The Bike Station

Went in looking for a second hand rear wheel. I was presented with a filthy and I mean filthy old thing which the lad had pulled out of their stockroom. He said it was £15 handed it to me and went to the till. I spun the wheel to see if it was true and it wasn't. Not only that, the bearings were so badly worn there was a full 2mm of side to side movement in the axle and you could hear the bearings rattling. When I pointed this out I was asked "Do you want it or not?" I said "No" and he just turned away and started chatting to his mate.

Before I was served I had a look around and I've never seen such a load of old junk cobbled together for such high prices. One chap saw I already had a nice bike on the car and asked me if I knew anything about bikes because he didn't and he was trying to get his student daughter a runaround. She was pedalling around the yard on a tatty old mountain bike that couldn't have cost more than £100 ten years ago. The paint was chipped and worn, the wheels didn't match and it had two different and badly worn knobblies on. The chain was a dry as a stick and the seat was ripped. The front forks were very worn and it was filthy. It was clearly too small for her. They were asking £180 for it. I advised them to look on Gumtree.

I have to say I was pretty gobsmacked at the prices they were asking for stuff you would take to the tip.

Poor service. Junk at top dollar. No recognition that you might ruin your clothes by visiting the shop.

Sold a bike with dangerously worn parts

I bought a bike in May 2017 for £200. I explained to the very nice people in the shop how I do a lot of cycling with work (~250 miles per month) and was recommended a ridgeback velocity. It was a little over my budget but I was assured for the miles I wanted to do it was necessary. In August 2017 I took my bike to a local bike shop because the brakes were playing up and I suspected needing new pads. I was not happy to receive a quote for £300 for the work needing doing including replacing both wheels, tyres, cassette and chain. The wheel rims were apparently very dangerously thin, and I was told they must have been that way when I bought it, they could not have got that bad in three months. Not great. I took the bike back to the bike station and they agreed to do most of the work under warranty. Feeling better. Today I get out the bike to find the back tyre totally flat, with air escaping from the valve. Again, back to the bike station who said it was likely a very slow puncture and that's not covered by warranty. Was told the valve was fine. The bike was holding air at this point so I went off again, two mins up the road the tyre is empty again. Having lost all faith in the bike station I returned to my local bike shop. I was told the valve was indeed faulty and investigation showed the new wheel had too narrow a rim tape in so this had caused the inner tube to be punctured. This should have been under warranty from the bike station but I had had such bad luck with them I paid for it to be done at the bike shop.

Overall not a great time. Over the past couple of weeks I have had to take two days off work to get my bike to the bike station in working hours, as well as eventually having to pay for repairs. As someone who is totally ignorant to the world of bikes I put total faith in the bike stations advice and was sold a bike with dangerously worn parts. I might have had a particularly unlucky experience but I will not be using their services again.

Dr Bike popped up at Edinburgh Uni today and gave my bike a once over. He was really friendly and very helpful. I would highly recommend.

A great place to buy a bicycle or to get help fixing your bicycle.

Very helpful!

Four weeks ago I called to plead for some help with a free or discounted bicycle because I was homeless and job seeking, I really needed a basic form of transport - it would of really helped me, I was told by the girl on the call that bike station couldnt help me and that students were a priority for now.

...I even wrote a personal letter and email - I didnt even get a response...I also sent a volunteer application offering my unpaid help, no response either.

That really upset me because I was in such need of a bicycle, i was zero skint ! ..living on food bank and social bite, not to mention i have lower mobility problems, so walking is very hard and painful - cycling not so much, because it takes the pressure off.

Anyway my point is, in the past five years I have donated four bicycles to you and when i needed your help, you ignored me...now I'm trying to get back on my feet, but I won't forget this.

I was really sorry to hear about the fire, my thoughts are with you.

really bad, be careful with your health and safety with this company

Very helpful with a little outdoor section for you to do your own repairs