Best Bike shop and why

mickbyrne

Where do you think is the best bike shop and why?

Niall06

Best shop to buy gear is Cotters @ Ballymount.
You have to look around and search boxes but the prices are well worth the search.

AGVSport Textile jacket €75 & Richa Textile pants €40 are examples.

For buying bikes, not had dealings with many but found Paul Ryan @ JFK good.

Shop to avoid for buying bikes, Motomax:mad:

Idleater

mickbyrne wrote:

Where do you think is the best bike shop and why?

Fleabay is great for accessories.
For clothing, I think it would have to be something like the NEC Bike Show.

For bikes themselves, if buying new, I think pretty much all the shops are the same, and if you are buying second hand, I have no idea.

L.

Bradidup

Aldi & Lidl. Dirt cheap!! :eek:

murphaph

For buying used bikes eBay is great. Anything in the north of England is 'get-back-able' in one day. Even with just a few days advance booking you can get a 06.30 flight into Manchester for a fiver (probably because BOTH AL and Ryanair fly at the same time to there!) and the train station in the airport has direct connections to most places in about 1 hour or so. Sheffield is easily doable (from experience), so anywhere west of there (Leeds, Manchester, Liverpool and all points in between) can be reached fairly easily for about £15. The ride back will easily drop you in Holyhead for the 15.30 sailing or even earlier in the case of a purchase in or around Liverpool. Ferry is about £40 turn up and go fare and there's always spaces for bikes. The additional costs (airfare, train, fuel, ferry and VRT) still make the bikes better value. They are still cheaper than the junk here and because they need to pass an MOT they actually tend to look after their bikes over there. I wouldn't buy a used bike in Ireland ever again.

galwaytt

murphaph wrote:

They are still cheaper than the junk here and because they need to pass an MOT they actually tend to look after their bikes over there. I wouldn't buy a used bike in Ireland ever again.

careful with that stone, this is a small glasshouse.............:rolleyes: :rolleyes: so, when you're finished with your used bike, we can file that under 'junk' too??

When you consider the sheer no of imported bikes here, the junk statement is rather sweeping. And the MOT I'm afraid, no more than our beloved NCT, is no holy grail, either. I bought two bikes over the years in the UK with new MOT's, one from a police officer , and I wouldn't certify it to cross the road. Stripped threads on caliper body for mounting bolts :eek: :eek: ?? Don't even get me started on the salt corrosion underneath all the plastic, once the fairing was removed.....

I bought my first bike in Ireland in 10 years, here lately, and the experience was on no less a par with any I've had abroad. I even got 3 test rides

Wossack

aye, the salt on the roads in the uk is a bike-killer

Noelie

Niall06 wrote:

Shop to avoid for buying bikes, Motomax:mad:

I'll Agree with this, I bought my CBR 250 from them and had it back every week or 2 for the first 6 months I had it. The thing even went up on fire when i was riding it.

Then i brought it down for some repairs and was told I needed a new Head Steering Bearing, quoted me 335 to fix it. I brought the bike to another garage and was told the Bearing was fine, but one of the seals on the forks was gone and that was the problem.

mikemac

Another shop to avoid, Plant Fun, Glasnevin.

Messed me around (small claims court pending) and also they are being investigated by the Criminal Assets Bureau.
Innocent until proven guilty, but it doesn’t look good and it’s enough reason for me to never deal with them

Luckycharm

Delaneys Harolds cross bridge, family business for over 80yrs don't rip you off - would not go anywhere else.

murphaph

galwaytt wrote:

careful with that stone, this is a small glasshouse.............:rolleyes: :rolleyes: so, when you're finished with your used bike, we can file that under 'junk' too??

When you consider the sheer no of imported bikes here, the junk statement is rather sweeping. And the MOT I'm afraid, no more than our beloved NCT, is no holy grail, either. I bought two bikes over the years in the UK with new MOT's, one from a police officer , and I wouldn't certify it to cross the road. Stripped threads on caliper body for mounting bolts :eek: :eek: ?? Don't even get me started on the salt corrosion underneath all the plastic, once the fairing was removed.....

I bought my first bike in Ireland in 10 years, here lately, and the experience was on no less a par with any I've had abroad. I even got 3 test rides

All fair points but just look at the rubbish that costs 2 grand in any dealer. Private sales not much better. The MOT at least tests things like fork seals however. I just find that the bikes there are better, presumably the cheap insurance means folks don't feel as compelled as they do here to ride year round to get the value out of it. It allows you to summer-bike only as many over there do. Who here would pay 2 grand insurance then leave the bike in the garage for 6 months?

tk123

micmclo wrote:

Another shop to avoid, Plant Fun, Glasnevin.

Messed me around (small claims court pending) and also they are being investigated by the Criminal Assets Bureau.
Innocent until proven guilty, but it doesn’t look good and it’s enough reason for me to never deal with them

I got a good deal of them - maybe they were trying to offload the bike!! :rolleyes: :rolleyes:

galwaytt

murphaph wrote:

All fair points but just look at the rubbish that costs 2 grand in any dealer. Private sales not much better. The MOT at least tests things like fork seals however. I just find that the bikes there are better, presumably the cheap insurance means folks don't feel as compelled as they do here to ride year round to get the value out of it. It allows you to summer-bike only as many over there do. Who here would pay 2 grand insurance then leave the bike in the garage for 6 months?

I hear ya, but 2k is nothing for a bike, so you shouldn't expect much anyway. Forkseals and the like (steering head bearings etc) are cheap to do anyway, it's the fundamentals that need to be right - all else is just a serviceable part. I'd argue you'd want to change them on a 2k bike anyway....

BTW, BikeTech Galway get my vote. A certain other glass-fronted shop on the Long Mile Road does NOT !

murphaph

Well i don't be spendin any more than that sort of dough as i only ride 15 yo machines that fall under my classic policy. Not many 'normal' 15 yo machines cost much more than 2k (on eBay).

murphaph

Of course another advantage to fleabay is the sheer choice. I wanted a TDM850 last year. I got one on enay but try pickin up a mk I TDM here-no chance, never see them even advertised. Same goes for a lot of bikes.

galwaytt

murphaph wrote:

Of course another advantage to fleabay is the sheer choice. I wanted a TDM850 last year. I got one on enay but try pickin up a mk I TDM here-no chance, never see them even advertised. Same goes for a lot of bikes.

ye need to start looking outside the Pale, lads 2 sold in Galway in the last 2 months..........1 a minter.........for 2.5k

murphaph

.....but i got my 20,000 mile (with mot reports from its whole life to verify) minter (spotless, not a scratch on it....then) for €1500 inc Krauser top box, high quality weatherwacker cover, haynes manual and all associated costs (flight to MAN, train to sheffield, taxi to sellers house, fuel to Holyhead, ferry fare and VRT & years tax). Out of interest galwaytt, what colour and year was the minter in Galway? any idea of mileage?

galwaytt

not sure of the reg, but it was a Mk1, 7k kms, red/black, bog standard......