Small shop with individual attention, I went here because they had used bikes and of course ended up buying a new one and a bunch of gear. Big plus for this shop- if you buy a kid's bike and want to trade up they will give you 1/2 price of old bike( trade in)towards new bike. A customer there before me(ungainly out of shape guy, 50" waistband and blue tooth) occupied the full attention of the young gearhead clerk, to the extent that we languished about 10 minutes and showed ourselves around in the cramped space. Finally a tall big guy (five kids he said) who may be the owner found his way out of the repair section of the shop and was quite solicitous (had kids pick out helmets and fitted them), though he continued to interrupt himself and wait on other customers and answer questions, whilst bluetooth guy- who bought nothing after his 45 minute discussion but must have been a big fish- got 1 on 1 time the entire visit. We were direct and to the point, and the only people making a purchase that day as far as I saw, but again there were many interruptions and I got the feeling that our business- buying a $300 kids' bike- was not as thrilling as talking bike shop with various aging males. The end result is that I spent 50 minutes in the shop where I could have spent 15, and wanted my time back. I politely advised the owner of this discrepancy in service (when he reappeared after the third interruption from the back) and he was kind enough to throw in the kickstand, water bottle cage and water bottle, and profusely apologized. He may possibly have ADD, which would explain some of it, but his behavior was echoed by the junior clerk who did the exact same thing when we were passed off to him at various points. I guess part of my ire stems from years of being treated (what I feel is) as a second class citizen or being patronized in certain more male-dominated environments such as auto repair shops. I am sister of 4 brothers, the happy mother of 5 sons and have worked in all-male settings, so I have absolutely no problem with guys and get along well with them. I myself have had jobs in a service/retail setting in the past and would never treat say, a senior customer differently than a youngster other than perhaps adjusting my pitch/volume or language to be appropriate to what they expect. I just wish more/most clerks in such settings would act as if middle-aged women were real people who are worthwhile spending time on, too. I would attribute this service defect to poor parenting, but it could be modified by training on the part of shop owners. read more

I am pretty fussy when it comes to the work done on my bikes but I have to say that I was pleasantly surprised when I had my cyclocross bike worked on by the mechanics at Alternative Bike Shop. A friend referred me to them and I wasn't sure how they would do, being a smaller shop. But I was greeted by Vinny who walked through my list of repairs and told me it would be ready later in the week, which it was. He even called to let me know it was ready. I had a lot of work done but the price was as reasonable as I've seen. He could have skimped on a couple of things but they returned the bike having done an A+ job and the bike works almost as good as new. These guys are very friendly and really seek to understand your needs. read more

I attended this shop to buy my first serious road bicycle as a teenager who was just old enough to drive a car. I went in knowing what I wanted, and ended up chatting with the owner who steered me in a slightly different direction. In hindsight, he didn't do me any better by his consultation and I should have stuck with what I wanted, but it wasn't as if he completely led me astray either. Fast forward a couple months, and I had knocked the wheels slightly out of true (cheapo starter wheels), the handlebars were wobbling a little, and I had a couple questions about adjusting the cables overall and tire pressure. I wanted my bike to get the tuneup so I could learn how to true my own wheels from ground zero, a little at a time, rather than try to fix them after they had taken a bit of a beating. I get to the shop, and an older mechanic checks me in. I was expecting to pay for the tuneup, but he tells me since I bought it there recently and it was its first tuneup, and I was a polite kid, that he'd just bill it under the "Free 30 day tuneup" deal even though it was beyond the time frame by a month or so. I was quite thankful and chatted with him for a bit before I left. After not hearing anything for a few business days, I called the shop when I had a free afternoon to see if it was ready. I was told it would be ready anytime after 3PM. I drove from MA to Manchester to pick it up, and when I got there the owner was behind the counter and asked if he could help me (remembering who I was when he sold the bike to me). I explained I was told my bike was here for a tune up and would be ready anytime after 3PM, and he said okay, I'll ring you up. At this point I mentioned passively, and politely, not expecting any issue whatsoever, that a mechanic had written me a receipt for the free 30 day tuneup and there was no charge. The owner slumped his hands at his side, glanced at me, and told me, "you're not within the 30 day window." I then described the man who rang me up, and he cut me off and said, "Yes, I know who he is. Let me see the receipt." I showed it to him and he reluctantly said, "how about we split it?" I was a timid kid, and did not want any confrontation whatsoever, so I just said okay and paid for half of it (I shouldn't have in hindsight). Then, and worst part, he goes in the back and says, "is this yours?" I told him it was my bike, and he nervously said, "they said after 3PM?" I told him yes. He then says, "Well, I'm kind of anal about these things, let me do a couple more things to it." At this point, I see him wiggle the handlebars that hadn't been fixed, start adjusting the gears, and he goes in the back of the shop and swaps out my brand new seat for a used one because the seat I had was, "not as nice and this new one will be much more comfortable." I wasn't sure whether he was actually picky, or they didn't do any work. As I mentioned above, I was a timid kid, and I was already upset over paying for the tuneup, I just wanted to get out of there. He finishes putting the "last touches" on my bike (tightening handlebars, adjusting gears, etc..), and I leave the shop somewhat upset. I get back home and find out the wheels are still severely out of true (they weren't fixed), nothing was oiled, nothing was cleaned, and all the repairs that had been done to it were done by him right after he rung me up. On top of that, he didn't give me my original seat back, and the new one was used with all the lettering worn off. He essentially charged me for what I was told, and rung up for, was a free tuneup, and they hadn't even performed any work on the bike. I honestly couldn't believe it. I wrote a scathing review and letter, and decided not to send it and instead chose to passively rectify the situation by never patronizing the business again. I didn't submit this review online for a "cool off" period because I didn't want to come off as harsh, but after some time I've remembered the review and figured it should be shared. read more