Bike Barn - West University

Reviews 4

JA

Jamil Afza

My experience with Bike Barn started well but ended poorly. During my initial visit to do some research the sales person was very friendly, patient, and informative. I didnt feel like they just tried to sell me the most expensive bike they thought I could afford. After about a week when I went in to a buy a bike, is when it all started to go downhill. I went in and ordered the bike I wanted and put down my 50% deposit and was told 7-10 business days. No problem. After 7 days, I called to see if the bike was in and they advised it was so I rushed down to the store to pick it up, only to be told there was a mistake and it wasnt there. In fact, the bike that I "ordered" had not actually been ordered. This is scary because I wonder had I not called in, how much time would have passed before this would have been caught. Due to the model year turning over, the bike I wanted was no longer available at all. This whole process took about an hour to sort through. They ended up ordering me the same bike in a newer model, which is kind of cool, but the new year didnt have a carbon fork. Based on all this the manager advised once the bike comes in hell try to make things right, which sounded cool. When I went to pick up the bike, the associate was juggling me and another customer which ended up taking a good bit of time. I had scoped out some pedals I had hoped to get a discount on to make up for the errors, but was disappointed to be told the most they could do at all was 10% off, which is the same discount my wife received when she bought her bike hassle free. The price of the pedals were significantly above that on Amazon so even getting close I am sure would not have blown their profitability as a whole, since there was no discount on the bike. At the end I got a free water bottle cage. Yay... It was disappointing to see the sales experience to be positive but the execution to be so poor. I am in the process of upgrading already, and have become a convert to West End Cycles.

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A

A Private User

I would not recommend this store. I went in there over the weekend to buy a pair of spinning shoes. There were 2 staff members standing behind the counter but wouldnt do anything until I came over to ask for help. The guy was very aggressive and was very disapproving of me choosing a pair of road shoes that were NOT designed for spinning. He kept saying how the road shoes w/out the pontoons around the cleats will cause me me to fall and hurt myself if I try to walk around w./ the shoes on, although I told him that I will change shoes at the bike. Like a previous poster, I had to pay an extra $10 for them to install the cleats. He wasnt too pleased when I asked if the store had a bike set up where I could test my shoes and cleats and grudgingly agreed to do so. He then came back and told me that I had to wait at least 20 minutes for the maintenance guys to set up since there were other customers ahead of me. That seemed reasonable and I was also looking to try on some biking shorts. After 20 I came over to the maintenance desk and asked if my test bike was ready. The maintenance guy was really surprised and it was very obvious that nothing was being done. He promised to look into it and after another 10, I saw that John, my "aggressive" sale guy, was setting up the bike for my test spin! Obviously, John wasnt too keen on providing the services and was more than happy to give me the runaround. At the end of the day, I spent close to $180 on a pair of shoes and shorts at the store but left with a bad taste in the mouth regarding my customer service experience. Needless to say, Bike Barn would not get a single dime of my money again.

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A

A Private User

I decided to get a "decent" bike to commute to work instead of getting a cheap bike from target or wallmark. I thought i was going to have less problems that way. I was wrong. I went to bikebarn, the one in Kirby. I ended up getting a trek 7.2. They do a tune up of the machine (or thats what they say) when you buy one. When I ride the bike the first time I noticed some problems. The seat had loose screws so it was moving while ridding. The front break was making a terrible noise. And after one mile, the back tire was completely flat. I thought, well, it happens. I took it to bikebarn and they fixed the seat and the flat tire. They said the fixed the front break but they didnt. Actually the guy there told me, you just have to ride a little bit and the noise will go away. I thought well lets give it a try. I took the bike two more times and the front break was still making a very annoying noise. Finally, I took it to the 90 days tune up. Instead of keeping the bike, the guy told me he could take care of it right away. I specifically told him about the front break. After 30min, he gave me the bike back, I was going to leave the store, and just by pressing the break I heart the annoying noise. I took it right back and the guy made more "changes". The bike seemed to be fine. When I arrived home, I checked the front break. The break was weirdly adjusted, and the "paddle" had a 15 degree angle with the rims. And this is my story so far with this people. One more thing. I have never written a review, this is my first one. I just felt I had to do something about it.

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A

A Private User

I am new to Houston, and started looking for bike shops online, I want to a couple of smaller stores but I felt a little suffocated (which I didnt mind when I was in my home town and new exactly what I was looking for). The guys there are super friendly. I mainly worked with a guy named Dominic, but everyone in there was very courteous and at now time did I feel any pressure to buy. They didnt try to steer me one way or another towards a particular brand or try to up sell me even after I told them I was willing to spend more. Each one of he employees that I dealt with told me pretty much the same thing when it comes to getting the correct bike, you need to test ride them and figure out which one feels right for you. These guys were very knowledgable about the parts on different bikes and how they compared to parts on other bikes in the same family and in different brands. They were able to do a comparison in their head tell you that this bike has better geometry but this other bike has better shifters but a weaker front fork. Like they said earlier, the best thing to do is test ride and they encourage you to take a bike out for a spin, or in fact several bikes out for a spin (just be sure to bring your ID). It took each bike that I tested out for about 10 minutes. Finnaly I ended up with a Specialized RockHopper 29ner Downside: They didnt have any sales posted (but it is the spring buying season for bikes so wasnt really expecting one)

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