We had two older bicycles which had been unused for a time and, at the end of last year, realized…read morethat the derailleur needed adjustment, etc. At that time, I found Tom's Mobile Bike Repair through yelp!, but only got in this week.
Tom has a *very* thorough tune-up service which has a fixed labor cost but variable parts costs (based upon whatever needs to be done on *your* bike). I got in touch with him the previous week, and found that he is NOT providing the mobile service at this time, so I arranged to drop off our bikes at his home this past Monday. He also gave a very preliminary sense of what the cost might be, based upon my brief description.
Arriving there, I found a very tall, friendly guy who looked over the bikes and gave a modified estimate, mentioning some of what he would do (replace the chains, replace the wire controls). [NOTE: I had gotten all four tires & innertubes replaced/upgraded last year.] He told me he'd have the bikes most of the week, and he'd contact me when they were done.
Thursday (yesterday), Tom contacted me with a text saying that they were ready, and a photo of the bill. I was able to get over there the same day, and asked Tom to go over what he'd done.
In the course of this interaction, I got to see his home set-up and get to know him a bit better. He has been working out of his well-ordered garage shop--with bikes, toolds, equipment all organized and in great condition--but walked to his very new, much larger shop in a very nice pole barn which he recently finished erecting ("with a lot of help"), and is moving into as his dedicated shop space.
He went over all he did, noting that he had to change the rear brake pads on one bike, but the degreasing of the entire shift mechanisms had cleaned out the shift controls enough that he didn't have to replace one which had concerned him. He had tightened some things, and noted a looseness in a particular nut--which he explained how to handle, ourselves, if *we* noticed it!--but he gave a wonderful, thorough explanation, which informed me (something I really appreciate) and impressed me, too.
Tom is a fantastic guy who is VERY knowledgeable, and got our older, very-lightly-used-yet-gunked-up bikes back into fantastic working order for $153 and change. He is committed to doing great work, and takes pride in that. He was open about everything and a delight. If you want to support a wonderful, local, small businessman who has exactly the knowledge and skills to work on *your* bike, please consider supporting Tom.
NOTES:
1) Texting seems to be the best way to reach him.
2) His hours are simple if you think of an 8-hour day which begins at 11 AM (ONLY during the week; closed on weekends).
3) His location, on Potts Rd., is ALL the way back, down that road, and on the LEFT (the big rock with hus house number and an old bike should be a clue).
4) Potts Rd., off of W. Joy Rd., might be tricky to find; it's a private drive, and the sign is WAY back from the intersection with Joy. Look for a road in the valley between two hills on Joy, running North.
5) Payment options are listed on his site, and include cash & credit cards.
I did not inform him that I would review him--or of what I might say--until after picking up & paying for my bikes. Oh, and he helped load them into my car (meaning he loaded them and *I* helped).
I did not tell