I feel I am being generous with 3 stars, as I was very tempted to only give two. I purchased the first month, new member deal for August ($99 for the first month), as I am training for a charity ride and found that too many stormy or brutally hot days were hindering my training. While I had gone to a few FlyWheel classes before, I was never a regular to spin classes. I picked Cyclebar since they offered affordable rates, and are the closest to my apartment. At my first class, I was given a BRIEF tour, essentially "this is where you sign in, this is where the lockers are" and she was gone. No one showed me how to set up the bike, or given what I assume is a complimentary water bottle pack, as almost every other ride had the same one.
My first class was horrible since the computer on my bike was broken, which probably would have been found beforehand had someone helped me set up when they knew it was my first time there. This left me having to fumble around in the dark after the class started until I found an open bike, which unfortunately I could only adjust barely enough that it was rideable. It was still too high, and WAY too far back, making it extremely difficult to even pedal. But, I had bought a month membership, and have a 3 day ride to train for, so I went back.
However, recently I had another very poor experience, leaving me to think it is not a rare occurrence. First, it started with me being very happy because I was actually early, so I expected to have plenty of time to get set up. Unfortunately, this all went out the window when it took me 15 min to find parking...5+ blocks away. WARNING: They advertise "free parking in garage" but what they do not tell you is there are probably only 20 "visitor" spots, and the rest is resident parking for the apartments located above the studio. This is not nearly enough when a spin class has minimum 30 people, plus staff, plus multiple other businesses. I have never seen an empty spot in the "visitor" parking, and have often had to park in the resident parking. However, recently, the gate to the lower level was down (including someone stuck behind it!), forcing me to drive around elsewhere trying to find parking. I eventually had to park 5+ blocks away since most of the nearby residential area has no parking signs everywhere. When I asked the front desk, the (very young looking) girl could not have cared less. She added that apparently residents frequently park in the visitor area, and that sometimes even they have "as much as 3 blocks away and walk." At this point, I was late for the class and shocked and annoyed at her flippant response, so I just walked away to join the class. One of the nicer support staff came back while I was putting my shoes on to ask if I wanted help since the class had started and it would be dark. I said yes, and she said she would go get a flashlight since my bike was in the back...except she never came back and I again had to fumble my way through the room to find my bike and try to adjust it enough so I could ride. Luckily I knew exactly where the bike was, but it was still pitch black, making it very difficult.
In the end, I will keep coming for the rest of the month, and probably buy a few passes in September since I need to train for my ride and it is the ONLY location convenient to my apartment. However, as soon as it is done, I will not be going back. If you do try this studio, do not except good customer service and for the sake of your own sanity, DO NOT EXPECT PARKING AVAILABLE. read more