Above and Beyond - the best LBSes!

Condor, grays inn road great ability to ignore customers even when quiet.

ads I went into Cavendish Cycles who were very helpful. The massive bike mechanic in there extracted the remnants of my bottom bracket and cleaned the threads for nothing. Really helpful. I will spend my pounds in there from now on.
these guys are way cool and a few of them are on here (hassanr, dannoleed etc). they are sponsoring monopoly ride as well :)

Aye, cavendish helped me by phoning round asking for some 36H open pros on a Sturday. Also they gave good suggestions for alternative sources, which I consider the mark of a truly helpful bikeshop - directing you to another bikeshop!

London
1 - Bonthrone Bikes, Fulham
2 - Putney Cycles, ermmmm
3 - Bicycle Magic, Whitechapel
4 - Moose Cycles, Colliers wood
5 - AW Cycles, Colliers Wood
6 - Stratton Cycles, Wandsworth
7 - Cavendish Cycles, Central.
8 - Bicycle Workshop, All Saints rd., w11

Nodnol:
1 - Oxford Cycle Workshop, Oxford
2 - Bike Workshop, Bristol
3 - Salvagetti, 1234 Speer blvd., Denver CO

Nodnol

Blazing Saddles in Hebden Bridge (google it). The guy opened REALLY early for me one sunday morning when i was due to start an audax. I'd arrived and couldn't unclip my from my pedal cause the cleat had come loose. The fella changed both my cleats for me for no charge.

Always had decent service from BikeFix in Lambs Conduit Street, did everything they could to fix my MTB BB, spent a whole morning trying to extract it, but with no luck, didn't charge me, just gave me lots of recommendations and advice about what to say to the manufacturer... Who eventually replaced it. Also happy to chat about bikes and their qualities.

fatbloke I use a lovely little local place called FW Evans. I've never actually met Mr. Evans myself but I imagine that he's a kindly old white-haired gentleman with a long beard. The reason I've never met him is that he has a wonderfully enlightened policy of only employing disadvantaged local teenagers with learning difficulties who know nothing about bicycles in his shop, to give them a start in the industry...

Seriously, Moose Cycles, Colliers Wood. Mostly MTB, but patient and expert.

Funnily enough, I *have *met Mr Evans, and he *is *a kindly old white-haired gentleman. He doesn't have a beard though, he is resolutely clean-shaven.

GrandeAnse2Grenville bicycle workshop, 27 all saints road, w11. Its the best bike shop I've ever known. A lady ran the place when I was last there, and the quality of work was always the highest.

How the times have changed, when I used to live down the road from there it was well scary at night, last time I looked it had become swanky restaurants and bathroom accessories...

BICYCLE WORKSHOP LIVES!
;-)

When I asked Edwardes in Camberwell if they had ANY old hybrid frame so that I could replace my broken crap singlespeed conversion in an emergency they stripped a brand new Saracen (oh yeah) in 5 mins flat and sent me on the way for £40.

Then they took a fiver off an already cheap Renkompressor because I said "thanks" when I went back.

And for helping the estate BMX kids whose crankarms have dropped off whilst surrounded by £5k Pinarello Prince builds and other Italo bike porn.

adoubletap When I asked Edwardes in Camberwell if they had ANY old hybrid frame so that I could replace my broken crap singlespeed conversion in an emergency they stripped a brand new Saracen (oh yeah) in 5 mins flat and sent me on the way for £40.

Then they took a fiver off an already cheap Renkompressor because I said "thanks" when I went back.

And for helping the estate BMX kids whose crankarms have dropped off whilst surrounded by £5k Pinarello Prince builds and other Italo bike porn.

I really dont understand this shop. Some people give it a great report but everytime ive been in its been terrible service and really expensive! I vowed never to go in again, id rather 15mins extra ride over to brixton bikes.

I dealt with Barry (Edwardes?) the oldest guy in the place who sorted me out both times.

yeah i think i always seem to get the young guys who work in there. Seriously i wouldnt be surprised if one of them couldnt even ride a bike, didnt have a clue.

makes you wonder why the good guys employ these muppets :S

My best mate used to own a bike shop and that was the best one!!

We used to have cool times there, Adventure Sports 24/7 in Yeovil if anyone knew it!

He'd always let us use his work shop even during a saturday if it was free, we used to hang out there out of hours and get drunk and do stupid stunts on bikes.

Remember trying to manual a BMX right outside the shop on a busy Friday night and landing flat on my back!!

Shame it had to shut in the end, funny how things change, he's a prison officer in Brighton now, those were the times.....

I used to know the guys who owned bicycle Magic (Scott and Richard) I haven't been there for years though but they were/are a great pair of guys.

Brixton cycles are great, they calculated spoke lengths for me for a really odd wheel build (singlespeed wheel for a DISHLESS rear triangle, meant that the rear wheel had to have a partial reverse dish) then gave me a decent discount on the spokes even though I hadn't bought the rim or hub from them and I was planning to build it myself. I just like going there.

Bike+ in Croydon, although I've not been in it for ages, I use the online shop all the time because they have a staff member who is on the ACF forum and gives out great advice and will try stuff for you to see if it works. Their prices are good and delivery speed is surreal, they seem to be able to deliver next day even if you only order it at about 4pm the day before.

I've always had a decent response in Edwardes, non of this 'it'll be ready next week' bollocks you get with some places. Everything I'v asked them to do they've done on the spot with no cost! Also had stuff sold to me at low prices/discounts(not even asked for)
Thing I find annoying about some shops is the bollocks they charge for 'labour' wheras Edwardes have always done stuff for me for £5 or free.
When I bought that Coppi frame I also bought a Campy BB. Checked it for correct size, measured etc. I asked them to fit it quickly just to double check, no probs then when I paid they'd charged me an extra £15 for 'labour'. Jesus H Christ it took about 30secs to fit it, if I'd've known they were gonna charge I'd've done it myself. Whatever happened to 'a favour' or 'goodwill', after all I'd just given em £350 for the frame!

+1 for cavendish cycles.
really cool staff, know what they're talking about, even let me use their tools sometimes if i ask nicely ;-)
highly recommended.

Just popped into Brixton cycles for the first time... sweet jesus they are some helpful people. Spoke to two guys didnt get either of their names, one guy had lines tattooed on his wrists and i think an american accent, the other guy was ginger... two good people who gave me some excellent advice with my new bike!! cheers guys!

Bought a bike from them June last year, very helpful.

I live Norf, near Ally Pally, chose to buy from them rather than BLB after they fobbed me off, well worth the extra to-ing and fro-ing.

If memory serves the ginger (or was he bald? Hmm need an eye test. I used to go out with a ginger girl for years so I should really know, or was it a bald bloke really? Is it home time yet? ) fella is called Barnie.

Would deff recommend them.

I'm sure Barney might admit to being strawberry blond, but bald?! Are you sure you're safe to be cycling? :p

Bonthrone Bikes in Fulham has changed its name to Swim Bike Run, and is a Triathlon shop as well now, all though it is the same crew in there and still part of the Bonthrone empire - they have done me a million favors down the years and are always happy to chat. They also have some amazing time trial porn in there,a serious selection of carbon wheel porn, and both a Felt Messenger and TK2 last time i checked.

Also in Fulham is Mend A Bike in the arches off Munster road

http://www.mend-a-bike.co.uk/

proper old school bike shop who will do any job at short notice - stripped down my 06 Langster, and removed the top tube braze ons for 20 quid before i took it off to be powder coated, the cool thing was that besides doing it for twenty quid they did it in 3 hours on the afternoon i went in, having just been passing and deciding to stop and enquire if they could take out the BB for me as i could strip the rest of the bike meself. Top tube was as smooth as a babys bottom after too.

yeah SBR in fulham people are really, really nice.
helped me sort out my wetsuit at a ridiculously discount.

I'm sure Barney might admit to being strawberry blond, but bald?! Are you sure you're safe to be cycling? :p

Ha ha, well it was last year, I'm not sure I am safe anymore, had a couple of close shaves this morning, mainly with other cyclists, what is is with the wacky races at the Upper St/City Rd lights?

I'm loving the mechanic at Swim Bike Run - he's dreamy...

+1 BM.

+1 BM