As someone who doesn't speak bike but who enjoys them greatly as a mode of transportation (kind of how my car is beginner at best), I have struggled to find a good bike place in Sydney. I looked up reviews and this place seemed Ace (it is new to yelp but highly praised on google and facebook). Even though it is not really close to where I live, I think I will surely go back for maintenance and even perhaps to fill my tyres (and no I don't really understand how to fill road bike tyres).
I called ahead to enquire about getting new handle bars as I had been gifted a racing style road bike and felt like I would fly off the bike every time I was trying to break. My bike had sat unused for over a year and I thought it was time to find a solution. The guy who answered said that it was best to see the bike first before deciding if it was worth it to invest in the new setup as it could cost more than the bike was worth. I thought that was a good sign because he could have easily said "yeah no problem" and put garbage pieces on a garbage bike and charged many dollars. When I got there, they assessed my bike and determined that it was a solid bike in decent condition and could do the job for $250-$300. Since I had not paid anything for the bike, I figured why the heck not. It was a Giant road bike with Shimano gears in case you do speak bike. He did it all in one day and put nice Shimano gears on it, filled the tyres and serviced it and it runs amazingly now.
I asked a few friends who are more well versed in bike than I am and they said that was a pretty good price for Shimano parts. The bike doctor even told me I could sell my old shimano handle bars/gear set for $100 on gumtree and the final price was $250 for the parts, service and his time.
There were two guys and both were really friendly and helpful. Euan was the one who did the work for me but I imagine anyone would be great!
Yay, I have a bike place that doesn't scare the crap out of me when I walk in! You can refer to my other review of bikebug on Botany to see how I felt invisble there. read more