TL;DR: Sold me the wrong size bike, dismissed my input, repeated mechanical issues never fixed,…read moretried to charge me for their mistakes, and treated me like a nuisance instead of a customer.
I bought a $600 bike from this shop and told the owner at the time of purchase that I felt like I was leaning over dramatically towards the handlebars. Instead of helping me find the right size frame, he sold me the bike he had in stock and assured me it was fine. After a few months of riding, I developed constant neck, back, and wrist pain.
The bike also had recurring mechanical problems. The tires rubbed against the frame or brakes, sometimes preventing the wheels from turning at all.
Friends would help me adjust the seat or tires, but the fixes never lasted. When I brought it into Dashing, the owner dismissed my suggestions and insisted on making small incremental adjustments. This led to multiple trips back and wasted money on trips that never solved the issue. Including trips where I would call Dashing, ask the owner if I could bring my bike within the hour, arrive within the timeframe, and see a "Be back soon" sign on the door and wait indefinitely (usually another ~45 minutes) with fellow customers who'd appear until the owner returned annoyed.
Estimates of when my bike would be ready were rarely honored. My bike was once in shop at the onset of beautiful weather (I missed a big social bike ride) for weeks longer than estimated. Getting in touch with someone on the phone despite leaving voicemails was impossible. I was later told by an employee that, "[They] don't really check voicemails."
They also struggled with intra-staff communication between the three employees that I encountered. I would come in with an issue, tell it to the employee on duty who'd come up with what felt like a solution only to encounter at my next visit another uninformed employee who was not privvy to any of the reasons my bike was at the shop in the first place.
The only helpful experience I had was with an employee named Rose, who actually listened, made on-the-spot adjustments, and checked with me before sending me home. Unfortunately, once I started riding again, the same wheel problem returned. Each time I brought it back, they would adjust spokes, but the issue kept happening. On my third visit, they even tried to charge me again for truing the tires, claiming my earlier adjustments to the stem plus my weight caused broken spokes. At that point, I told them to stop service and give me the bike back.
What frustrated me most was not just the repeated mechanical issues but the dismissive, condescending way I was treated, especially by the owner and the other guy that works there. They never took responsibility for their poor service and acted like I was a nuisance or expecting free services instead of a loyal customer who had been shopping with them for years. On top of that, my bike would be returned to me with damage: the rubber that encases the break, split; the handlebar tape, loose; the cap on the handlebar, missing. There'd be no acknowledgement of the damage from Dashing. I would bring it to their attention only to be treated like it wasn't their problem.
The current owner benefits from the community's assumption that the Dashing Bicycles on Sophie Wright Pl is owned by the same women that owned it under the same name, Dashing Bicycles, when it was on Broad St. Dashing Bicycles's current ownership (James, the face of it) does not uphold the same standard of care or accountability. I would not recommend buying a bike here.
