Brick Lane Bikes (BLB) Bike Shop

she ain't no american. she's from israel. very friendly too.

Like I say - apologies - at least I got the friendly part right....

they were never rude to me but they seemed to spend an awful lot of time waving shiny things at my mate (i guess that was how you got hipsters to buy shit at the time) chrome was all the rage and everything he asked for theyd get the slightly more expensive chrome ones

(i guess that was how you got hipsters to buy shit at the time)

Now all they have to do is squeeze out a quick slimey unipack, and the hipsters flock for the cheap ticket to bohemian individuality...

(i guess that was how you got hipsters to buy shit at the time)

Now all they have to do is squeeze out a quick slimey unipack, and the hipsters flock for the cheap ticket to bohemian individuality...

Oooh, slanderous!

Did you even read the thread?

yes

Did you understand it?

You realize they were getting slagged for refusing to work on the bike - not for selling it.

surely all bike shops have to do this all the time though.
have you seen what the majority of people ride? especially outside of london!
i think a "your bike is not expensive enough to grace the floor of my shop" attitude is not going to get them anywhere.
having said that, when i've been there (only on 2 or 3 occasions) the staff have been very nice. it must just depend who's working.

I can think of a couple of situations where I would choose not accept a repair

1. bike is f***ed that it will cost more to fix than the owner paid for it
   
2. bike is obviously stolen, but you have no information to confirm this
   
3. you don't have the parts or tools (BLB didn't have vice - supplier probs - for a while) or sufficiently qualified mechanic
   

Oh and, because I am obviously the arbiter of all things bike shop and its good to profer anecdotal impression as considered insight I went into BLB two weeks ago for the first time and Jan told me that he didnt sell tubs as he put one on his bike and it fell off so he doesnt think they are worth bothering with. Go figure.

Errr, are you sure? I think you must have misheard him.

Did you understand it?

You realize they were getting slagged for refusing to work on the bike - not for selling it.

JP's not going to be happy with that H - "flock for the cheap ticket to Bohemian individuality" took work..

To clarify, by "they" i wasnt refering to Blb.

Consider me clared.

I was scared of going to BLB from an experience I had last year with "the girl". I went yesterday and they were really nice and helpful. I thought the girl was spanish!
I also like Brixton Cycles, bought my bike there 4 years ago and they were geat.

can't believe I just waded through all this crap.

can't believe I just waded through all this crap.

TBH there are more annoying threads at the moment...

if you can got to BLB at any time other than the weekend, do so

do these guys do refunds ? ? ?

Yeah, take back a faulty item and use their pump for the next 5 visits.

can't believe I just waded through all this crap.

me neither. bollocks to this, im going to bed.

I went to BLB to ask some questions tonight.
A nice guy answered every of my questions very kindly. Nice.
I went around the shop and at one point I asked another guy how much it would be for them to remove the bottom bracket from one of my bikes. He said 40£. And he was not joking.
Hahahahahaha, wonderfull.
I was about to buy a shit load of parts from them as well as buying a new bike but now I am kind of hesitating. And that's the same every time I go there: coming to buy some parts and leaving so disapointed by the service that I get nothing.
It's crazy how many clients them might loose because treating people like stupid.
BLB, people are not cash machines.

yawn

i feel i need to show some love for blb. when we (vic and me) first went in (soon as they first opened) we didn't feel the friendly service we now feel, but they are good guys and have been awesome to us both, and the rest of the locals who use the place regularly. sure, sometime its cheaper to go elsewhere (hell, they've even told me to do that themselves), but thats commerce.

I forgot, let's make a calculation. Let's say it takes 5 minutes to dismont a bottom bracket.
-> 480£ for one hour of work...

I forgot, let's make a calculation. Let's say it takes 5 minutes to dismont a bottom bracket.
-> 480£ for one hour of work...

are you the chancellor of the exchequer?

because that's about as informed as most of his choices.

if it takes five minutes, then do it yourself.

oh, no tools?

well they cost money, especially workshop quality ones, premises cost money, the lighting and heating costs money, the insurance costs money, the staff's wages cost money, the stock costs money!

They are running a business, in order to provide you with that shop it costs them money before you even set foot in the door.

someone is not pocketing £40 for "five minutes" work, which in reality (to anyone who knows anything about bike mechanics) would take half an hour in total or probably more in the case of an old bike.

It's an easy job, buy the tools yourself look in park tools and do it yourself. If don't feel you're up to the job consider this.
There is a old story about a engineer who when asked to to come fix a machine in a factory spent ten min looking over the machine and then tightened a bolt in 30 seconds. When he put in his invoice for $1000 the company asked for a break down of cost.

$1 for tightening the bolt
$999 to knowing what was wrong and which bolt to tighten.

Plus what RPM says, hell of alot of costs involved.