High on Prices, Short on Service - Do business here at your own risk.
Having purchased 5 bikes at The Bicycle Connection in as many years I can say with confidence that there are some very knowledgeable and courteous people who work here. However, those individuals do not outweigh the ones who lack the level of knowledge and/or respect to deserve your business. It does not matter if you have purchased a $500 bike or $5000 bike, as I have done both - and a few others in between - they do not care, enough... Furthermore, the level of communication and coordination within the business has presented me with unnecessary delays on multiple occasions. Very rarely are things done when they say they will be, it is not convenient and again, most the service staff do not seem to care. It pains me to say that as I mean no disrespect to the few good, honest, and reasonable employees there, but again - it does not make up for the poor performance of the majority, and the overall poor experience that goes along with that. Do business here at your own risk, as your experiences will likely vary over time. Shop around and be aware of other bike shops in the area that will appreciate your business more - and continue to try to earn that business in the future. Developing those relationships is important and until The Bicycle Connection realizes that they will continue to live up to their over-priced, under-serviced, and less than knowledgeable reputation - as I have found ALL of those things to be true currently, and in recent years. The service staff are the most condescending and arrogant part - more so than any other bike shop I have ever been to. In an unfortunate pairing the sales staff is limited in what they can offer, their ability to negotiate pricing - their world revolves around Trek's MSRP, not much else exists... If this review means anything to them they would fix that 'approach' to their business model, spend less time correcting - and offending Customers, and more time understanding the needs of their Customers. They could then use that correcting/offending time saved to provide the types of quality bikes, accessories, and the service that a Consumer should expect. Quality and attention compliment understanding, and they have staff that could deliver, but fail to execute. Until these things are fixed there are more responsive, attentive, and less expensive options in the area.
To be clear I would give this place 4 stars for Sales staff, though limited, followed by 3 stars for the selection (Trek, mostly), with 2 stars for the Service (staff, service, and labor responses in general), 2 stars for the location (a tight corner and small parking lot), and finally 1 - maybe even 0 stars for the individual effort/experiences of some staff, which greatly take away from the experience one should/could have given the proper courtesy and attention to detail. They really, really need to work on this. Overall 12/5 = 2.4, so I'm 'rounding down' and going with 2 stars. Hope this helps to clarify. read more