I had a stubborn bottom bracket with mangled spline teeth on a second hand frame I had been riding…read morefor months which had developed an unsettling creaking sound. I took the bike to sprocket and asked about replacement if they could get it out. The staff were very helpful and when I said it might not be possible to save the frame, out of curiosity they put the bike straight on the shop stand to have a proper look at it. Minutes later I was walking out with a brand new bottom bracket installed. Very impressed. Reasonable prices. These guys love a challenge.

I headed down to Sprocket Cycles to get a quote on fixing my death-trap of a bike after nearly…read morehaving a stroke in Evans when they quoted me £80 to replace my brake cable and tighten my wonky wheel. Yes - I could fix it myself but I am lazy and my bike is 50 years old so figured I'd just get a quote and see if someone professional could give it a once over. Not sure who I spoke to at Sprocket but he was very helpful and quoted me £28 for the same job. What a nice guy! I'll be taking 'Star Rider' (yes) down for a service very soon! The shop is located not far from Moor Street and is next to Warehouse Cafe and the vegan shop.

What a great idea! Bike hire and repairs on a barge in Brindley Place!…read more This is a permanently moored barge just below Bank restaurant that has a hatch for you to go and hire bikes or get some general repair work done. The guys I chatted to were really helpful and gave me all the information I needed to return and get a bike next weekend The bikes are £3 per hour or £12 for the day which I think is reasonable but just a note, you need ID and 24 hours notice if you need more than one bike for some reason. Expect some canal side pub reviews soon.....

Great customer service! I wanted to pick up running again after breaking my leg last year and…read moredecided to seek out a shoe shop offering gait assessments. The previous reviews on Yelp led me to Up & Running - great job Yelpers! I walked in on a particularly sunny Wednesday afternoon - the place was absolutely poppin' with customers. That didn't get the staff down. They were friendly, courteous, and quick to help everyone. Since I have metal in my leg, I was looking for a little extra advice to prevent injury. I was so happy to be able to try on A LOT of shoes and have each pair examined by video for proper stride and pronation. The staff suggested the perfect shoe for me and paired them with lovely gel inserts for a cloud-like run. I especially like that they encourage you to run in the shoes for a few days and bring them back is anything at all isn't up to satisfaction. They truly want you to have a good, safe run and keep coming back. If you are needy like me or just looking for good advice in your running shoe quest, check out Up & Running.

I was there Sunday morning and wanted advice on trail shoes. I was honest and upfront that I wanted…read moreto try them on there but would probably buy them off their site as they have them on web offer. The female sales assistant very snarkily commented that: "Well you're paying extra so you can try them on". At which point she turned around and walked off. Leaving me and her colleague stunned. I tried to continue asking about the shoes but I was utterly shocked. I had wanted to buy a few more things while I was there including the Evans cycles next door but after the nasty attitude of that one staff member I made a quick getaway. I strongly recommend against them. Places like this don't deserve our business. I complained via email to the company and branch and I have NEVER gone to that trouble due to poor service so thats a sign of how bad it was.

This is a relatively large Sports Direct store, in the Bullring in Birmingham city centre, it is…read morepretty much your typical Sports Direct store, relatively cheap sports clothing in a claustrophobic atmosphere, where they always seem to unnecessarily make the store as narrow as possible, resulting in a not so great overall shopping experience. There are entrances through the mall and on street level which is handy. They did have a pretty good selection, many of the items were competitively priced. They did seem to have a good number of employees working to satisfy demand, which is rather efficient and can be hit or miss at these types of stores, more so in the current climate - although queuing at the checkouts could have again be improved. 3* - Large store with a good product selection, I just wish they thought more about their own layout making it more welcoming and accessible, rather than appearing to be more of a mess than anything else.

This place provides a truly awful shopping experience…read more A discount sports clothing chain that sells a small amount of sporting equipment also. The staff here seem to hate the place. I don't blame them as the clientele seem to be mostly rude with little consideration for other shoppers or staff. You'll also find plenty of pushchairs in the aisles blocking your way, or people having conversations unwilling to step aside to let you through. There's always a queue at the tills, and you'll always be asked if you want to buy a branded plastic bag. After a second "no thank you" persuasion techniques became annoying. This place's saving grace comes in the form that it's cheap branded specialist sports clothing. Also in its location in the bullring- if like me you needed some sports leggings and are in this area, there's not many other places where you can pick up good quality ones fairly cheap. (Let me know if there are please!) Be warned though, they have an in store no refunds just store credit policy which can be inconvenient.