Performance Bicycle

Category:	Bicycle Store
Address:	357 Muddy Branch Rd, Gaithersburg, MD 20878, USA
Phone:	+1 301-590-3000
Site:	performancebike.com
Rating:	4
Working:	10AM–8PM 10AM–8PM 10AM–8PM 10AM–8PM 10AM–8PM 10AM–8PM 11AM–6PM

Location

Photos 9

Reviews 4

Les Okrasa

Great staff on the floor for the most part. I talked with several people there and a few of them are life long cyclists that can answer any question you throw their way. However, the last few people I spoke with were pretty much as new to the sport as me or worse. If you cant tell me what gearing the $4K bike you are trying to sell me has than we have a problem, especially when you are looking at the gears and cant tell. The biggest downfall is definitely the service shop... I have made 3 visits to the shop and things have only gone downhill. The first time I visited a young guy made every effort to help me out. He looked things up in a book to help me get a job done myself and went out of his way to help me out. He didnt know the answer to any of my questions right away, but he went out of his way to find out. I dealt with someone else the next two visits and they are pretty much the reason I got on to write my review. I came in to drop off my wheels for a cassette swap and the techs literally wouldnt even acknowledge my presence (3 techs on the bench). I finally got someone to look over and even then the tech didnt come up to talk to me as we shouted back and forth... no biggie. After I told him what I wanted he just went back to work... No paper work. He didnt take the wheels from me. I got no idea when to come back. So I start asking questions and the tech starts getting annoyed as if these are things that I dont necessarily need to know... Or that a work order for the wheels I am leaving is just optional. After I got a work order (boy he was not happy to stop and do this part) I asked him where to leave the wheels as he just went back to work again... Again no response... "Ill just leave them here" I yelled back and left. I was with someone who literally turned to me and said "You are going to give them your business!?" Well... I came back today thinking hey maybe he had a bad day. Same tech, except this time he isnt busy at all! In fact, he is staring a bike magazine and just relaxing. I actually felt confident my faith in this shop would be restored... I asked for a cassette swap, crankset swap, and a new chain, which was going to lead to a convo about a new saddle. Well, I got as far as stating what I needed before I got shot down with an ETA of 10 days to get all of this done... 10 days for a cassette swap (which took 45 minutes the last time I came) and crankset swap with a new chain.... Thats TEN days. When I said thats funny you must be joking he looked back at me and seriously said "No, Im not kidding 10 days for that job"... Now I am no bike engineer but 10 days for those two things doesnt seem right when you are sitting at the counter looking at a bike mag first thing after opening... If you are that backed up I would imagine you would be slaving away if you just opened. I dropped my bike off at my normal shop (Revolution Cycles in Rockville) and got a saddle there. /rant The best part is that they are close to my house, the performance bike program is TOTALLY worth the $ if you spend a good amount of accessories and buy bikes. Their selection on anything bike related is great and the prices really are awesome. The sales they have year round keep me coming back, but I will never return here for any shop work.

A Private User

Because were talking Performance, you can get some great deals, but watch out for sneaky raised prices in the Montgomery County stores. Check the prices at the Performance webpage BEFORE you go. In my experience, they will price match to get the sale. After the sale? Apparently, forget it. Case in point: today bought a Bell Alchera helmet for $55, got back home, turned out the webpage said $45, I called the store, the guy I got refused to do anything, saying that the webpage was for internet sales, that if I did an internet sale, Id have to wait and pay shipping, and that I got to try on the helmets and got "help" (dont get me started on that). Dont trust the sales brochures in these stores either, prices differ from the ones you might get in the mail. If you know you want to buy a helmet or whatever, print out the prices for ALL of them (they have pages with thumbnails and prices). Yes, its a waste of paper, and I hate it too, but apparently its necessary unless you like being ripped off. On the other hand, last year they replaced a bike for us after admitting theyd damaged it, that was classy, but I didnt recognize anyone in the store today. As a final kick in the pants, Nashbar (I understand its a part of Performance) is selling the same helmet for $40. I might have returned it, except its a 40+ mile round trip.

Chase M

We were planning a family bicycle trip for Sunday but my son does not have a bike. So we go to the store on Saturday and find ourselves waiting for 75 minutes for help. We finally get someone to size the bike and help us with a bike rack. I specifically ask questions about whether the bike rack works on our model of car. I specifically ask if the bike rack will damage the back window on our car. Yes, its compatible. No, it wont damage the rear glass. OK, great. We get everything home to discover that the bike rack does not have the owners manual in the box. Back to the store we go. We get the owners manual but do you think wed get an apology for the inconvenience? Nope. Then when we look at the owners manual, for our model and year, it specifically says the rack is not compatible and that we would risk popping the rear glass on our car if we used it. At this point, Im wondering what else they dont know with what theyve sold me. I call the manager of the store this evening to tell him my experience and that Im bringing everything back tomorrow. His response? "OK". So this is their notion of customer service in action? And the bike trip we had planned? Well thats now gone and Ill be spending Sunday looking at bikes at another store rather than enjoying the day with the family.

Travis Powers

Just purchased a new GT for my son and a trainer for myself. The people that worked in this shop were very helpful. They took the time to explain many things to me about the newer bikes out there. Ive been out of the biking scene for over 10 years now. They helped me out on picking a good trainer, which is working great so far the past 2 days Ive had it. My son is really enjoying the bike, but there is a few modifications he wants. So we will be back to get different grips and maybe different tires. They were also helpful on a bike carrier for the car. I still havent made my choice yet on what I want in regards to the car rack, but they have given me much incite on the current racks usability. I did purchase another bike for me (Specialized) that I really wanted from another shop. BUT, I would highly recommend Performance Bicycle for the extraordinary service they provided my son and myself. UPDATE: 3/13/2015 - Unfortunately I ran into a problem with the Travel Trac Mag trainer. The staff at this store did an exemplary job exchanging and even letting me try a different trainer for my needs. They have been extremely helpful and Im very happy with continuing using this store for my biking needs.