Ladies and Bike Shops

Nina.

Ninon not Nina.

Is fantastic by the way.

I am but the silliest of men. I hope she never knows that I got her name wrong for all these years. You better not tell her! ;)

See, I knew it sounded like Ninon, but then when I saw how GA2G typed it I assumed it was just some odd English pronounciation.

Rub it in Nhatt love. Just.........Rub.It.In. ;)

Dear oh dear, what could we possibly say to Ninon if she happened across this page, which after all is publicly accessible on the Internetwebs? ;)

That's she's totally 531!? I dig Ninon.

I mean, about Ashe's horrible realisation that he's got her name wrong all of these years. ;)

She won't remember me, luckily. When I was a courier I was about 14 stone or something. A real lightweight. I am Shamu now in comparison.......and happy with it to be honest. ;)

Does anyone on here know anything about the bike cafe that has opened recently on Regents Canal not far down for Lock 7? It looks like they're doing repairs as well now. It's an interesting use of space as it's sort of garage type space under new build flats. They seem to get lots of passing trade from people using the canal path and you can see it from the road bridges as well.

The bike shop on Regents Canal is a separate outfit from teh cafe. But as they are next door to each other, it's a pretty great location as you can relax and eat cake while your bike is fixed.
I stoped the other day to talk to the guy who runs it. He was sooooo nice and did not dismiss me as a lady-cyclist but talked me through my options for building the bike of my dreams.
Big thumbs up to him!
And fantastic contrast to the day before when the bloke in Tokyo fixed gear couldn't get me out of the shop quick enough - female, over 28 and carrying a bike helmet. Won't be spending my bike punds there, then!

Enid! Multi Grooves just posted this

The bike shop on Regents Canal is a separate outfit from teh cafe. But as they are next door to each other, it's a pretty great location as you can relax and eat cake while your bike is fixed.
I stoped the other day to talk to the guy who runs it. He was sooooo nice and did not dismiss me as a lady-cyclist but talked me through my options for building the bike of my dreams.
Big thumbs up to him!
And fantastic contrast to the day before when the bloke in Tokyo fixed gear couldn't get me out of the shop quick enough - female, over 28 and carrying a bike helmet. Won't be spending my bike punds there, then!

Can confirm that the guy who runs the bike shop on Regents Canal is lovely - really friendly and helpful and didn't make me feel stupid for asking loads of questions.

Can confirm that the guy who runs the bike shop on Regents Canal is lovely - really friendly and helpful and didn't make me feel stupid for asking loads of questions.

He's on here to boot:

http://www.lfgss.com/thread39762.html

sounds like a plan...any philanthropists out there?

Atually, there are. Ask snowy_again, he's a grant writer and linked me a while back to a grant opportunity for just this kind of thing. If you're serious you could get up to L5000 to start up the business.

In my experience with bike shops in general (USA and in London) were quite patronising towards me for being a woman and a bit clueless about some things. In fact they did such a poor job looking over one of my bikes that it was unsafe. It's like car mechanics, if you don't know about your machine they just take advantage and your money. That's why I have been teaching myself and taking care of my own bikes now and have found a real love for it, so in some way I should thank those guys for being such jerks!

In my experience with bike shops in general (USA and in London) were quite patronising towards me for being a woman and a bit clueless about some things. In fact they did such a poor job looking over one of my bikes that it was unsafe. It's like car mechanics, if you don't know about your machine they just take advantage and your money. That's why I have been teaching myself and taking care of my own bikes now and have found a real love for it, so in some way I should thank those guys for being such jerks!

I agree with that, I've come face up to a lot of trouble when going into bike shops, pedal and motorcycles, majority of the time I get a bit of a cold shoulder, but there are the little gems that really go that bit further to make you feel at home, Dani Foffa is one example, just bout my bike from him and his attention to detail and customer service was second to none...there's hope out there at least.

I tend to steer clear of bike stores, and source most of my stuff from online - as I prefer to build/fix my bikes myself.

This is an awesome thread. I recently took my bike in for a last minute service (promising myself that this would be the last time) before setting off on the Dunwich Dynamo. The guy was so rude to me, told me off for the state of my bike (it really wasn't that bad) and charged me an absolute fortune. That is the last time, am on the hunt for a good cycle maintenance class south of the river, and girl friendly, novice friendly bike shops and workshops.

look mum no hands has a female mechanic, nik/niki(?) i think she's called.

Was just about to add this, she is an awesome bike mechanic.

am on the hunt for a good cycle maintenance class south of the river,.

http://www.lfgss.com/thread48608.html

Bermondsey; guaranteed sexism free.

Cheers, will have a look. :)

This is an awesome thread. I recently took my bike in for a last minute service (promising myself that this would be the last time) before setting off on the Dunwich Dynamo. The guy was so rude to me, told me off for the state of my bike (it really wasn't that bad) and charged me an absolute fortune. That is the last time, am on the hunt for a good cycle maintenance class south of the river, and girl friendly, novice friendly bike shops and workshops.

I went to London Cycle Workshop on St John's Hill, CJ, yesterday as it was en route to work and my wheel needed fixing. Really friendly mechanic, good service, picked the wheel up later the same afternoon - not gonna rival BC, natch, but much handier for on the hoof repairs for me

+1 for Brixton Cycles. Always helpful, and my female housemate & my mum have both found it good too.

Bobbins in Angel is lovely for retro & dutch-style bikes and bits. But they don't do any fixing or maintenance in there, so it's very much a shop rather than a worrkshop. Very cute and friendly staff though.

I've had good experiences in Recycle in Elephant & Castle and Edwards in Camberwell when I've popped into them. The guy in Edwards kindly offered to tighten my headset up for me for free when I went in to buy some tools.

I've had really positive experiences in Cavendish; I've yet to find a more helpful bike shop.

enid would be glad to chat about the bike trade/working as a mechanic/anything along these lines - just get in touch (therese co-owner bike yard east)

I have been interested in bike mechanics for a while, but have since decided that I'd like to take it up as more of a hobby. I have not experienced particularly rude people, there's a good bike shop near me and they were helpful when I was enquiring about mechanics courses. I would like to know more, so that I can work on my bike rather than paying ££'s