F.W.Evans; Rathbone Place

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dondare

Über Member
Location
London
People on cycling forums sometimes complain about F W Evans so I'd like to tell you all that the team of sales staff and mechanics at their shop in Rathbone Place (yes, it's in London) are as friendly, helpful and resourceful as any cyclist could wish for.
 

martint235

Dog on a bike
Location
Welling
+1 for the guys on the Cut at Waterloo too. They've done a lot of work on my bike for me, usually same day and with very minimal instruction from me as to what's actually wrong. "It's making an annoying noise" being my usual.

:biggrin:
 

Moodyman

Legendary Member
I've had nothing but pleasant service from Evans Castleford.

But then again, Halfords Bradford have largely been very good too.

Not saying that bad service is uncommon, but I think, there is an anti-big shop prejudice on this forum sometimes.

The big stores, have grown big because they're good at giving most people what they want. Your small LBS may be better at providing a bespoke service, but they only cater to a small niche.
 
Blimey! I haven't heard the "F W" part of the name, in years.

With Evans, or any big shop, it's a bit of a lottery. You go in with a problem, you don't know who you're going to get: some of them are good, some less so. With a small LBS with just one mechanic on board, at least it's consistent (though the mechanic may not necessarily be a good one).
 
Never had anything but sneering, condescension, snobbery and downright wrong advice from Evans and Cycle Surgery. I'm an easy customer, generally only go in to a cycle shop to buy something specific, don't make unreasonable demands such as "Can I have it back by lunchtime?" or say "HOW much? It's only a bike!", but Evans and CS have lost my business forever.
 
OP
OP
dondare

dondare

Über Member
Location
London
Twenty Inch said:
Never had anything but sneering, condescension, snobbery and downright wrong advice from Evans and Cycle Surgery. I'm an easy customer, generally only go in to a cycle shop to buy something specific, don't make unreasonable demands such as "Can I have it back by lunchtime?" or say "HOW much? It's only a bike!", but Evans and CS have lost my business forever.
Where's Cycle Surgery? Is that the one just off Holborn?
Give Evans in Rathbone place another chance.
 

Bromptonaut

Rohan Man
Location
Bugbrooke UK
I remember Evans as FW when The Cut was the main store. Manager was a lady with fearsome eyebrows but who could sort/assemble sprockets (in the days when you could get a freewheel to spec) with the best of them.
 

HaloJ

Rabid cycle nut
Location
Watford
+1 for Evans on The Cut and for the Rathbone Place store. Both very good and retain their staff with abilities. Always popping in and chatting with the guys at The Cut store. It's around the corner from work and where I recently bought my Secteur.
 

GrumpyGregry

Here for rides.
my local Evans is the mail order warehouse/HQ at Gatwick/Crawley. Nice people but service is soooo slow in there sometimes. But boy do they have a lot of stock!

My fave Evans is the one near the Clock Tower/Churchill Sq in Brighton as it is living proof that Brighton is London-on-Sea.... 80" fixed wheels, as day-to-day transport, in Brighton, yeah right!
 

Tynan

Veteran
Location
e4
I bought a puncture repair kit from Evans at London Bridge today

When I opened it to use it the solvent and the crayon had been previously removed

fortunately it was the patches I was after but not impressed at all

I saw two rather monosyllabic staff recomending a tyre to someone with 'it's good, it's got puncture protection, yeah, it's good, pause, it's got puncture protection' while poiting at it where it hung 8 feet up on the wall

funny shop
 

PrettyboyTim

New Member
Location
Brighton
GregCollins said:
my local Evans is the mail order warehouse/HQ at Gatwick/Crawley. Nice people but service is soooo slow in there sometimes. But boy do they have a lot of stock!

My fave Evans is the one near the Clock Tower/Churchill Sq in Brighton as it is living proof that Brighton is London-on-Sea.... 80" fixed wheels, as day-to-day transport, in Brighton, yeah right!

My old local Evans was the Rathbone place one - never used it for a service, but they were always friendly and helpful when I went in. Never struck me as clueless either.

My new local Evans is the one in Brighton - it's right beside my workplace and although I've not used them much yet they seem friendly and helpful. I'm currently (as Greg knows) trying to get a touring bike from them - they seem very willing to get bikes in for me to try although it doesn't seem like there's anyone there who knows a lot about touring bikes. Nice shop though; room to take your bike inside when you visit.
 

Crankarm

Guru
Location
Nr Cambridge
I wouldn't pay some one £15, 20, 30 or 50 an hour to service my bike or car when I can do it myself. No way! Bikes are so easy to maintain. You are really challenged or hopeless not to be able to do basic bike miantenance. Only time I have paid anyone to do anything related to my bikes is having wheels built which is slightly different.
 
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