Holts Cycles

the best bike shop ever

Great bike shop, really good prices on tyres and tubes

Good people, fair price, but job wasn't right.

I took my bike in for some work on the driveline. They were busy (they get a lot of business by word of mouth and reputation through Rolls-Royce nearby). The staff are friendly and knowledgeable. Also, they quoted me a price up-front, and delivered the job for less despite it turning out to be quite a difficult job - apparently nothing disassembled as easily as it should have.

However, there were some negatives too. We'd agreed the bike would be ready for Saturday morning, so I walked to work all week. It's a seven-mile round trip, so I gave them a ring on Friday afternoon to check if it had been finished early. At least, I tried to, calling at half-hour intervals - even if I let it ring twenty or more times, nobody answered. In the end, I made the detour to check - no. The bike was on the stand but hadn't been done - "he's just doing it now, it'll be done in the morning."

Come the Saturday morning, I walked over - not finished, so we agreed for the Tuesday (Monday was a bank holiday). Happily, it was actually finished mid-afternoon on the Saturday, as I found when I was passing and dropped in. Unfortunately, the ride home revealed that they'd added a link into the chain, presumably having cut the chain to remove it, and the replacement link was badly installed and kept locking up rigidly and causing the chain to skip.

So - plus points - good people, good price - I didn't feel they were just after my money.
Minus points - they were no faster than they said they would be, and the bike came back with a fault it hadn't had when it went in.

I really wish I could give a fully positive review as they're likeable guys and have a good reputation. I guess things just don't go right every time.

Ive been using holts since my bmx days in the early eighties and Ive never had a bad job or advice. Great prices and great service from a proper traditional bike shop.... just as it should be!!!

Great place for getting your bike fixed. I've used them for numerous different jobs, truing wheels, replacing bottom bracket etc and they've always done a good job and reasonably priced. Not so much choice for buying components, only a small shop after all.

Absolutely appalling service. Left my bike in a completely unrideable state and charged way over the odds for work before i'd even agreed to it.

I asked him to take a look at my chainrings/cassette and to give me a call to tell me how how any work was going to cost before he did anything. He hadn't called by the end of the day so i called him. He had already done the work, putting components on that i didn't want. He then charged me £100 for parts that cost about £45 off Chain Reaction cycles/online shops. I don't mind paying a little more in a LBS - but the minimum you expect in exchange for this is decent service.

The following day i took my bike out, gear indexing was all massively out, chain was slipping everytime i put any power through the pedals, and the chain was about 4 links too long. He's left the bike in a completely unrideable state.

Returned the bike to the shop - and he flat out refused to fix his mistakes.

They can't even put a new chain on properly, I'm not sure i'd even trust them with fixing a puncture.

DO NOT USE!!! AVOID AT ALL COSTS!

AVOID this place at all costs!. (RUINED MY GOOD BIKE AND CHARGED ME FOR IT) Dropped bike off as back disc brakes needed sorting, they weren't working at all. They bled them and charged me 25 pounds, although brakes felt exactly the same. Then when I asked them to look at it they said that's the best they can do and what I was asking was impossible. After i got home and then started doing the job myself i noticed there was paint over everything. They left brake fluid over the entire caliper. New slx caliper now looks rubish with all the paint stripped...

Worst customer service ever.... and useless mechanical skills

Always been helpful and polite. We go here every time we need something for our bikes.