Bernie's Bicycle — Local services in Hamilton Township

I went in there with my 14 yr old son who needed parts for his bike. The employee (I think he said he was the owner) was rude and condescending.

My son has a Collective C100 V3 bike. He said, “you need to bring the bike in”. I mentioned I have the receipt with me if that would help. He repeated, “you need to bring the bike in”. Notice how he repeats the exact same phrase…

He didn’t even look at the receipt, goes on to tell me there’s hundreds of models. I don’t know anything about mountain bikes (which I told him) but in theory I’m not sure why I wouldn’t be able to show him the specs (on the website) to get the right part. Again, if that’s not possible, that’s due to my lack of knowledge in this area.

I tell him I’ll bring the bike in tomorrow morning. He asked if it was a US or imported bike. I told him imported and the cost was about $100. He questioned if it was really imported and said the shipping would have cost around $200.

Ummm…I have the receipt and we bought it from Collective Bikes and yes the shipping cost was $94 and it had to clear customs. It was definitely imported.

After leaving there I decided to check other bike shops and found Burlington Bike Shop. They have 616 Google reviews at 4.8 stars (616 ppl took time out of their day to write those reviews).

Not only did Burlington fix his old bike, we purchased a new more expensive bike! They do a 30 day check up and free adjustments for a year!

EDIT: I appreciate the owners responses below. That in itself is a reason for me to bring our bike needs to Bernie’s if there’s ever a repair needed to be done.

Miscommunication and perception happens all the time but in cases where two people agree things could be done better I think it’s worth a shot to try again rather than never...

LOVE the people at Bernie's! I've bought several bikes at Bernie's over the years and have gone for service as well from time to time. I took a Brompton bike I bought secondhand in for service and that bike has never looked or ridden better than it does now. They don't see too many folding bikes of that brand, but that didn't stop them from doing an incredible job. It needed three new spokes that they made (THEY MADE THEM!) to repair one wheel.

The guys were friendly, helpful, made really good suggestions, and got the bike ready within just a few days, and one of the bits the needed has to be ordered. I was blown away by what they did with my bike and the total bill was more than fair.

You can pay people to work but you can't pay them to care, and what has always stood out to me about Bernie's is that the people who work there are passionate about bikes and genuinely want you to have a great experience. they really do care about their customers, about bikes, and about the...

Bernie's Bicycles is an awesome place. The owner, Eli, was very honest telling me what was right for me, and what I didn't need. He said the Step-thru bike was 100% for me. He said I didn't need 21-speed. And he said the Cannondale I rode elsewhere on Friday was definitely overkill for me. (I'm 80 years young.)

Eli had Tyler set me up with a Jamis (Citizen model) bike and I rode it outside. Beautiful and fantastic bike. Easy to ride, shifting gears was easy, etc. The Step-thru bike was easy to get on/off.

So I was honest with Eli, and told him I'd buy the bike in Hightstown closer to my home in Cranbury. He said "gee, we're doing the work, but don't get the sale." Then he joked "do you bring your own eggs to the diner?" I promised him I'd give him an excellent review on Google. So I wholeheartedly recommend Bernie's Bicycles. And thank you to Eli. (Promise I'll eat the diner's...