North of the Border Bicycle — Local services in San Diego

If you don't want to be treated in a condescending rude manner and get charged in an unethical way, avoid this place. I came here to get a dropper post installed because my LBS was backed up and seeing the reviews here. I asked the person when dropping off to "Also have a look and let me know if anything else needs fixing when they are installing the post". He gave me the quote for the dropper post (a range depending on complexity) and said they can give it a look over. When I went to pick it up, Doug was there and charged me an additional 35$ for the "look over". After paying the amount I told Doug later it would have been nice to be upfront of the charge for a look over. He got annoyed and said I got a good deal and that he checked everything. I said that wasn't the point and that they should be upfront on hidden charges that although I paid, was not anticipating or given a heads up on. This is where it gets crazy. He says, looking over requires his time to do it and then adds "Mountain biking is an expensive sport and lot of people are not aware of it. We have been in business for 30 years and have a lot of repeat customers. If you do not like it, you do not need to come back." Not only was it unethical to not inform of charges upfront, this is no way to talk to people let alone customers. There are other reviewers who talked about the owner's indifference and unethical charges. There are several other shops around that are not just competent if not better but also treat their customers...

This is a great bike shop. It's a smaller place off Sorento Valley Blvd (just off the 5) by the Penasquitos trailhead. Skip the fancy places on the coast highway and come here if you want quality maintenance and repair work. I had Mike and Doug change out some tires for me back in February and I liked the look and feel of the place. Then about 2.5 weeks before Belgian Waffle Ride, my bottom bracket totally crapped out with no warning. North of the Border got it replaced, tuned up everything to be race ready, swapped my tires again, all for a fair price. Just did the race yesterday and had no mechanicals (my drivetrain sounds horrible now, but that ain't their fault). And these guys are riders that know the trails and roads out there. When I started going up Raptor Ridge yesterday, I looked up, and Doug was sitting up on the rocks of the hillside cheering all...

Hands down the only place I will ever go to buy a bike, get my current serviced or buy any gear. I can't say enough about this shop, Mike & Doug! These guys are top notch, and after frequenting a bunch of the shops around San Diego throughout the years these guys really stand out. They're passionate about what they do and it shows. Spending what I would consider a large sum of money on a bike I really feel confident in saying that these guys actually cared that I was getting something I was going to be happy with and not just looking to make a sale.

I can't say it enough, if you care about talking to people who understand the sport, the equipment and the local rides then North of the Border is...