Singlespeed & Fixed Gear - The worst bikes shops

So there are a million and ten threads about the best bike shops.

how about one about the worst...so we know where not to go for parts and service....ill start

NYC Bikes aka "spokes and springs" in ny

after waiting six weeks for wheel set promised to be on my doorstep in one week i have had nothing but problems with this "excelent urban wheelset." The front wheel is laced wrong (radial instaed of three cross like the back), both wheels arrived out of true and now my rear spokes are literally giggling in their eyelets. Im not even gonna go into customer service issues.

as if this kryptonite mess wasnt enough, now i cant even go on rides until i teach myself how to true a wheel.

oy vey...i should open a fixed gear conversion shop stocked daily with last years products in used and NOS condition only for all you budget fixers, this is nuts.

until i do...lets see what y'all think are the wrost shops...sepcify city too

rear spokes are literally giggling in their eyelets

tee hee...

Bicycle Exchange, Wichita, Ks. Snooty help that know what I want before I do, and are wrong. An owner who nearly got in a fist fight with me because he was so rude to me he didn't have time to answer some questions about an expensive bike i was thinking of buying. I told him i would never return to his store and promptly took all my business to Tom Sawyer, where I have since purchased a complete road bike and had two bikes converted-- one to single speed and one to fixed. Not to mention all the good work they have done for me and the customers i have sent their way.

Then i returned to BXC's used store to find some used stems and got a helpful mechanic who took my bike in the back before we were done talking about what i wanted. Then there was a sign saying i couldnt go back there. So i sat outside waiting and wondering WTF they were doing with my bike for a few minutes then finally i signalled the other worker. Original worker comes out and gives me this snooty attitude and i start to get testy. He begins calming me and patronizing me. And i say about this time-- tell you what, just give me my ****ing bike right now. More calming, more soothing, and im like-- no, get my bike, now. Finally he gets my bike and im out, never ever to go there again.

WTF was i thinking, they must look for arrogant ******* as part of their hiring qualifications.

Kozy's Bikes in Chicago. I went there and had the put the bike computer on my bike, and it turns out they didn't place the sensor close enough to the computer, so it never worked. Then I paid them to put a bike rack on my bike- they knew I was picking the bike up to go to the airport, and I would need to have them take the bike apart (which they also had me pay for). When I got there, they said they were ready to put the bike in the suitcase, but of course, it wouldn't fit in with the rack on the bike, so they had to take the rack back off the bike (charged again) so they could fit the bike in the suitcase. Then they charged me for taking the bike apart. These people are nutcases!

Koffee

village cycle center in chicago. sells more bikes in chicago than any other LBS, but they won't let you test ride. They put you on a trainer and fit you and then they'll tell you test rides don't tell you anything. Instead pay us 100% and we'll "maybe" refund your money. Say what you will about Walmart & Sportsmart at least they let you test ride.

jeff

Walmart's never let anyone I know or know of test ride.

sure they do. I've people strap on helmet and take 'em out back. or maybe they're doing a "test ride" !!

jeff

Performance Bicycle in Baltimore(Perry Hall MD) sucks. . .

They price match the online store prices but you must bring in a print out of the prices from the online store because they can't get their computer to bring up the website - "nuts"

Then the manager a tall white guy with black hair like "Bozo The Clown" becomes arrogant because he has to do the price match. I don't have time for their sillyness.

I cannot condem the other staff as they are ok.

Also many of the Bicycles are dented somewhere on the frame so you must really look over a bike before purchase. I would buy a Giant XTC from them if they lost the Bozo look-alike guy.

I dunno if I'd say they're the worst, but I am consistantly disappointed in Joe's Bike Shop here in New Orleans. No matter what i want to buy, all they ever seem to want to push me is the cheapest Pyramid brand stuff they have. I went in for some mid range Shimano or similar front brakes and told them I had a budget of around $50 or something. The sales guy told me that the $12 Pyramid/Lee Chin brakes were just as good as Shimano. I even asked if I could order them and he talked me out of it. I got the cheap ones since I needed brakes, but it's been 4 months and the spring has already completely crapped out on me so I have to get another set. They did the same thing when i went to get a single speed chain and a bike lock. They had no idea what a track cog was when i asked about them. Maybe they should stick to lawnmowers?

All the ones I "Used" to work at, and all the one's that didn't hire me when I needed a job!

L8R

I dunno if I'd say they're the worst, but I am consistantly disappointed in Joe's Bike Shop here in New Orleans. No matter what i want to buy, all they ever seem to want to push me is the cheapest Pyramid brand stuff they have. I went in for some mid range Shimano or similar front brakes and told them I had a budget of around $50 or something. The sales guy told me that the $12 Pyramid/Lee Chin brakes were just as good as Shimano. I even asked if I could order them and he talked me out of it. I got the cheap ones since I needed brakes, but it's been 4 months and the spring has already completely crapped out on me so I have to get another set. They did the same thing when i went to get a single speed chain and a bike lock. They had no idea what a track cog was when i asked about them. Maybe they should stick to lawnmowers?

Take your brake unit and slap yourself a couple times with it. Then throw it at the bike shop when on one is looking.

Gotham Bikes in NYC! Terrible. They did a crap job of fixing a spoke that broke on a ride for me. I ended up breaking about 6 more spokes b/c their "truing" involved leaving about half the rear wheel with NO TENSION in the spokes (I usually fix my own wheels, but I was mid-ride and far from home). They also recommended a very expensive and stiff "competition spring" set of pedals to my significant other when she bought her first set of clipless pedals (Look A5.1) for her first road bike which she bought from them at the same time. Way too stiff and hard to use for a first-timer, scared her off of clipless - probably for good - and wasted $150 to boot (plus the shoes).

And worst of all: "The Large Mail-Order Company" in Brooklyn (know who I mean?). They get worse all the time. There is an apparent psycopath there who is shouting at someone everytime I go in. And he usually walks around cursing under his breath or out loud at the guys in the back - serious postal potential. I have gone in on 3 different occasions to buy bikes and you can't get anyone to help you...so I bought them all somewhere else. And the owner can't be bothered unless you are buying a $6K bike or have breasts.

Kentwood and Chicago Drive Schwinn in Grand Rapids and Grandville, MI, respectively. Both owned by the same guy and staffed entirely by completely inept, clueless people. Its ok though because they provide a good customer base for all the other shops in the area. I can literally say I have never heard anyone say anything good about either shop.

i walked into one once where the owner kept talking on the phone about having hot babes as employees because they sell bikes :/ ... it was next to some resturant near white rock lake. i say do yer own work and buy from online.


man.. i can't remember the name of the resturant... they were like 30 years old is all i remember.

Ozone bikes in Austin, TX F*ckin blows. It is the snottiest shop I have ever been to. Every time I have gone there, they have insulted whatever kind of bike I'm riding at the time and told me what I have is junk. Or they tell me to come back when I ready to step up to a real bike. WTF???? It's ironic because they are the biggerst single speed shop in the area, I think the only way they stay in business is by preying off college students looking for wheels. Also Bicycle Sport Shop is Austin is pretty stuck up as well.

I second that shout out to Performance Bicycle in Perry Hall. That place is wet, hot, garbage.

It's already been touched on in other threads, but International Bike in Boston is brutal. There are a couple good apples over there, but most of them are useless. ATA Cycles in Cambridge, MA comes in a close second. Both of these shops frown on anyone pushing anything less than Dura-Ace.