Spa Cycles - Excellent Service

HebdenBiker

I'm building up a new tourer-commuter-type-bike, but I don't really know what I'm doing. I needed a load of new parts, but wasn't sure about things like BB width, front mech band size, etc. The Friday before last, I left Bradford at 3:30 to drive the 20 miles to Spa Cycles in Harrogate, with my frame in the boot. Little did I know it would take me almost two hours to get there, and I arrived at 5:25, just as they were closing. Andy was behind the counter:

Me: "Hi. I need a load of parts but it's just taken me two hours to get here."
Andy [rolls his eyes] "OK tell me what you need."

Not only did Andy stay open for 25 minutes, on a sunny Friday afternoon, to get me all the parts I needed, he also took the time to fit my BB, cranks and cassette, free of charge and without me having to ask.

Andy is a "no-nonsense" type of guy and if you're looking fawning politeness then you won't get it. But what you will get is a personal service that is way, way beyond expectations. Spa Cycles are just a load of bike nuts rattling around an industrial unit. Sometimes it can be a bit chaotic in there, like the head doesn't know what the tail is doing, but fundamentally they are a bunch of decent blokes who go out of their way for their customers. They have earned my loyalty.

Manc33

Old thread but yeah, I remember my dad buying a touring bike (Harry Hall) about 25 years ago and having to get some of the parts from Spa Cycles because nowhere else stocked them. Fast forward to 2014 and I am buying stuff from there myself for pretty much the same reason.

mroli

Yeah - they've always appeared to be a "proper" bike shop with bits that you can't get elsewhere. I bought some panniers from them once and they were short of a couple of fixings. I bodged a solution for that day and Spa sent the fittings to my first overnight stop by guaranteed before 9 delivery so I'd have them the next day (and they came up with that solution).