This review comes after a single visit, but it was quite the visit indeed. When I was trying to hunt down some tires for my bike I tried lots of places far and wide, but mainly used the hunt to visit and find cool new Bike shops. This is definitely one of them but not for the typical reasons.
You won't find any young hip kids wrenching here and talking about their fixies. You won't find lots of cool news bikes piled up to the ceiling. You won't find the big-dollar items and carbon fiber bikes hanging from the walls. What you will more than likely find is an older gentleman named Ed. Ed owns Martha's and in fact there isn't any Martha truth be told. The name has been retained from the previous owner when ED took over a long time ago.
Ed used to work for the Schwinn bike company back in its heyday long before it turned into a name slapped on Wal-Mart bikes. He's a man long involved with the bike industry and knows it very well from both the inside and outside. He was nice enough to spend a few hours chatting with me on a slow afternoon recently and open my eyes with some truly great stories. I didn't wind up finding the tires I was looking for, but I did leave the shop quite a bit more knowledgeable than when I walked in and that made the trip more than worthwhile.
Martha's, because of the local demographic, focuses on mid-range and lower-end stuff from Trek and Gary Fisher and a couple of other companies. However, Ed can get anything you want if you need it so if you desire that $8,000 Trek road bike he can get it for you. Overall though they keep a modest inventory in their clean and roomy shop. While this isn't a place you'd probably want to seek out if you live in Boston, if you're a local in the area it's probably one of your best bets for service or info. In a time where helpful and friendly service is an increasing rarity Martha's comes through in a big way and that speaks more to me than a shop with 1000 bikes and 10 clueless teen salesmen. read more
