Very knowledgeable and friendly staff. Just purchased an Argon 18 Krypton for $2500. I spent about 3 hrs in the store, being fitted for multiple bikes, taking them out on the surrounding bike routes, and picking the brains of these dedicated cyclists. Speed theory was the third Vancouver bike shop I visited while on my hunt for my first road bike. My bike ended up on the lower side of my price range, ($2500-3000) and I never felt pressured to go for a more expensive option. I had two requirements; a carbon frame and a good fit. However, the staff introduced me to a third requirement (for my purposes), that it's a fun ride, and I am absolutely thrilled with my purchase. I should note that, having been in the store for a few hours I was able to observe multiple instances of really good customer service. I was really impressed with how the staff handled a busy rush at around 3pm on Friday; staff members read when customers needed attention, popping out from servicing bikes to tend to customers. I understand that some past reviews have had some terrible ordeals, and I'd be pretty upset too if I found myself in some of those situations. However, I can say that I will definitely use this shop as my first stop for any future upgrades that may await my bike. read more

Candy store for Road Bicyclists and Triathletes that wants of lots of support to improve times with high tech equipment. Since I have not bought a bicycle there or had major service. I would say the place is A-OK for me. For a Rider with Big Goals or a Big Budget /Wallet this may be the shop for you. read more

So you think you want to ride a road or tri-bike? Speed Theory is the place to go. My wife wanted to get into road biking (I guess running marathons is not enough) and we shopped around a few places. After ruling out where NOT to go (Simon's!) we tried Different Bikes which was good but suffers from the failing of all other bike shops: they focus primarily on mountain bikes. Speed theory is all about triathlons, and so they know their road bikes. The service is great but not overly pushy. The staff are all athletes themselves so you get good advice. Don't expect any great deals (only two bikes under $2,000 makes shopping on a budget easy!) but expect quality and professional fitting. read more

Amateur hour. Brought my Pinarello here to get built up and they didn't clamp it properly and damaged a brand new frame and seat post with 0 km's on it. They had to send out for a few weeks to get it repaired and promised to give me a new seatpost as compensation. No call backs after chasing them over 8 mos. Disappointing experience and waayy better service techs at Veloholics and even Union Street Cycle! read more

Went in to speed theory to get a wetsuit at the recommendation of another store I went into and was blown away by the service! As someone who has never bought a wetsuit/about to do their first triathlon, I had no clue what to look for in terms of the correct fit. Diane was very informative and gave me all the information I needed to know about proper fit and how to get the suit on properly which put my mind at ease before making my purchase. Would definitely recommend this store to anyone shopping for triathlon/cycling gear! read more

These guys kinda let me down. I was preparing to compete as a cyclist in the Penticton Challenge in 2013. It's a 180km course. Three weeks before the event, I noticed a problem with my cassette freehub. I contacted the wheel manufacturer (Reynolds) who directed me to their distributor (Podium Imports in Penticton), who in turn directed me to Speed Theory in Vancouver for retail ordering. All went well at first. We figured out the part I needed, and the order was placed with Speed Theory. They told me that it should arrive that Thursday, but Friday to be safe. I went in on the Saturday, and they had no information on me or what the order was. I was asked to call back on the following Monday to the girl I had placed the order with. I went home. I gave them the benefit of the doubt and did as instructed. Unfortunately when I called, she was not in. And to make things worse when I called back, I found out that she was not in all week. I was running out of time. It was too late to place a new order since I had to leave for the event within 3 days. The race was 5 days away. and now I had to make the decision of riding with a faulty freehub on my wheel, or hoping that Podium had the part I wanted when I got to Penticton. The good news is that Podium was able to find what I needed, the day before the event. And I barely made the bike check on time. Too much stress for a first-timer at an event like this. FYI. I didn't receive one call from Speed Theory regarding the original order that I placed. read more

Over the past couple years, I've been consistently coming to Speed Theory for all my cycling needs. Tom, Mike and the boys have decades of cycling experience and always treat you with respect whether you're new to cycling or a hardcore roadie. If you're new to the sport, they'll take a lot of the intimidation out of getting started, and do easy-going, no-pressure sales, talking you through exactly your needs for exactly your budget. There's no attitudes here, no pressure to upsell you to a more expensive bike. Just a bunch of guys who love cycling and want to leave you better off than before you walked in their store. Best bike store in Vancouver, hands-down. read more

Super nice staff, and an awesome bike selection if you're into road and have the money to burn. If you're looking for a new carbon road bike (be it a Cervelo or Argon 18 or others they carry), this place would be it. Unfortunately, I didn't buy my carbon bike here, but they did help me out no questions asked style to rectify a warranty claim situation and it was resolved to my complete satisfaction. the other two places I went for my dream bike were the Bike Gallery and Mighty Riders. In retrospect, those shops are lame and rude an upsold me way beyond my comfort level. Let's just say that my dream bike took 6 months to complete and it was all due Mighty's inadequacies. read more

As far as knowledge with bikes and gear, Speed Theory is a great place to go for advice. However, I would not advise purchasing anything from them as Speed Theory's return policy is not on par with their knowledge base. I purchased a trainer and carry case from them and the trainer broke the first time I used it. Not Speed Theory's fault in any way. Luckily the good folks at the place I currently bike at were able to provide me a trainer in the middle of our brick so I could finish the workout and told me to just use that for future workouts. When I went to return the trainer (with receipt in hand one week later) I was told they would send it off for warranty replacement. I said they are within their rights to claim warranty on the trainer but I in no way wanted another one. I'm easily turned off by a product that will break on the first go when all instructions are followed, as I suspect many people of this world would be. I asked for a refund and Speed Theory refused to give a refund in the way of giving my money back, but were more than happy to offer store credit for the trainer. After discussion I reluctantly agreed to the return. 5 months later I received a phone call saying that I still have a trainer carry case that I had left with them. I recall asking them to return that and they said store credit for it as well. After 5 months they are calling me saying they can't give me store credit on the bag since it had been used (again, used once with the trainer that broke). I'll happily use my store credit up on nutrition, tubes, tires, part, etc. After that I will not be heading back there and would not recommend Speed Theory to anyone in the Calgary area. Again, great folks. Everyone was pleasant to deal with. I've heard great things about their knowledge base and advice but after my experience I would be careful when purchasing items from Speed Theory. read more

Misleading & Elitist I called ahead to see if they would repair a flat. A very long mixed message discussion followed about whether my hybrid bicycle could be repaired. In the end, I was invited to come into the store to see if they could repair the flat tire. The next day, when I went into the store, I was initially ignored by the three staff members, one busy on the phone & the other two in their own conversation. After 5 minutes, I was approached as I browsed some expensive bike wear. I asked if they would repair the flat tire on my bicycle. The staff member immediately told me that they do not repair hybrid tires as they do not have the proper inner tubes. This was very clear. She did, however, attempt to fill the flat tire with air but to no avail as the tire was very flat. I told them I had called the day before to ask the same question which was met with a blank stare. So I did not further attempt to clarify why I would even be invited to come to a place that lacked the equipment to do the job. Only go to this store if you want or own an elitist bicycle, not for you common hybrid cyclist. read more

I've had experiences to the extremes at Speed Theory. However I will rate them only 2 stars because the last experience I had there made me promise myself to never, ever do business with them again, which is unfortunate because: Their mechanics: Are great! As much as I hate to have any downtime on my bike, taking it in to ST for service was always a good time simply because the guys working on the bikes are great. Will answer any questions, and get the work done fast. Their Bikes: Expensive is the game there - but - it's lovely. All the high end bikes are great to look at and really get you in the mood to spend some extra $ and get a higher quality bike/model. Their tubes: The only store that in 2014 had 80mm tubes in stock almost every day. Every other bike shop either doesn't carry them, or simply will try to sell you 60/40 with an extender. Sales staff: All very nice. Never saw them pressure anyone about anything. Things about the shop that I didn't like, weren't actually to the do with the shop itself, but more certain actions of an employee: A friend was going to buy a bike from a competing shop, and, thinking I could maybe give ST some business, I went in and told them exactly which bike, which store she had been in talks with, and how much she was going to pay. I was told she is better off buying the bike from the other shop. So, instead of looking at things like making a long term customer who will purchase items and service for the next few years, they looked at the immediate sale of a lower end bike as not worth their time. And that is fine - I guess it was my fault for building up my friends hopes that ST was a great shop and would want to do business with her. What has made me give up on them was making a deal over the phone for a bike. I called, was offered a great price on a bike, and I even spoke to the person again later that same day confirming the bike and that great price. I then drove down there and 5 minutes away I get a call saying I can't have the bike, as it's been sold to someone else. I was given the option of not coming in and getting nothing, or still coming into the store and he would see what kind of a deal he could get me on a bike. So I went in, to then be shown all of the lowest end bikes I could get - absolutely nowhere near the bike I had made the agreement for. I was told that they are not a charity, and while it would be nice if I could get a deal, that's not how running a business works. That was it for me. I should mention I did spend about $13,000 at ST in one year - and then got screwed over. I bought (in order): BMC TM01 Frameset Fizik Arione Tri2 saddle Cervelo S5 Mavic Cosmic Carbone Wheelset Assorted goods (tubes/co2/cassettes) read more

Underwhelming to put it mildly. I'd heard good things about this shop, and specifically the customer service; however, my experience with this shop was severely disappointing and a complete waste of my time. I was looking for a set of tires, and a very pleasant staff member offered to order them for me. I declined at the time to see if I could find the tires elsewhere, which proved to be unsuccessful. I later called Speed Theory to follow up on the offer to order the tires. When I called the individual that answered the call was disinterested, and was quite obviously annoyed at my request. After repeatedly providing the tire description, make, model, and patiently waiting for this individual to figure out how to place an order, I was told that the order was in. When I asked about the cost it became clear that this person had ordered a lesser model as the cost was half of what I knew it should be. At this point I must have explained what I was looking for at least 7 or 8 times. After going through the process again, the individual told me the order was in, and I asked him to confirm with me what he had ordered. At this point all seemed to be good. I got a call a couple days later to say the tires had arrived. Fairly excitedly I rushed to the shop right across town after work to pick up the tires. When I arrived the person behind the desk threw the tires on the table and proceeded to ring up the order. At first glance it was clear he had ordered the wrong tires, which I pointed out. When he started speaking it was evident it was the same person I had been dealing with on the phone. His response was that it's what the distributor had, to which I pointed out this was clearly not what I had requested. This point seemed lost on this person and he simply repeated very dismissively that it's what the distributor had. I couldn't have cared less what the distributor had as it was not what I ordered. This person didn't offer an apology for getting the order wrong, for wasting my time, or to try and make this right. In fact, his demeanour was again dismissive, arrogant, and not looking to help at all. He quite simply stared me down with no further comment. The customer service was brutal. Directly following this I went to another bike store, ordered the same tires, and picked them up a couple days later. The difference in customer service was seismic. I imagine they must have a different distributor for the same product in the same city. There are a lot of excellent bike shops in this city. I do not rate Speed Theory as one of them. read more

Really great store, friendly staff, and a great selection of road and tri bikes. LOTS of high end stuff at this store, really cool to go and check out all the top level racing equipment! read more

Absolutely outstanding knowledge, service, and amosphere for both pros and newcomers alike. I went in to purchase my first 'real' road bike and was treated with the utmost of respect and service. I left a couple hours later with an amazing bike at a very fair price thanks to Tom and Rob. These guys are the best in the business - smaller shop but second to none. read more