Bicycle repair

[gingicat]

I know of three places that can put together a bike from a box; one has a seriously ill owner, two were kinda snarky on the phone about this not-bicyclist's expectations. (Mom-in-law, an avid bicyclist, bought her grandson a well-reviewed used bicycle from a well-reviewed EBay seller. It's an early birthday present for him.)

So, if you wanted to get a bicycle put together this week, where would you go?

(I feel like there needs to be an "oops!" or perhaps an "I'm an idiot" tag.)

Comments

[kpht.livejournal.com]

drive to gloucester, we own a shop! (i know, far away).

[gingicat]

But also, Gloucester, which is quite lovely.

Boychik has school tomorrow in East Medford till 2:30; would you be able to fit him in? Saturday anytime or Sunday afternoon would also work.

[kpht.livejournal.com]

I'd rather start on it tomorrow - just in case it needs TLC since it's used! Then, at the very worst, I can keep it and return it to you Friday or Saturday. We charge $45/hour and we usually bill for an hour, even if it takes a bit longer. What kind of bike is it? (we're at www.bigmikesbikes.org)

[lauradi7.livejournal.com]

Did you try the Broadway Bicycle School in Cambridge?
http://broadwaybicycleschool.com/about/
If they were one of the snarky ones, you could try the Ride Studio Cafe in Lexington. Their focus is on high end spandex-clad people, but they were kind to me when I went in with a simplistic problem on an ancient Raleigh.
http://ridestudiocafe.com/

[enhf94.livejournal.com]

I'm a non-bicyclist and I like Quad cycles in Arlington.

I am not a fan of Paramount, particularly in light of your requests.

[jimmyfergus.livejournal.com]

Sadly the reason for snarkyness may be that this is the absolute busiest time of the year for bike shops so they're swamped, and it's a minefield task they really would rather avoid.

Putting together some used bike from some random Ebay seller is likely a thankless task - if it has missing, damaged or defective parts they'll often face an uphill task persuading the customer that they have to pay for the necessary parts and time spent, and if it doesn't run well afterwards they're on the hook too in the eyes of the customer. So they're facing an open ended job and a strong likelihood of a dissatisfied customer at the end of it, for reasons outside their control.

[grapefruiteater.livejournal.com]

Not exactly local, but as a bike owner who's not a bike person, I have had good experiences with purchases and service from Goodale's in Nashua. They also have locations in Manchester and Concord, but Nashua is closest and is right off Route 3.

[gingicat]

It was a well-reviewed seller - presumably that means they haven't shipped bikes in disrepair. But I'll certainly keep it in mind.

[thespian.livejournal.com]

I have no idea what his LJ name is, but David G. does bike stuff for pay as an extension of his 'I fix everything mechanical' thing.

[dakotakym.livejournal.com]

David rocks, and does awesome work! He's any_contingency here on LJ.

[antimony.livejournal.com]

+1 on both Broadway and RSC. Both of those shops are awesome, have been up-front about stuff and non-snarky to me. And I will add Harris, in Newton, who do a lot of old-bike restoration and are probably the most likely to have every little whatzit that might be needed on hand. I've also heard a lot of good things about Hub (in Cambridge, they're a repair-only shop rather than repairs and sales) but never actually had work done there.

But all of them are going to be super-duper busy right now, and "this week" for that sort of job is probably outside of what most shops around here can manage. But they're good to keep in mind if he ever needs work on it down the road.

[any-contingency.livejournal.com]

D'awwwwww, thanks, DakotaKym & Thespian. :-)

And yeah, I'm in Davis, and would be happy to just assemble things and/or show you how. My digits are 781-720-9718.

[elements.livejournal.com]

Any chance you would be up for a job on a back-basket 3-speed cargo trike? Mine is in desperate need of at minimum complete chain replacement due to severe rust. (We had a blizzard while I was working ungodly overtime and couldn't do more than lock it in the yard, then I immediately got bronchitis while still doing the overtime, and then we got another blizzard... and by then the bike was a mess.) I'd ideally like help in rust removal on the rest of the metal parts too, and an experienced eye to decide if the gears are OK or need replacement too.

I hate not being able to ride it right now, especially for shopping, but the shops that historically have been willing to work on it at all are all backed up, and don't have space to hang onto it during a busy period like this anyway. I'm still working a lot and just don't have the wherewithal or expertise to do it all myself.

[agharta75.livejournal.com]

I took a bike there once. They weren't too busy, and they didn't act like jerks. Those are experiences I've not had often around here.

[any-contingency.livejournal.com]

I'd be more than happy to take a peek, where are you located?

[any-contingency.livejournal.com]

I'd be more than happy to take a peek, where are you located?

[elements.livejournal.com]

Between Teele Square and Powderhouse Rotary. I'll PM.