The Worst Bike Shop Review Ever

[pedalsheep]

Lambert's in Bingley is my go to shop, changed hands a while back and haven't been in since

Back in the early 80s Keith Lambert gave me and my then boyfriend 6 months interest free credit on all the componentry needed to build up 2 new Ellis Briggs frames without even asking for our names and addresses! We gave him £10 a week until we had paid it all off. How's that for trust in your fellow cyclist?!

[iandusud]

Does anyone remember Don Louis in Herne Hill. I used to call in there in the early 70s. He was a quite a character. I believe he was Welsh but had spent much of his life racing on the continent and so had a strange accent that was a mix of Welsh and French. The shop was a total mess but he had everything you could possibly need.

[drossall]

OT, but I remember Keith Lambert as a professional, coming to talk to the Leeds St Christopher's CC. I was a second-claim member as a student in Leeds.

[soapbox]

Paul Hewitt has long cultivated a deserved reputation for sarcasm and surliness, from his days at Ribble Cycles, through Deeside, and his own shop. But by God he knows his stuff, and builds some of the best wheels money can buy.

[Sweep]

Paul Hewitt has long cultivated a deserved reputation for sarcasm and surliness, from his days at Ribble Cycles, through Deeside, and his own shop. But by God he knows his stuff, and builds some of the best wheels money can buy.

Have dealt with paul.
He fitted me for a bike.
Maybe i was spared this.

He was even politeness itself when after a while i returned and said the fit didn't quite agree with me.
Soon sorted for no extra charge.

Maybe he is slightly on the quiet side but i took that as thinking about the serious matter in hand.
I realise that you aren't really having a go at him

[Morzedec]

As an antidote to some of these almost rants, may I recommend to you Cy'glon Magasin de Velos, alongside the Canal Nantes Brest at Saint-Congard? Dead efficient, hugely inexpensive, sympathetic to all touring cyclist's woes - and run, single-handedly, by a pretty young lady.
I go and buy batteries (that I don't need) there, just for a chat.
There is also a good, and cheap, municipal campsite in the village as well.

Ah yes, happy days indeed.

[soapbox]

Maybe he is slightly on the quiet side but i took that as thinking about the serious matter in hand.
I realise that you aren't really having a go at him

No, I wasn't having a go at him at all. The 'surliness and sarcasm' are quite endearing when you realise just how good he is.

[Bowak]

21ish years on I can still remember the condescending sneer from whoever was working in Ribble Cycles that day when my friend asked why pedals weren't included in the standard price for the road bike he was looking to buy. The answer was to do with people having different preferences based on their cycling shoes etc which is fine if explained reasonably, but you can't be too surprised that two 16/17 yr olds didn't happen to know this fairly niche bit of info.

We were told that we should really be looking to buy from Heatleys (the family/more generic cycling shop just a few doors down) and it was made clear that we weren't the sort of customers that they wanted.

Now, to be fair, for all I know that was a particularly awkward member of staff who might only have worked there briefly, but it has put me off ever trying them again - which is a bit of a shame as the CGR looks bloody lovely.

Luckily there seems to be a lot less of the type of bike shop staff who will suddenly turn on you if you show a lack of knowledge as above, though I can't be entirely sure how much of that might just be down to me knowing more now, or staff being less likely to be arsey to a fully grown tall bloke.