Aberdeen cycle shops...

hopper1

I often have a few hours to burn in Aberdeen, while waiting for a flight home, aside from Edinburgh Cycle Coop, are there any 'good' bike shops for me to trawl....?

The Mechanic

Alpine Bikes in Holburn Street is OK. Better than EBC iIMHO. That's the lot in Aberdeen, unless you include Halfolds..no, thought not.

Anonymous

There is now Holburn Cycles also on Holburn Street. They are a small independant shop with a tendancy toward road bikes. I find the guys very helpful although slighty arrogant and very patronising. I cycle for fitness only and do in excess of 200m per week so I wanted soemthing light and reliable. They kept telling me I didnt need a good road bike i.e over £650 as I was not good enough. I was told I needed Tiagra groupset at best not 105. Then went on to try and sell me a carbon bike worth £2500. Needless to say I bought a bike from another LBS.

Ok for quick repairs but not for anything major, I think they would try and rip you off. eg

Q I asked how much it would be to index rear mech,
A. As much as I can get out of you ha ha ha. £12.50 but might need a new chain, cassette etc etc

Aslo phone before you take the time to go there as very often they are closed during "opening hours"

Aggieboy

hopper1 wrote:

I often have a few hours to burn in Aberdeen, while waiting for a flight home, aside from Edinburgh Cycle Coop, are there any 'good' bike shops for me to trawl....?

When's that!!!?

hopper1

Another week, yet!
My God, this is an old thread... :shock:

-spider-

What's up with old Fred? (possibly misread)

pneumatic

thunderflash55 wrote:

I cycle for fitness only and do in excess of 200m per week

If I only cycled 200 metres per week, I think my LBS would probably fall about laughing and rub their hands, too!

Anonymous

oops yeah that will be erm Miles not Meters :roll:

aberdeen_lune

I find Holburn Cycles to be a great little bike shop. I got them to build up a fixed wheel bike for me at a great price using some components I had and some they supplied. The bikes been riding like a dream alll winter also bought a high end road bike from them top quality top service. I would recommend them its great to have a small independant bike shop in Aberdeen catering for roadies and selling Colnagos, Orbeas & Massi bikes.

Anonymous

Aberdeen_lune wrote:

I find Holburn Cycles to be a great little bike shop. I got them to build up a fixed wheel bike for me at a great price using some components I had and some they supplied. The bikes been riding like a dream alll winter also bought a high end road bike from them top quality top service. I would recommend them its great to have a small independant bike shop in Aberdeen catering for roadies and selling Colnagos, Orbeas & Massi bikes.

Yes I agree it is great to have a small independent bike shop in Aberdeen. It is ok if you know what you want but as I was moving from a mountain bike to a road bike I wasn't sure what the group sets were or anything. I went in looking to spend £1000 on a road bike and had about £500 for pedals, shoes etc

I was going to buy an Orbea that was almost a grand but he was adamant that I should get the £650 Orbea and then upgrade the group set later. I wanted the good group set to begin with so I wouldn't have to worry about upgrading later. I just felt he was trying to bleed more money from me.

In the end it was his continual "you don't need a good group set, dont need a good bike, not good enough, not enough torque in the legs" crap that put me off. He has no idea how strong a rider I am or how I ride. Was out with a club on Sunday for the 1st time and kept up no problem for over 80 miles. Average speed of 19mph. Which btw he said I would be lucky to break 15mph.

So good shop but just needs to shhh

aberdeen_lune

Hope you keep the cycling up Thunderflash looks like your off to a good start. I can only tell you I've had good service in Holburn cycles and would recommend the shop. At the end of the day I like you make my own mind up about what I buy. Maybe they were trying to save you some money by recommending the cheaper bike which is refreshing these days when retailers often try to get as much money as they can off you.

Anyway keep the cycling up and maybe see you about on the Aberdeenshire roads.

Anonymous

Aberdeen_lune wrote:

Hope you keep the cycling up Thunderflash looks like your off to a good start. I can only tell you I've had good service in Holburn cycles and would recommend the shop. At the end of the day I like you make my own mind up about what I buy. Maybe they were trying to save you some money by recommending the cheaper bike which is refreshing these days when retailers often try to get as much money as they can off you.

Anyway keep the cycling up and maybe see you about on the Aberdeenshire roads.

Yeah maybe he was trying to save me money but it is my money and you would think he would want it The only thing I will be using them for is repairs. Can get a service within a week there and he is a good mechanic. The other shops are anything between 4-6 weeks to get anything looked at and I am not so sure of there standards. I wont be needing another bike for a few years hopefully, and any accessories he sells are a lot dearer than the web (eg 2 x GP4000s tyres from Holburn Cycles = £75, Got them from Ribble with tubes for £52) . But if I am desperate on a Saturday and need something for a Sunday ride then he might get my trade

I pretty much live on the NDR just now due to weather so if you are on that road between Aberdeen And Ballater then you may well see me

Spender45

+1 for getting a good service from Holburn.

I read this forum but haven't joined before however as a point of balance from TF55s experience I have to say that the service from Holburn Cycles I got was very good.

I ended up buying an Orbea road bike from my son there rather than going down the cheaper option of buying from the internet. This week the owner gave me a set of rollers to try out with no pressure to buy from him afterwards (altough I enjoyed using them so I might)

I often pop over for a chat and the owner has time to discuss bikey things with me.

I know he has to do the school run so I guess he has a work/life balance issues to contend with, which may be why he wasn’t open when you went round (3pm - 3.3pm ish) Personally I would love to pick my kids up from school instead of sitting in this office, but it pays for my carbon/titanium addiction.

If you have time, there are some more bike shops in the towns around Aberdeen which are very good- Inverurie, Banchory and (a bit further afield) Arbroath have some very good bike shops which cater for roadies and I’ve spent many an hour perusing the goodies there.

TF55 what club did you join?

Anonymous

I'm glad you have had good service Spender45, maybe I just caught him on bad days or we have a personality clash or something. The times I was going in by and he was closed was mainly between 10 and 11am.

I haven't joined a club yet, just out on a ride with club members to see if it is for me. Not sure what I am looking for in a club, Just company and fresh routes I think. My fitness is probably not up to scratch for any competitive riding this next year. Are you in a club? recommend any for my needs?

eh

How far down Holburn street are we talking? I know where Alpine bikes is, but I haven't been down Holburn street for a good while. However, I need some new road brake blocks so wouldn't mind having a look in a different shop for a change.

Anonymous

eh wrote:

How far down Holburn street are we talking? I know where Alpine bikes is, but I haven't been down Holburn street for a good while. However, I need some new road brake blocks so wouldn't mind having a look in a different shop for a change.

From Union St, go down past Alpine bikes, Across Gt Western Road past Everest Technology (Great shop for PC Spares and cheap software ), down to almost holburn junction. Same side of road as Alpine Bikes

Spender45

It's directly over the road from Talisman's office - give me a wave

Hi-jacking the thread a bit. the main road clubs in Aberdeen are Deeside Thistle, Aberdeen wheelers, and Granite City RT. however the best local club is Ythan CC.

If your are out the Deeside Road then I guess you would probably be best to sticking with second best and joining DT

eh

Cool will have to pay a visit.

Deeside have a decent website with Forum

http://www.deeside.org/

(NB: I'm not a member so can't give anymore info)

Spender45

Or you could go to the forum that most people in Aberdeenshire go to:

ythancc.org.uk

If you want any more info then pm me.

Mic_Waka

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Anonymous

Mic_Waka wrote:

To th55 I think you maybe caught the guys on a bad day or you have some attitude prob or something, because you really can't fault there service. And you may well pay less online shopping but you really need to start supporting your LBS because if you don't then there wont be any in a few years time. Then where would you go for your services and repairs?

Not me with the attitude problem, and I will stick to buying online thanks. Save a fortune and get good gear. And where will I go for repairs when they close? Erm get a Park tools book or buy a car

Mic_Waka

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Anonymous

After your comments? Hmmm no! I will be in the Banchory Cycles store tomorrow though (same owners/ chain?) to get something that broke today and I need for a club ride tomorrow (Aberdeen Wheelers btw). And fyi I have written nothing bad about Banchory Cycles, one of the best independent bike shops in the NE.

And that is that don't anyone try and drag me back to this thread as I won't be looking anymore. I made a simple honest comment and was only expressing my opinions.

The end

Angus444

Spender45 wrote:

+1 for getting a good service from Holburn.

I read this forum but haven't joined before however as a point of balance from TF55s experience I have to say that the service from Holburn Cycles I got was very good.

I ended up buying an Orbea road bike from my son there rather than going down the cheaper option of buying from the internet. This week the owner gave me a set of rollers to try out with no pressure to buy from him afterwards (altough I enjoyed using them so I might)

I often pop over for a chat and the owner has time to discuss bikey things with me.

I know he has to do the school run so I guess he has a work/life balance issues to contend with, which may be why he wasn’t open when you went round (3pm - 3.3pm ish) Personally I would love to pick my kids up from school instead of sitting in this office, but it pays for my carbon/titanium addiction.

If you have time, there are some more bike shops in the towns around Aberdeen which are very good- Inverurie, Banchory and (a bit further afield) Arbroath have some very good bike shops which cater for roadies and I’ve spent many an hour perusing the goodies there.

TF55 what club did you join?

+1 Spender Chris at CycleWorld, and Steve at Angus Bike Chain are good blokes, with a wealth of info, and time for a yap about bikey stuff. Decent prices too.

Anonymous

Never been as far afield as Arbroath, might check them out when I'm down next. Was in Banchory Cycles today with the Mrs just after 10, Find the owner very helpful. Some nice Cubes hanging there too. Going to give Holburn another try tomorrow incognito of course

eskimo Joe

2nd Angus bikechain in Arboath , only recently started using them and am happy to go back . Also Nicholsons in Dundee is another good shop further south.

Michelle_Sco

Due to an accident I was looking for a new road bike with a nice fat insurance cheque. I spent 2 days going round Aberdeens bike shops.

1st I am a 5' 10" female and always find female road bikes a bit uncomfortable, so my plan was to look around the shops with £2000 to spend on a male orientated complete bike.

Edinburgh Bikes was first: Found their staff to be very lazy and not really want to help me, I sat on a few bikes and it seemed if I could reach the handlebar and keep my butt on the saddle that was the correct fit for me so they recommended a Tarmac Elite 2010 in a 49cm frame. I didn't tell them that that was the bike I had crashed (2009 model) and it was a 52cm and fitted perfect. I also sat on the next model up and it was a 54cm and they also said "perfect fit".

Alpine Bikes was next: I didn't really get grabbed by any of the treks etc on offer in Alpine and the range of accessories was poor.

Holburn Cycles was the last shop to check in Aberdeen and I was really excited to go there as I had heard they had Colnago, Massi and Orbeas amongst others. When I got there I was severely disappointed. There was 4 Orbea road bikes hanging up, none of which grabbed my attention enough. On the other wall I think it was a Massi carbon frame and a colnago carbon frame both well over my budget for a complete build. So basically there is sub £1000 bikes or £3000+ bikes and not a lot in between. Fair enough I probably could have ordered something but tbh I have to agree with th55 in that the guy in store Steve was a bit patronizing and he kept looking at places I would rather he didn't. Another thing is he sells the top end bikes but the accessories were the very bottom of the ranges. A bit like the bargain stuff you get in Halfords.

In the end I ended up going to Ballater and got myself a lovely Cervelo Great service from the guys there, good range of bikes and accessories and I will also be going there for my services from now on. Half the price of Aberdeen!!

NSeven

I phoned Holburn Cycles to enquire about getting a disk removed from by Hope Big Un hub as i did not have my torx screwdriver set down with me from The Bike Shop in Thurso... I told the guy that the job would have taken 30 seconds to remove and i could have done it myself if they had let me. But i was asked to buy a screwdriver as they dont do bills for 30 second jobs. What a bunch of money grabbing people.. no community spirit. I will not be recommending them and they have lost me and all my friends as customers.

Slapshot

I've only been into Holburn once, it was enough. I don't like being patronised and I didn't like the smug attitude. The guy in Banchory is better and I've heard more good things about the shop in Ballater.

Problem is it won't matter what a few folk think, he'll still make his money because he has a niche market in Aberdeen and a close core of customers.

fortbing

I have been using Holburn cycles for several months now, really since their opening and have found them extremely reliable and sound information on the type of bike. I got fitted up through the use of their bike fit mechanism and the new bike fitted to my cycling stance. Not once did I think these guys were arrogant or patronising just open and honest. They'll repair any bike and and do servicing of bike including bikes the other LSB are too frightend to touch. All you need to do is look what bikes are on the stands. Yea, I'm a hard core xc rider, and their clients include some amazing cyclists. all you have to do is look at there facebook page and see who visits. Well experienced cy-tech cyclists. Oh yea, had my bike prepped for the puffer - really sweet - dropped of in the morning and called just after lunch advising to collect. I believe this is there philosophy, bike serviced and repaired by end of daily business even if they have to work late. rock on boys!

Michelle_Sco

Good for you fortbing.

I have been in 3 times now and each time I have walked out without buying anything. I found them very patronizing I'm afraid. They are expensive compared to the web which is fair enough if you are in a hurry and it is good to support your local bike shop. I was quoted £90 for a strip down service which is in line with most other shops. However I got a full strip down service at Bike Station in Ballater for £33. They can even take your bike to and from Aberdeen for no extra cost AND they do an excellent job.

A freind of mine went for a "bike fitting" it was a joke. He paid £30 and upon arrival his bike was fitted to a turbo and they set him on a Tour de France climb, alp de heuz is it? Something like that anyway. He spent 90 % of the time out of the saddle and all they tried to do was see if he could make it up the mountain. At the end they recommended a longer stem but didn't change or check saddle height, angle or distance.

Oh and the are not cytech qualified mechanics just cytech health and safety qualified. Means they can use cytech name but that's about all. I'm sure they are good enough mechanics without that though.

Another thing, all lbs in Aberdeen will tackle any kind of bike so it's not limited to Holburn. Edinburgh bikes did fly 1974 Flying Scot and Holburn said I would need to change so many things but I managed to get all original kit fitted.

And lastly, post something on their facebook page that they don't like even slightly and it gets promptly deleted so all you see is positives.

Glad you good times with them but go to any other bike shop or speak to some other cyclists and you will soon hear how people are finding the shop, I havnt heard a good word tbh. And Steve the main guy seems to be to blame. Oh and I passed there several times today and they were closed, as per usual really.