Do you use your local LBS?

[speccy1]

I don`t!

Mine is run by a husband and wife outfit, husband is good as gold - if you are allowed to speak to him, wife is a rude obnoxious bitch!! Have given them the benefit of the doubt too many times, and won`t be any more.

The next nearest are very helpful and friendly, but keep very limited stock. That`s fine but if you need something "now" you are stuffed.

So, my regular pit stop is 5 miles away, they tick every box, and always happy to help, failing that it`s the Specialized concept shop about 30 mins away! A pain to get to but can always help me out if I`m stuck.

What do you guys do?

 

[bikingdad90]

I have a few locals in Teesside.

I use Paul Curran Cycles for repairs and servicing of road bikes.

GT cycles or Yarm cycles for odd jobs like truing wheels as more interest for this kind of work than Paul as its winter hack standard.

For consumables, clothing and spares I usually go mail order as they come nowhere near online prices which is understandable but price point is my priority.

In terms of brands I go for Altura first as they are a local company.

My bikes, bar my C2W one is local.

 

[vickster]

There must be 10 bike shops within 5 miles of me, spoilt for choice I guess, I have used the second closest most recently, they are cheaper and more flexible than the closest

Clothes get bought online from places with free returns as virtually no shop anywhere keeps virtually any women's clothing in my size on the shop floor

Parts I'd usually buy online as cheaper and pay the LBS premium for fitting which still works out cheaper mostly! And I actually enjoy the online shopping process!

 

[steve50]

My lbs is rubbish, tells me he won't touch carbon bikes, no up to date stock, tries to fob customers off with 2nd hand parts at silly prices, not impressed!! I get all the parts I need through online shops as well as all my cycle gear.

 

[Spoked Wheels]

Me neither.

I've learnt to do all the maintenance and assembling jobs myself so I cannot think what I'd need them for nowadays.

Parts are all bought online.

I do see that lots of club members use them and that is good I think.

 

[speccy1]

My lbs is rubbish, tells me he won't touch carbon bikes, no up to date stock, tries to fob customers off with 2nd hand parts at silly prices, not impressed!! I get all the parts I need through online shops as well as all my cycle gear.

Mine does that, the evil witch....sorry, female co-owner says there is no need for carbon here so won`t touch it. Cycling is MASSIVE here, if she emerged from the stone age it would be one hell of a shop. Nice to watch the old bag struggle though!!

 

[RichardB]

My LBS is the only bike shop in town (excepting Halfords) so I feel kind of duty bound to support them. If we never used bike shops, there wouldn't be any bike shops, and that would be a shame. But it's a very small outfit with a limited range, and mainly oriented to road bikes or hire hacks for the tourist trade. But they were very decent to me when I bought a bike there, kept it a few weeks and then decided to change it - a small financial hit to reflect that they would be selling the first bike cut-price as a demo, but I feel I was treated fairly. Next nearest is about 15 miles away, and I haven't ventured there yet. But to be honest, I have got quite a bit from Halfords. I'm still at the stage of buying cheapish stuff to see how it pans out (clothing, V-brakes for the MTB and so on) and I am happy with what I have got there. Good staff, 10% BC discount, and a big range of stuff. I was last a 'serious' cyclist about 30 years ago, when Cliff Pratt in Hull was my LBS. I loved going in there!

 

[Accy cyclist]

I use my (6 minutes walk away) LBS,he's very cheap and knowledgeable so he does ok with repairs.from non mechanically minded ones like me. He doesn't sell bikes,apart from the odd clunker. I try and do my bit to keep him going, it's nice to have some cycling representation in a small town with not much cycling interest.

 

[mustang1]

Near my dwelling is a bike shop a mere 10 minutes walk away and I really should use them. They're always busy though so while that's good, it doesn't really excuse me for not visiting them more often.

Near my work there are 5 Chaim stores within 10 minutes walk and one within 1 minute so that's where my business goes for servicing and bike purchases (though I've bought bikes from all the stores bar 1).

Clothes, tools and spare parts are always bought online.

Ps I see Specialized concept store in Covent garden is no longer listed on the website. Did they close down and I wonder why? (The store was a bit secluded in a side street).

I want to try some local private mechanics but I never seem to get round to it.

 

[raleighnut]

Different shops for different bikes here but most of the actual fitting of parts is done by me (I don't like buying parts online), although the closest is about 3 miles away in Leicester itself I'll very often go past that to get to the place I know is better for the bike I'm working on. For 'high end' stuff Websters Cycles have been very good and I have to rate Julies (although they are pricy) but for general bits Cyclops in Syston and Bob Warners are my shops of choice.

 

[contadino]

My LBS is owned by a mate of mine, but it's not very good. Only does mountain bikes, massively overpriced, and the few times I've called on him to help me fix an issue it's been a disaster.

Another shop 15km away was really helpful the first time I went there but ripped me off the second time.

So now I buy everything online from the UK or Germany and learn how to fix problems on YouTube.

 

[martint235]

Welling Cycles is great. He used to do all the work on my bikes but as I've learnt to do more he gets less business and more of me raiding his spares box. He still does my wheel builds and the occasional "I don't know what I've done but it's all in here" visit where I hand him a bike and a plastic bag full of bits.

He's never offered me a coffee yet though.

 

[Crandoggler]

No.

I'm not in the business of creating a false relationship with a shop or person. Especially if they're in the business of making money.

 

[Flick of the Elbow]

I have a great relationship with my local repair shop. For buying new stuff there's a few shops in town that I would go to if needing to inspect in person before buying. And Decathlon's not far from work so that gets a fair bit of my trade too. But for routine parts I buy online.

 

[Deleted member 23692]

There's 2 'proper' ones near me
I used one once and won't be using again, despite their glowing local reputation
The other one I use far more frequently, but that's mainly for clothing.