Pedal Pushing Bicycle Shop — Local services in San Diego

This place used to be my Goto bike shop. It's close by and the mechanics are knowledgeable. My visit today was a real disappointment. I'm not sure, but I think it was the owner I was dealing with. He followed my into the shop, as he was out front, and not very cordially asked me what I wanted. When I told him my bearing needed replaced he said he couldn't possibly help me. I didn't leave since I had called ahead and the mechanic told me he could have a look at it. I explained that I had called Andy and that they did on the phone to bring it in. He yelled into the back for Chuck the mechanic, while looking clearly annoyed. The mech Chuck gave my bottom bracket a wiggle and said it may just need adjudusting. I asked can I Schedule an appointment and he said yeah I'm here Tuesday Wednesdays and Thursdays. He said why don't I tighten it to get to by until you get here next week. I said that would be great thanks! So he did just that and then said try that and I tried it out and it still was making some noise and he said it could be the bottom bracket, but it also could be my chain because it looks dry and even my pedals. So I said all right I'll just bring it back next week and have you change out the bearings and what kind of oil do I need for my chain, and he explained a light weight oil like 3M would work. I asked him what do I owe you and he said $15 which I thought was reasonable. I said can I put that towards the repair when I come back in and he says you'll have to talk to the owner about that. I then got to talk to the guy that originally was helping me which I think is the owner and he said okay $35. I said okay $35 but can I put that towards the service next week when I bring it in to have it replaced. And he said no we had to take the time to look at it already. It was like 15 minutes but yes it was 15 minutes of their time. He said do you ever oil your chain and I said no I haven't and he said you really need to oil the chain on that bike especially since it's electric. Well we had a discussion about how my bike is a hub motor and how that motor doesn't put any strain on the drivetrain and he insisted it did I still believe that he is wrong and misinformed. That didn't help me to want to come back there at all. I asked him one more time could you please credit at least some of that back to the repair when I come in, the mechanic was just doing that to get me by until the repair and I didn't know it was going to cost anything at all. He said no and I told him well I'm not happy with that and I won't be bringing the bike back to be serviced then. And he said okay. So if you go in here I would warn you to make sure that you ask how much it's going to cost for them to look at your bike because they're just going to give you two different answers. Not only that but for $35 they will spend 15 minutes and tell you you need to oil your chain and not even oil it for you! I would also try to stay away from talking to the owner because he's a rather mean person, not very friendly at all. I'm sure there's other bike shops that have much more friendly people working there. I really wish that the guy hadn't taken me for the extra $20, and I wish they would have at least oiled my chain. I'm very disappointed in...

Not a good experience on my first (and only) time visiting this shop. I decided to visit this small bike shop a couple of days ago to help out a bit during these tough CoVid times, rather than going to one of the larger shops. Given their good reviews (which is why I chose them in the first place), I have no doubt they are a reputable place. I just had a lousy experience with them.

I hadn't used my bike in quite some time and decided to take it out last week. The front derailleur was making a loud "clunk" noise when shifting from the large ring to the small. It worked fine before sitting for a long time. So, my plan was to lube the bike up and see if that changed anything.

The woman behind the counter suggested a lubricant and rang me up...she was awesome...very friendly (she deserves 5 stars)! I asked her how much a tune up would be in case the lube didn't solve the problem and she quoted me. Since the bike was 100 miles away and thinking it may only need a lube and quick adjustment, I showed her a quick 5 second video I took of the noise to see if she knew what was causing it. She took a look and apologized saying she didn't know what it was. No worries, she was very helpful!

So, I decided to ask if the guys working in the repair area might have an idea what the noise might be and how involved it is. Neither one would look up at me. Finally the guy who appeared to be in charge and very annoyed by my question did look up briefly but kept saying he didn't know what the noise was. I tried to show him the quick video of the noise during shifting and he barely looked down quickly before saying, "I have no idea without seeing the bike."

All he had to say was something like, "Hey, I'm really sorry but we're pretty busy right now...looks like your your front derailleur limits may need adjusting" or "you may need a new front derailleur" (or whatever MAY have been a possible cause). With any modicum of concern, I would have brought the bike back to them for a tune up if spraying Tri-Flow didn't work. After all, I'm not very mechanically inclined and have zero desire to take apart the bike.

Instead, he was so dismissive that I wouldn't have brought it back to that shop regardless.

So, right now the bike is being tuned up elsewhere and another shop is taking care of the new parts, upgrades, and repairs to the tune of $200 that would have been spent here.

Update - The owner of the shop responded promptly to the review and I appreciate that they take the time to address both good and bad reviews in a positive, understanding...

Needed a repair on my eBike. It was done in a couple days, most of the time was waiting for a specific part to arrive.

I will return for regular tune-ups and accessories. Nice folks, even helped an old dude load the folding bike into my Soul. A very religious experience. 😁

Because they were only tightening my front wheel, plugging in a new controller (on an existing mount already on my handlebars) I thought that I might as well ask them to do a full tune-up while they had the bike. I thought, it can’t hurt; lube, adjustments, air up the tires, you, you know.

They charged me $141. The first time I rode the bike, the rear derailleur would only get a few of the seven rear sprockets. It was better than that when I brought it there.

So, now I’m disappointed with them. They said, “bring it back.” It weighs almost eighty pounds; I’m almost eighty years old. It’s a folding eBike that I need help with, so it’s really Not even practical.

It’s also been too long (they didn’t say that, I did), but the fact remains that I got screwed.

Maybe, they thought someone else completed the work, but nothing happened - not even lubrication.

I’m out the $141, I didn’t get the tune-up that was promised, so how would YOU feel? What do YOU think is fair?

By the way, NO parts were included in that total.

I could not, in good conscience, recommend this shop to anyone. It’s too bad. I was excited about finding...