Village Bike & Fitness

Reviews 5

BA

barry warfield

Barry I am a 57 year old male that just started bicycling last August. I had my bike set up where I purchased it last August. I put on 450 miles last year before the weather made it difficult I than road my new bike 1 hour per day all winter long on a fluid trainer to prepare for this season. Being new to the sport I had some issues sore knees when I walked, unable to stand up from a seated position and unable to use my drops and generally just not comfortable on my new bike. I assumed since I had my bike set up when and where I purchased it that my problems were my age and arthritis. I also had pain in my feet when I reached 40 plus miles. These problems persisted from August 2012 to July 13, 2013. After talking to Cory I signed up for the fit session on July 13, 2013. I shared my concerns and my goals to start the session. Cory fitted me with a pair of shoes and we started the session. During the session Cory found several fit problems, my handle bars were too wide, seat height very low, the reach was wrong, pedal width too narrow. Cory made the adjustments and replaced the bars. The results were amazing. After 2 days of riding on my new set up my knees stopped hearting, my legs felt more relaxed and my comfort level on the bike improved dramatically. I can now use my drops for extended periods of time as well as moving from a seated position to standing and back with relative ease. My only regret is that I didn’t sign up for the fit session before I purchased my bike. It would have saved me time, money and made my time on the bike more rewarding. I would recommend this Fit Session for anyone new or old that wants to improve their biking experience.

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A

A Private User

Just bought my first ever road bike from them on monday, i absolutely love the bike, I think the salesman that helped was Steve, very nice guy, listened to all my concerns, which with my budget i had many, they had a great bike with my budget, and i got it, this is not really a reflection of the person helping when i went in monday to actually get my bike that i had bought on fri. they were just really busy, if anything id say they needed some more people working, the lady i cant remember her name now, but she was fitting me to my bike on the trainer, had to keep helping other customers, so im not sure that i really got a true good fitting, but then this being my first road bike maybe i did, i honestly just dont know, i rode the bike just 5 miles the day i got it, and my butt hurt so bad that night i wasnt sure if i even wanted to ever get back on the bike, bought a pair of bike shorts and rode 25 miles today, last 8 miles butt hurt just as bad as the other day, so now im just not sure what to do with it now, maybe i just need a different saddle or better shorts i dont know going in tomorrow to ask for advice. anyway is this lack of my experience with road bikes. or does the bike just not fit me right, also had alot of neck pain last half the ride today also, i think the employees were great, just understaffed to give each customer full attention. and spending nearly 800 bucks is a huge deal for someone as myself, i now have a bike worth more than my truck, lol anyway none the less im a lifetime customer on employees being great people in general.

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KY

Kyle Ripley

Yesterday was the first time that I had been in Village Bike since before they moved from their location a little further South on Plainfield. I had purchased all of my childhood bikes there and have always thought of it as my fallback bike shop. Yesterday was the last time I will every go to Village Bike. I was working on (and have completed) a low budget single-speed conversion on my 1980 Schwinn World Tour. I went into Village to talk to them about some parts I needed and to hopefully purchase them. I went in with high spirits, hoping to learn some stuff. I shared with the saleswomen that I didnt know that much about bike repair and was learning but was really enjoying the process. She responded by SPEAKING DOWN to me and my friend who was with me. She acted as though this project WASNT WORTH HER TIME TO HELP ME. She was disrespectful and SHE INSULTED both my friend and I and our bikes (which were admittedly inexpensive oldies to begin with). So much for my home friendly neighborhood bike shop. I was headed there to spend my birthday cash, but instead spent it at Freewheeler on West Leonard (which is where Ill be going from here on out.) She called us "crazy downtown hipsters, always trying to do this stuff to your bikes cause its trendy." Just so you know Village Bike Shop-- I lived on the Northeast side before you did. I grew up here, not downtown.

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NI

Nick Looman

My friend and I were are working on some low $ conversions. We decided to stop by Village Bike because it was nearby and we read good reviews. Neither of us are engineers and we were hoping to ask questions, learn about our projects, and buy the parts we need. We had cash in hand and told the associate we were buying parts. The female associate who assisted us decided it would be a good idea to MOCK us, LAUGH at us, call our equipment CHEAP, call us "CRAZY DOWNTOWN HIPSTERS" (neither of are look "hipster" or live downtown"). She commented to my friend, you want you ride to look good but you are using THAT frame? insinuating that until we got a higher quality frame we shouldnt bother with their parts. We eventually said, "Alright, you realize we are hear to spend money at your store, right?" and she quieted down. Still- I couldnt believe someone would demean us like that. Turns out they could order the stuff we wanted (about $350 worth) but had NONE in stock. Michael, the bike tech (who was a FANTASTIC HELP!) suggested we try Freewheeler on Leonard. We did. Freewheeler had everything in stock AND treated us like valued customers. I will not be patronizing Village Bike EVER AGAIN

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MA

Mark Lorenz

Ive used a number of the bike shops in Grand Rapids and dont have negative comments about any of them. Village Bike Shop on Plainfield however stands out to me as one of the most professional and friendly shops in the area. They always greet you right away; theyre always helpful, friendly, and knowledgeable. Ive used them for parts, gear, apparel, and for repair. What prompted me to write a review of is shop was the extra effort that Seth gave in getting me an extra padded liner for my helmet. I told him as I was buying a new helmet (almost just in passing) that it would be nice to have an extra liner for when the original one needed to be washed. I didnt make a big deal about it, but a day or two later Seth sent me an email following up with me. He called the manufacturer of my helmet to ask them about it. Apparently, they don’t package them for sale as a separate accessory, so one was pulled out of production and sent it to the bike shop for me. To me, great service is little things like this.

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