also HUGELY support the UW cycling team. Great for them to help out the local university.

Ya I've heard that but it seems like there must be something that runs deeper as it appears to be a bit more longstanding that that. Oh well...doesn't seem to affect the integrity of either shop (at least as far as I can tell).
~Nick

I know what you mean. I don't know the exact story, but the version I've heard goes something like this:

Years ago, Willy Street Bikes was located in the Machinery Row building on Williamson. Roger Charly, the Budget Bikes owner, somehow outflanked Willy Street Bikes and got their Machinery Row store location. Depending who you ask, this may have been underhanded or just a shrewd business move on Roger Charly's part. It was particularly vexing to Willy Street Bikes given their name, which would tend to drive business to their old store, which was now their competitor's store. They renamed themselves Williamson Bicycle Works and used a tagline, something like "if it's on Williamson, it's NOT Willy Bikes!"

No idea how accurate that is, but that's how I've heard it. Perhaps others can do better.

Watch out for the Erik's store at University Square. There's this one character who works there ... ;)

Years ago, Willy Street Bikes was located in the Machinery Row building on Williamson. Roger Charly, the Budget Bikes owner, somehow outflanked Willy Street Bikes and got their Machinery Row store location. Depending who you ask, this may have been underhanded or just a shrewd business move on Roger Charly's part. It was particularly vexing to Willy Street Bikes given their name, which would tend to drive business to their old store, which was now their competitor's store. They renamed themselves Williamson Bicycle Works and used a tagline, something like "if it's on Williamson, it's NOT Willy Bikes!"

No idea how accurate that is, but that's how I've heard it. Perhaps others can do better.
Heh. When I worked at Williamson St Bikes shortly after it first opened, it wasn't even on Willy St then, but on the cross street just south of the Willy St Grocery Co-op. It seems they set themselves up for this!

^ OK, maybe I've got it wrong and Willy St. Bikes was not in the Machinery Row building ... even so, just by putting a store on Williamson, Charly was able to piggyback on his competitor's branding.

^ OK OK, I went back to my source and he confirms Willy St. Bikes was indeed in the Machinery Row building. Here is his account:

He thinks it was maybe 8 years ago, Willy St. Bikes was moving their store out of the Machinery Row building to another location (off Williamson Street, but keeping their name). Don't know why, maybe they lost their lease or the landlord wanted them out.

They left their old fixtures and signage up at the Machinery Row store they were vacating, as departing retail tenants oten do.

To their surprise, Roger Charly of Budget Bikes had secretly gotten a lease to move into the Machinery Row space - immediately. So they moved out, he moved in overnight and was open for business the next day in their old store. He didn't trumpet the change in ownership, didn't brand the store as a Budget Bikes shop - just called it Machinery Row Bikes, changed as little as possible and quietly let all the old Willy St. customers walk in.

Willy St. Bikes was blindsided, and Roger Charly was a tough businessman playing for keeps, but nothing unethical there, as my source tells it.

I dunno, I bought my bike from Machinery Row and they were really helpful and friendly. I never had to pay for any of the small things that they did with my Trek Soho (lubing it up once in a while or just tightening things here and there). It never really seem anything close to faceless. The guy I bought my bike with still remembers me and when I am there to pick something up for my bike, we usually have a chat. But that might just be because i am sorta hard to miss.

Willy street bikes are also really nice an knowledgeable, I just never used their repair staff since I live two blocks down from machinery row.

Budget bicycles is nice, but the different locations and now things are set up sometimes just seems awkward to me compared to the more "flashy" look of either Willy Street or Machinery Row.

I'll vouch for Roger Charley. He's a great guy and he really likes his bikes. If you ever get a chance, drop in to the used bike show room on Regent St.
It is CRAMMED to gills with an amazing selection of old, unique, or just plain weird stuff. This is what I call call Roger's museum. I could spend hours in there and still not see everything he has. One other thing to say for Roger is that he WORKS. He is always there (there being any one of size storefronts), and he is always busy doing something or other. I'm sure he could be hand-off if he wanted to, but he is not and I have to admire that.

The other shop I didn't see is budget bicycles. They have a lot of used bikes, and seem to cater to the UW students, but I really haven't shopped there. I have had good experiences with both Eriks (East and West) and with Willys east for recognizing me and getting me taken care of quickly (they know I ride a lot and don't want to go long without my bike. Then again, all I really do on my own nowadays is clean/lube the chain, clean the sprockets and change any tires that need to be changed. I have had a horrible sales experience with Machinery Row...My wife is a newer cyclist and I told them we wanted a triple (this was before compacts were so prevalent) because we were going to be riding hills, and take a trip to NC (Asheville area) and that she would need them. Guy tried to convince me that lighter wheels would be a better investment than a triple...whatever. After that I don't go there.

The Willy/Machinery Row thing as I understand it (Which could all be wrong, its just what I heard). Willys was the biggest TREK dealer in Madison, when Trek brought in their corporate stores, they decided they didn't need a competitor, so restricted Willy's line. Then TREK decided it would be okay to have another bike shop move in and sell TREK, which took sales from Willys. As far as I know, both now sell TREK bikes, as well as the TREK stores. Again, this is gossip, not truth. Maybe someone else knows more of the detail.