I use 2wheelSupport, who do a pick up service and are very accepting of my incompetence in all thing mechanical. I tend to just point in the general area that I think is causing problems and he fixes it.
Very reasonable priced too.
CityCyclingEdinburgh Forum » Stuff
Edinburgh Bike Shops
(146 posts)-
Posted 10 years ago #
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Apparently the Grease Monkeys session on the Heriot-Watt campus last week was organised by Sustrans, but I still find it strange that nobody thought to inform HW staff.
Another positive review for The Cycle Service who fixed some niggling issues with my new bicycle - the itemised receipt was handy to send back for a refund from Wiggle.
Posted 10 years ago # -
Ok. Having had a bit of correspondence exchange between myself and Grease Monkeys, I want this foum to know that a complaint has now been made to Trading Standards.
I would say avoid this outlet at all costs.
Apart from anything else they handed my bike back to me in a very dangerous state ( the front wheel had been replaced so slackly it moved in the dropouts).
I think the clue is in the name really.
I am so totally disgusted that businesses like this can set up and there is no real control over them. Had I not discovered the loose installation of my front wheel, this could have led to a serious problem. 'Lucky' for me the service my bike recieved was so poor that on my first ride out afterwards I was trying to find why there was clicking coming from my drivechain, and when I upended the bike the wheel slid down into the dropout!! This is in addition to a full (and expensive) service that introduced play into my bottom bracket and a stiffness in one of my pedals. Even if these things were apparent before the service (which actually they were not) I would expect that either they were sorted in a service costing £120 or that I be made aware further work/replacement parts were required.
And on top of all of this I specifically indicated that the freewheel/ hubs needed work...and yet my bike was returned to me with this work not being done.
So. As I say. Avoid this outfit. They are totally crap.
LizziePosted 10 years ago # -
Having seen that Sustrans funds this outfit to do remote stuff I will now also contact them directly with my very serious concerns.
Posted 10 years ago # -
I have used Grease Monkey once and I have been communting down Roseburn for 4 years.
Matt at Justbikerepairs gets my vote for repairs
Posted 10 years ago # -
Does any one use bike craft on ferry road? Going to put my bike in for a service tomorrow. When I popped in before the guy in the shop was really friendly and didn't even laugh at my rubbish descriptions of what I think is wrong with it. Hopefully all goes well!
Posted 10 years ago # -
Used Bike Craft a few times and been very happy
Posted 10 years ago # -
used greasemonkeys a few times, the latest was a few days ago when they done their pop up servicing in waverly. Had a new (secondhand) bike I wanted to get checked over to make sure there wasn't anything majorly wrong with it that i missed. For £15 the guy checked everything - lubed the cables, checked and reset/recalibrated the brakes and gears, checked the wheels and bits and bobs like that.
Worth it for £15. only downside is he missed whatever is causing the clicking on my rearwheel (possibly a loose spoke).
He did give me a list of things that need to be fixed but said how critical each of them were.
I'm not sure I'd use them for repairs if i wasn't doing them myself, they seem a bit pricey compared to the eco-pedals guys in tollcross
Posted 10 years ago # -
Bike coop wanted my name and address just to sell me a pair of brake blocks. So I won't even go there for them now.
Posted 10 years ago # -
Who are good for Bromptons? There's nobody will service them in Dumfries, so I might have to drop mine off next time I'm in town. Ideally quite central and easy for the spatially challenged to find
Posted 10 years ago # -
@sallyhinch Biketrax do Bromptons I believe… they are in Tollcross
Posted 10 years ago # -
@Min - you can just say 'no thanks' when they ask for your details. That's what I do.
Posted 10 years ago # -
I'm now a bit unsure where to go from my flat in Roseburn...
Posted 10 years ago # -
^ Pedals in Bruntsfield.
Posted 10 years ago # -
I would second Pedals in Bruntsfield. Absolutely top quality advice and work.
Posted 10 years ago # -
Further update on my Grease Monkeys experience.
They did offer to look at the parts I 'claim' to be not working, and if no other mechanic had looked at them, would have fixed them.
However, as I have no confidence in this outfit, either in thier mechanical know-how nor their judgement, I declined.
I'd rather be (even more) out of pocket than run the risk of my bike being returned to me yet again in an unroadworthy state. Someone without mechanical know how may not have noticed the slack wheel, and this could have led to serious issues.
I am really fed up that I will now have to pay for another shop to do remedial work on my bike (I don;t have the tools to sort out the bottom bracket that they messed up), this following a service that cost £120, but it is worth it to not let the monkeys get their greasy hands on it again
I would say: avoid this outfit at all costs.
Lizzie.Posted 10 years ago # -
@Min - you can just say 'no thanks' when they ask for your details. That's what I do.
I could do. I prefer to disdain them from afar.
*huff*
Posted 10 years ago # -
I tend to go to Edinburgh Cycle Company on Granton Rd when I lack the time, tools or inclination to fix stuff myself. Staff friendly and helpful. Convenient location for me.
The Bicycle Co-op gets my business when they have things on offer, or if there's something I need urgently and can pick up on my way home from work.Posted 10 years ago # -
Hi Yes. Thanks. ECC look a bit sporty for me. I think for fitting a new bottom bracket (which will now probs have to be a sealed unit) I'll just pop up to Leith Cycle Co which is very local to me.
I liked my old serviceable BB though, but now this has been damaged beyond repair by Grease Monkey idiots............Lizzie.
Posted 10 years ago # -
Was in Edinburgh Bicycle Coop at the weekend looking for a bike for my daughter. The staff member who dealt with us was rude, patronising and unhelpful and couldn't wait to get rid of us. Considering that we went in expecting to make a purchase, it's their loss.
Compared to Velo Ecosse and Evans Cycles where the assistants couldn't have been more helpful, it led to a bad taste.
Will think very hard before going back there again
Posted 10 years ago # -
I've had a couple of things done to my bikes at BG Cycles in Porty. Very good service, quick turnaround, and full of advice. Good value too.
Posted 10 years ago # -
@paddyirish, that is a shame, I thought the EBC had started making more effort again with the arrival of Evans and losing the cooncil bike to work.
Indeed have had several positive experiences and one neutral which they turned into positive on e-mail
Not to mention spotting Sir Ged's smiling coupon most days on canal which is always a fillip in these divisive times
Posted 10 years ago # -
@gembo - Have had some good experiences there in the past- particularly the bike maintenance class. It may have been one bad apple, but even so, not the best for my wife and daughter to see.
Posted 10 years ago # -
An acquaintance went into EBC recently prepared to spend £200 on dynamo lights. They talked him out of it, said they were pointless and sold him some battery lights for £20.
Now it's possible that they actually make more money on the selling the battery lights than on fitting dynamo lights, and maybe they couldn't be bothered with the time it would take to agree and order what he wanted, but nevertheless it seems odd.
Bike Trax were willing to devote two staff to me as I specified the dynamo set-up on the Brompton, but then it was a quiet weekday morning...
Posted 10 years ago # -
Talked me out of dynamo years ago too. Talked me into a cateye rechargeable, which I am now going to get out of the garage. That EBC staffer has matured and quite reasonable! watched him give a chap a new tube despite high likelihood chap had sheeted the valve himself. Few years back might have been a stooshie. Nicely chap returned favour by returning tool he had inadvertently taken out the shop the previous night. At times I thought it was going to go way of previous bad EBC interactions but it didn't.
It is lesson in the learning though that every customer should be treated well or you end up with a bad rep. See other shoppes in this thread
Posted 10 years ago # -
As a mate of mine once said, give good service and the customer might tell a few people, give bad service and said customer will tell every one.
Posted 10 years ago # -
Was at the bike coop a few weeks ago looking for bike for my daughter too. Somewhat frustrating on various levels. But the denouement topped it all. Guy on till was trying hard to convince me to bring my bike in for a service - I said 'I don't come here for services anymore". He wanted to know why. More discussion. All while ringing up my purchase - a bottle cage and a replacement light. I thought something was a bit odd, but I was focussing on being polite. Only when we'd cycled off did i twig that he'd rung the light through twice giving me a total of over £20 rather than £10.
(I should say, he was trying very hard to provide good service and redeem their reputation; this was just a mistake because he was distracted - but he started the discussion, not me)
Posted 10 years ago # -
I have in general had good experiences in EBC, but there is one staff member who patronisingly assumed his technical knowledge greatly outweighed mine… I had gone in to measure something on a similar new frame after I had an accident on my bike. He was very wrong in everything he said but treated me like a fool - the boss came over and confirmed what I had said at which point he shrugged his shoulders and rudely went to self-aggrandise elsewhere. I think in general the staff there are very good, and I wonder if the bad service is by the same one person...
Posted 10 years ago # -
Very positive experience with Bike Craft this week. Speedy turnaround on a broken bottom bracket, allowing me to get home on the bike rather than the bus. I was impressed with the £10 labour cost which included ungumming my gears. I'll be back.
Posted 9 years ago # -
NotEdinburgh but Alpine Bikes in Perth demonstrating exactly how to make a customer feel unwelcome and then unnecessary. Approached a (literally) spotty youth in the shop floor and explained there should be a couple of helmets put aside for me to try - Alpine Bikes in Stockbridge didn't have them in my size yesterday & since I was going north they called up for me.
— Oh. Uh. Is it this one? (pointing at a too small helmet)
— No... A medium. Like I said. It should be in the back, along with a medium in the men's version.
- uh, what colour is the men's?
— I don't know. It will be with the other one, with a note with my name.
*youth exits reluctantly backstage*
I wait. I wait some more. I look at some socks. And then, a couple of metres away I spy the youth. He is wheeling a bike. He is putting the bike on a stand and starting to adjust the handlebars. A colleague is doing something to the back wheel.
The colleague spots me lurking and asks if he can help me.
- er. I was talking to your colleague and he was going to get me a couple of helmets from in back?
The spotty youth looks at me with disgruntlement and says
- uh. Oh yeah.. .
He slopes of unenthusiastically and returns almost at once with one helmet. He cannot find the other. He then stands over it and watches silently as I try it for fit, adjust the straps, decide it will do. And then he... Tries to take it away from me? Possibly to ring up at once, but without any verbal communication to ascertain if I do actually want to buy it.Basically this had all the hallmarks of Middle Aged Lady Invisibility Syndrome.
Posted 6 years ago #
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