Canberra bike shops - recommendations?

[Robdog]

Mt McDonald is the climb after Uriarra Village, before the decent into Cotter. Well at least the way you were going.

What climb?

[HAKS]

Mt McDonald is the climb after Uriarra Village, before the decent into Cotter. Well at least the way you were going.

What climb?

yeah good point

[s-s-a]

Mt McDonald is the climb after Uriarra Village, before the decent into Cotter. Well at least the way you were going

The climb that someone put in backwards Wheeee!!!

Steph

[Robdog]

Mt McDonald is the climb after Uriarra Village, before the decent into Cotter. Well at least the way you were going

The climb that someone put in backwards Wheeee!!!

Steph

But it sucks when you have to pedal going down, dunnit?

[LoveB]

Bought some stuff from cycle surgery yesterday...

going back today to shop some more

[seddo]

As well as cycle surgery , have to put my votes in for Kambah Cycles - honest , value for money service and Velo republic - have gone out their way to assist me with building up a steel Colnago

[yehuwdiy]

Nice work LoveB, I dropped some coin there on Tuesday. Simon came up with a crazy cheap price on the wheels I was after so I spent the savings on the last Cygolite TridenX he had on sale (holy moly another HUGE discount). Was dark by the time a had finished shootin' the breeze with him. Strapped the new light on my old Malvern Star Superstar and proceeded to blind cars all the way home. DAMN the light is bright

[LoveB]

Nice work LoveB, I dropped some coin there on Tuesday. Simon came up with a crazy cheap price on the wheels I was after so I spent the savings on the last Cygolite TridenX he had on sale (holy moly another HUGE discount). Was dark by the time a had finished shootin' the breeze with him. Strapped the new light on my old Malvern Star Superstar and proceeded to blind cars all the way home. DAMN the light is bright

I believe thats the light he was offering me as I asked him what light to get How much did you get it for/ if you dont mind me asking. As I'm looking to get a light in the future. lol

[yehuwdiy]

Paid $270, and do not regret it for a second. On the way home I had two dogs run in front of me a one bad patch of glass. Saw all of them well before they became a problem. With my old light I would have gone barreling into each and every one. The thing that weirds me out is that because of the super bright and directional light the bumps are easier to see than in the daytime.

I have been riding with the dog at night now amoungst other things. Having a good light has opened up a whole new area of cycling for me, this I was not expecting.

[LoveB]

Ah not the one he offered then. lol he offered me a light around 130 bucks Sheesh my budget is far off. lol lol I'd cycle with you but I have no light yet

are you planning to sell your old light?

[yehuwdiy]

That may have been the 2-led one, mine is the 3-led one. Yeah, it was far outside my budget as well. You know me, scrounger to the core and miser as a life choice. BUT I'm commuting 5 days a week now, and working two jobs, so I figure it's ok to loosen the reigns a little.

As for my old light...it was a $5 ebay job, currently held together with electrical tape. It got me home, but slowly and sometimes a little scarily. I figure if you have to wait for your eyes to dark-adjust for the light to be workable then you probably need a better light :/

Anywho, it's yours if you want it. I also have a cheap and nasty bike computer if you want that as well.

[LoveB]

That may have been the 2-led one, mine is the 3-led one. Yeah, it was far outside my budget as well. You know me, scrounger to the core and miser as a life choice. BUT I'm commuting 5 days a week now, and working two jobs, so I figure it's ok to loosen the reigns a little.

As for my old light...it was a $5 ebay job, currently held together with electrical tape. It got me home, but slowly and sometimes a little scarily. I figure if you have to wait for your eyes to dark-adjust for the light to be workable then you probably need a better light :/

Anywho, it's yours if you want it. I also have a cheap and nasty bike computer if you want that as well.

Yay! that should do for now Just so I can to some late afternoon laps around lake ginninderra. Around say 5pm onwards and some dawn rides too. That should do till I buy one of the 2 led ones. What do you guys think about the dealextreme ones? the ones they had for about 77-89 dollars?

My first bike computer was a cyclops one from kmart now i've got the sigma 1006 or 9 i think it was. lol I can put that computer onto my mrs bike

I could probably journey out on the bike to ya

[yehuwdiy]

moving conversation to pm

[Curoch]

As a newbie I recently picked up a Giant Defy from Onya Civic. Been looking around some of the bike shops to get various maintenance parts like pump, lights, bag etc.

Here are my observations:

Onya Bike Civic
Service is ok mostly. I bought my Giant there, but the service rapidly degrades as they get busier, and since I've bought my bike I get the vibe that they're trying to get rid of me. The exception to that is rule Claire Whiteman. Absolutely brilliant service and patience, all in all just a joy to deal with. I would suggest for people to hop on in there on a weekday and try to catch her if you need anything. Massive plus - she's the Australian champion for downhill MTB (she didn't mention it - I found out from a friend) so its kinda neat to be served by a celeb

Mal Adjusted Bicycles
Heard good things about them, but they are _really_ busy. Also there seems to be a massive bias towards regulars, so expect to be dropped if anyone they know so much as walks too close to the store. Otherwise, polite and satisfactory service, but not particularly standout.

Onya Bike Belconnen
Nice people, also really busy. They don't push a sale which is a massive plus point. Larger store than Civic. Seems to me that Onya Civic and Onya Belconnen don't talk to each other though, when I was picking up my Defy I really wanted last years model (run out sale huzzah) but Civic said there was none for me. I visited Belconnen the weekend after I picked up my bike and there were 3 on the racks! Store is laid out for browsing so if you like to perv on bikes you can do that all you like. Guys there also gave me my accessory discount even though I only mentioned that I bought my bike from Civic (no evidence!). Cheers mate!

Cyclecity Lynham
Awesome guys there. Patient, and willing to teach you. They get busy and you kinda have to wait around as they service some of the easier customers that come in to pick up specific parts, but they geared me up and dealt with me like a loyal customer even though my bike was obviously from somewhere else. Bought clipless shoes and pedals from them and they put me on a trainer to fit me etc, let me fool around on it for 1/2 an hour without so much as a bad vibe. This is in contrast to Onya Civic, when I picked up my new bike they only gave me an eyeball for a fit (made a mistake, picked up my bike on a weekend, Claire wasn't in * sigh * live and learn). They were willing to answer really silly newbie questions and even checked my riding stance for correctness. Really good people. I was almost falling over myself to buy new wheels and tyres but they told me to hold off till I get better or more serious at riding. Definitely won me over as a customer.

Hope this helps other people that come along.

Cheers

A

[Lenny]

I am a big fan of the guys at Onya Bike Civic. I am pretty new to cycling but after checking out about 10 different bike shops in canberra looking to buy a new commuting bike a freind told me to go check out Onya bike civic. For a fairly small shop they sure have it packed full of stock. I was so impressed with the service. The staff there were so helpfull, freindly and full of knowledge. At no stage did they try and pressure me into buying anything.They definately won me over and I ended up buying a Giant Cross city 3. I absolutely love it. I highly recomend onyabike civic.
Most of my mates ride mountain bikes so I thought I would jump on the band wagon and look at getting a nice cross country mountain bike. The guys at civic let me take one of there demo Giant Anthems out to stromlo to take it for a proper test ride to see if I like it. It was an amazing bike. They are letting me take out a Giant Trance on sunday for another test session at stromlo. CAN'T WAIT.....
BIG THUMBS UP TO ONYA CIVIC

Len

[dorukai]

I moved up to Canberra from Melbourne recently, bought a bike for commuting from Onya Bike Civic yesterday (a Giant Seek, with MTB clip pedals, shoes, rack and whatnot) and had great service from Aaron.

I got to test ride a couple of bikes before making a choice (and they had to order in and build the second for me).

I went in twice at lunch time during the week and it didn't seem too busy, I had to wait a few minutes for service etc, but nothing excessive.

No idea what their pricing is like, I didn't comparison shop, but I enjoyed the service. Made my requirements clear, and didn't feel pressured to pay for more expensive components (he did point out that getting last year's more expensive model would only cost a little more than this year's and had much better components - I test rode both of them and agreed with that assessment).

They even helped me strap the car rack I bought to the back of the bike with an old tube so I could pedal the few km to my car, heh.

[Robdog]

Lonsdale St Cyclery - They did a great job keeping me up to date with my warranty claim with Avanti, and rebuilt the new frame quite nicely (though that's what I'd expect) I'm a bit disappointed that they tried to screw me out of some more hard-earned for a new chain when I didn't need one - in fact the one I have now (with 3100 k's on it) was measured today at exactly 12 inches for 12 links, exactly as it came out of the box. Shame on them. I'll keep going to Smith Cycles for my servicing thanks

[Curoch]

Hit Smith's in Fyshwick over the weekend.

Nice guy. Top marks for patience even though at one point I was being a little bit of a tool . Definitely worth getting out there to give him some custom.

[aldifan]

Am shopping for a 24 inch mountain bike for my son's 11th birthday.
Which LBS has the best range/price of bikes in the youth category?

Thanks

[seddo]

Am shopping for a 24 inch mountain bike for my son's 11th birthday.
Which LBS has the best range/price of bikes in the youth category?

Thanks

try Kambah Leisure Cycles - back of kambah shops

[Camm]

I have a Montague Paratrooper; any recommendations on who can service mine in Canberra? (Having trouble screwing the front wheel on my bike now)

[yehuwdiy]

Simon at Cycle Surgery, over at Florey, is great. Knows his stuff, does good work and has great prices.

[ifixbikes]

Another vote for Cycle Surgery. If I can fix it myself Simon is the only other person I let touch my bikes.

[lappy21]

I had a work collegue who along with his wife went looking to buy a bike for his wife on Sunday. He visted all three stores in Lonsdale st Braddon and was apalled by the service. He spent roughly 10 minutes in each of the stored and recieved no customer service. He even mentioned that in one store, his wife was asked to move out of the way. He even told me that there were free staff hanging around in each of the stores.

Now this guy has just bought himself a bike on Wiggle and it's just been delivered. He felt a little guilty about buying a bike on-line and thought that for his wife he would buy locally. Because his bike has already been delivered he was ready to drop around $1000 that day if they found the right thing. He and his wife were basically newbies and were going to take any good sales persons advice. Trouble is he never got any

This is not a good recomendation for local stores... It only encourages people to shop online. As if the high Aussie dollar was not encouragement enough...

[Warnesy]

I have to say I was similarly disappointed by the customer service in many of the bike stores I went to. Exceptions were Smiths in Fyschwick who were outstanding and Onyabike in Tuggeranong. I didn't head all the way out to Florey but good to know its an option.