On Your Bike - London Bridge - Views?

My mate appears to be getting the run around from these guys on a wheel that they were supposed to have repaired; which is now losing spokes and they want to charge him a small fortune to rebuild it.

Question is: Who's used them? Points of view, reputable? Know what their talking about?

Any help greatly appreciated. Thanks

always got good service from them, but only use them for small purchases/ emergencies like spokes and wheel nuts being nicked

Need more info about what was wrong with the wheel, what is wrong the wheel, what they have done / supposed to have done.

Wheels are funny things. Sometimes you can repair wheels with broken spokes bad buckles quite well other times all you can do is get it straight but the spoke tension will all be uneven due to damaged rim e.t.c and you are only slowing down the inevatble that you need to rebuild the wheel.

I work there now. The workshop guys are nice, but it's a pricey little place.
I can tell you they don't try to mess you about, it's just the system they have is super complicated.

Cool. Thanks for the answers.

He bought the bike from them and had a problem with the back wheel (don't know all the detail) some time ago. Took it back in and the fixed it + derailleur and it came to £160.

Since he got it back he's ridden it twice and two spokes have come out. He took it back and explained and they said they'd do the repair for free and only charge for two spokes.

They've now contacted him and said they need to replace 8 spokes as the chain has, in their point of view, come off and hit them. This never happened. They also want to charge £30 for labour + 8 spokes.

I've no knowledge of the store and can't say wheels and wheel building are exactly a forte of mine. So, thought I'd canvas opinion and actual knowledge first before giving advice.

Good but pricey.

so i know this friend of mine he cant get it up in bed... advice?

blimey. £160 buys a pretty decent rear wheel and 'raileur, brand new.

Have had hot and cold relationship with them....which ended ice cold.

As I learnt more about bikes, I realised that they weren't the experts I thought they were. I took my old Tourmalet into them for new BB, after they fitted the wrong one, rode out of the shop and my STI lever was broken. Workshop guy denied any knowledge but looked sheepish. I have not been back since. I now always use LBS.

You have to kick up a fuss there and get mngt involved. Things happen then.

There is no mention that the bike needed repairs straight off the bat.

And if it did, you'll get two free services anyway.

I quite like that shop. They exchanged a parktool chain braker that I broke (on a shadow chain). One guy sussed that it was my fuilt but helpfully pointed out that the others wouldn't have a clue. They didn't and replaced it straight away.

so i know this friend of mine he cant get it up in bed... advice?

Are you sure it's a "friend"

They've been useful for supplies in the past but I've never been convinced of the technical knowledge in that shop. I'm no oracle for cycling stuff so realistically the staff in a bike shop of that alleged calibre should really know at least as much as me and preferably more. This has not always been the case.

Still, the customer service way outstrips that of the Evans up the road.

The guys in the workshop seem to know there stuff, but I've never had an answer on anything (from "does such-and-such pump have a pressure guage" to pretty technical stuff) from any of the floor staff- they have always had to go and seek instruction before returning.

But they've always been polite and seem to be willing to help.

Regarding a super-complicated system- that I can believe, they tried to order a Cannondale der. hanger for me, and got it wrong three times in a row (which took about a month and a half) before I gave up and emailed Cannondale in the states.

i rang on your bike up
and asked if they stocked vittoria rubbinos
and the guy on the other end didnt know what they where

"He bought the bike from them and had a problem with the back wheel" - Maybe I misread this?

[eidt] I do have to say, however, that it's an okay shop in my own limited experience.

Yeah could be either way to be honest.

I think it's a close one to call, if the chain had fallen into the spokes there are some quite obvious signs to looks for if it has caused damage. Your mate may not remember this happening or may just be embarrassed and not want to admit to it..

The other option is that the staff are fabricating that story but I can't imagine they get bonuses for doing that so where is the motivation. Central London bike shops seem to be overflowing with work already.

I am however prone tobe naturally prejudice against the person in your friends situation because my experience is when you offer a technical service people usually underestimate what is involved or fail to understand what can be done in the situation / what the limitations are.

To me it just seems like disappointment that the first fix did not hold.but as I said that can sometime be the way it is with wheel depending on the initial damage.

Either way to be honest it's impossible for us to tell from the internet, need to see the initial damage and subsequent repairs and current situation.

so i know this friend of mine he cant get it up in bed... advice?

Shim!

Ta for all the answers, even the unrelated ones ;)

[quote=TheBrick(Tommy);679693]
To me it just seems like disappointment that the first fix did not hold.but as I said that can sometime be the way it is with wheel depending on the initial damage.quote]

Reckon this may be on the number.

I just think that my mate is agrieved as he bought the bike from them and has had to spend a lot more money getting it fixed, in quite a short space of time.

Understandable frustration really. This is why a good LBS is worth it's weight in gold.

Bike shops to the uninitiated are a bit like restaurants in a strange area, you don't want to into a quiet one because why is it so quiet? But you don't want to go into one just because it's busy, it may just be busy because it's the pizza express right outside theater on the way to the car park / train station, you want the restaurant where it's busy and all the locals go, it may even look a little tatty, it may look smart, but the food will more than likely taste good. Similarly you want the bike shop that is busy but for the right reason, the thing is it may not have any local enthusiast in the shop at the time you enter so even harder to spot.

went in there, bought some endura shorts ... the guy at the cash register was pretty nice, but useless. It took him like 10 attempts to put the purchases through, and the other guy on the other register wasn't much better. By the time I left I had waited for 20 mins to pay for some shorts, and the queue of people in there had grown to 10.

I work round the corner and use them for buying odd bits and pieces. Their main trade is shifing tons and tons of OTPs and accessories, and I'm sure they do it very well. There are one or two people in the back who seem to know what they are on about. I have never used them for workshop stuff though, just talking about parts and things. Seem like nice people.

They've done the decent thing and waivered the labour costs for his repair. Good on em!

They seem a pretty good shop to me. Nobody took the piss when I waffled on a bit. They are always busy, but they are right by London Bridge though. They have a massive lock-up outside the workshop, so they must have a huge throughput of bikes.

I bought my new bike there, girlfriend is about to buy her Pashley from there (anyone know where I can buy her a tweed skirt to go with it?). Only bad thing is that they neglected to put the nice posh cable clips that Charge supply onto the bike and used cable ties instead. When I realised and phoned up, they said the clips were broken. I've told them that's fine, so long as they get some new onesfrom Charge by the time I come in for my free 4 week service. We'll keep you posted about how the next couple of services go.

I've bought bits off them, and they have been nothing but friendly, I agree their service shits on Evans up the road. Never had experience of workshop side, as if needed I will always use my LBS (Moose, who are great lads) where I bought the bike from. One of my mates did have similar problems with a bodged workshop job from them though.