Fenderman

I was wondering if anyone could suggest some good places to shop for bikes or bike parts in the KC MO area or even online for that matter. I am kind of new to this biking thing. I would appreciate any advice. Thanks

Matt

cruzMOKS

Any LBS would be good. I shop at River Market Cyclery (3rd East of Grand) and Wheel Cyclery Antioch North of Vivion.

Kansas City Craig's List has bicycles but with slim pickings.

Scott

chrisenter

Several good bike shops in KC. My personal favorite is Bike Stop...Blue Springs and Lee's Summit.

https://www.bikestoponline.com

chicharron

There are an abundance of bike shops in Kansas City. I am not that familiar with the shops in the 'burbs, but in the mid-town Kansas City area, may I suggest Midwest Cyclery at 40th and Broadway in Westport? I bought my Fugi there, five years ago, and always recieve excellent service and help. The other day I went in and had a flat changed, while I waited. I rode down the street, and one block later, the tire went flat again. I walked back to the shop, and they put in another inner-tube, at no charge. (no, I am not getting paid for this plug.)
Also, there is a new shop out at about 79th.St. and Wornall Road, called family cyclery.

MODWR

I'll echo the vote for Bike Stop. I recently bought my SJ Comp there - was a good
experience.

The Bike America shop in downtown Lees Summit is good too.

mlwarriner

Acme Bike on 18th St between Oak and Locust (downtown)
Midwest Cyclery on Broadway, near 40th (midtown)
Waldo Bikes on 75th St just west of Wornall (Waldo/Brookside)
Family Bikes on Wornall near 72nd St (Waldo/Brookside)

Also unfamiliar with the 'burbs shops, but I know there's plenty.

theextremist04

Trek Bike Store of KC and BikeSource are good. Gotta mention The Wheel Cylcery just because they sponsor my team. Avoid the Bike America at 95th and Nall- it's bad.

morry32

No longer living in the area but I will say my two favorites are ACME (Downtown) which is mentioned above and Volker Bicycles which is located in Volker on West 39th Street by KUMED.

jisaacreese

Hop on K32 and Ride to Lawrence (40miles) Sunflower Bike on Mass St. is my absolute favorite shop. I live in KC, KS (Downtown KC) and Sunflower is my fav. I also vote for River Market Cyclery on 3th St. Great service...just as good of service as Sunflower.

Jim in KC

I've bought two bikes from Todd at the Bike Stop on Sterling. I like going back to a shop and finding the same people there from the year before so you can build a history with them.

Bontrager

Completely opposite experience.

The Trek Bike store would NOT sell us a Trek 1000 because they were adamant that it wasn't the right size frame for my gf. The stupid lady measured her with the inseam stick and looked-up what she thought was the correct size frame in her little book. We've gone there to purchase some other parts but I still can't believe they wouldn't sell us a bike, sitting on the floor, in stock, because they thought it was the wrong size for her - even after she test rode the frame that they thought fit her (I was a little jealous of the top tube on that 56 cm frame when measuring standover).

We went to a bunch of bike shops to get my gf sized because we thought we were crazy. Bike America at 95th and Nall were great. They fitted us (free) with a laser fit system. They even "WSD'd" a Trek 1000 when we went to finally buy the gf her bike. We've had on the spot rear wheel truing (for free) as well as good discounts.'

I've had great experiences with the mechanics at Bike Source near Quivira and 135th in Overland Park and recommend that place.

Plutonix

I am familiar with both and both have their pros and cons, but Trek Store comes out ahead overall.

New bike purchase: You'll get the same discount off MSRP at both. Perhaps because they both know I am not just price shopping there is no hassle of bringing in quotes from the other to get it. Last time I bought there, The Trek Store also did a 10% store credit thing: buy a $800 bike, pick out $80 in stuff for free. Do be wary though - if you want to do something like swap tires or the saddle on a new bike, they will give you wholesale credit against retail price.

OTOH Bike America was very much into helping me get an '09 in July at a deep discount (Trek model change over clearance). The Trek Store was saying there were none but there were at least 150 in the color/size I wanted.

Trade Ins: Bike America will buy your old bike; The Trek Store will not. Very nice to roll in on '04 wheels and roll out on '09 wheels with no ads, calls, let downs etc. Helps the price tag too: my '09 was $358 from BA, would have been $729 from Trek Store.

Staff: The Trek Store is all grown ups who ride while BA tends to be over half part time kids who are rarely on the ball. Conversely, those bringing in road bikes seem to get hovered over more than those on "lesser" bikes at the Trek Store.

Tune-ups: Both do free tune-ups on new bike sales. Bike America is lifetime, The Trek Store is limited to 3 years. Sadly, I have often had to take the bike back to Bike America to get something redone properly (the 'kids' element) even in Jan or Feb when things are slack.

Repairs: For serious repairs like rebuilding a wheel I have tended to rely more on the Trek Store than Bike America, mainly because of the 'kid factor', though they too can botch things (like rebuilding a wheel with black hubs and rims using silver spokes). Bike America recently upgraded the 'wrench room' and it was all adults there when I picked up the 09, so here's hoping. Bike America has a slight edge in prices for major repairs.

Misc: The Trek Store peeps are more professional but they are mostly about road bikes. Mention Dinotte, or anything about MTB or commuter tires to them and they have to look it up (I suspect the silver spokes incident showed what they think of MTBs). Bike America is a disaster when it comes to special orders, the owner/manager tries to keep too much in his head and stuff gets lost.

I rather like playing them off against each other...

I must also say that Bike Source is very good too, their new location is simply too far from civilization.