It's hard to review this place succinctly. Though the guys who work there are very nice, and I ended up with a bike that I enjoy, I wasn't that impressed with some aspects of the service level, and I was underwhelmed with selection.
The closest experience I've ever had to shopping at Bicycle World was shopping at a specialty running store in Chicago called Feet First. The first thing you (should) learn when beginning running is that you never choose your running shoes based on looks - you should always choose them based on fit and performance. I feel like the guys at Bicycle World are following the same philosophy, because when you go in to buy a bike there, the questions all revolve around performance, and looks are not even mentioned. As a casual rider, looks are a top concern, though not aggravating an existing back injury is slightly higher on the list, hence my purchase.
I felt like the guy asking me questions and helping me pick out a bike was doing so very clinically, and my options (2 bikes, total) were few. Luckily, the second bike felt great, and I didn't hate the overall look, though I wasn't over the moon about it, either. I also wanted to make the purchase that day, or else I might have taken time to search elsewhere.
Up until the sale, this place would have still gotten 4 stars. It was after the sale that I began to lose patience. They didn't have the color of the bike I wanted in my size at the store, so it had to be ordered. I was told it would be in in a week. A few days into my wait, I realized that the bike I was getting didn't have fenders, and I would like some, so I called up to see about getting fenders to match. The bike is raspberry colored, and the only fenders they had in stock were black. I told the guy on the phone that I didn't want black, I wanted silver. He said 'OK, well, when you come to pick the bike up, ask for me and I'll show you the silver ones we have.'
A week went by - no call. I got the call two weeks in (seriously? I could have ordered it off the internet and had it shipped sooner), and went to pick up the bike. I asked for the salesman I had talked to on the phone, and got a blank look. I was told point blank that there were no silver options for the bike in stock, and all they had was black. In retrospect I probably should have had them hold the bike for however long it took to get silver ones in, but instead, it now being two and a half weeks later, I just had them put black fenders on (which look awful, btw). I'll end up getting silver ones on Amazon at some point. I feel like I can't bitch too much, since after all, they did assemble the bike for me and put the new fenders on, too, but I'm disappointed that I spent $300 on a brand new bike that doesn't look awesome. I know Bicycle World is much more concerned with providing performance, but I wish I would have gotten a little more support in trying to end up with a bike that was beautiful, too. read more
