Bikes On Wheels

Bought a bike here, decent enough service I guess, worked ok & ready when they say.
Prices seem high, got attitude from staff on a few occasions.
This place is convenient because it’s close to work, but I think I’ll be checking out a few bike shops closer to home & use BOW only in emergency when the bike breaks down on the way in.

Excellent courteous service. Fair pricing. Great stock. Even for small quick fixes these guys are always helpful. Book ahead for a tune up though! And they are in a great hood :)

A friend recommended Bikes on Wheels to me.
Really pleased with my experience.
Liam helped me out.
Despite the busy store, he patiently answered my many questions (with no hip bike joint pretension!).
He set me up to test ride several different bikes, which required much digging in basement to find my size. After I chose my bike, he also provided other (cheaper) options to make sure I was happy with my final decision.
Even persuaded shop guys to prep me bike to take home a half-​hour before closing.
Highly recommend.

— Very expensive overall.
— Bad customer service. In some upgrades on a new bike, they charged the whole amount and kept the original parts which I had to claim. That was not the initial deal before giving my credit card (I would pay only the difference in the parts).
— Terrible tune up (included in the guarantee), everything was loose including the handle and they changed parts without advice /​consent. Appointments are useless as they don’t remember them, and they need ²⁴⁄₄₈ hours. Bike not ready in time.
— Terrible experience overall, look anywhere else.

This place has the lousiest customer service.
I had $ 11 credited on my account at BoW from a previous transaction (returned an ABUS lock for a Kryptonite), and I finally had the opportunity to put it to use when my back tire blew today and needed a fix. When I went to collect my bike after work, I told them to use the $ 11 to offset the amount I needed to pay, but was told matter-​of-​factly that there were no records under my name, and therefore, had to pay the full amount. I was too busy to deal with this shit so I just paid and left, but what kind of lousy service is this?
How is it my fault that neither of my previous transactions were recorded? YOUR worker screwed up but I had to pay for his mistake? To, top it all off, there were no apologies offered, and the dude serving me didn’t even look the least bit sorry.
I would not go back even if they paid me. If you still choose to go after this review, consider yourself warned. Their service is the SHIT.

Great customer service. Unlike the many bike shops in Toronto that don’t give you the time of day if you’re new to the culture. Highly recommend going here for all your bike needs and attire. Great find!

I cannot believe how helpful they have been. Initially I was to buy a 2014 Fuji Feather online but it happened to just sell out. It was on a massive discount on it, but to my regret that was the last of the 2014 Feathers that had such large discount. I was pretty sad at that time but Aidan initially offered a small discount for the 2015 Fuji Feather, I had to refuse as it was way out of my budget, but as I told them it was supposed to be my graduation present and it sold out, they offered 100 dollars off my purchase and took it. Very thankful to Aidan and BOW for being so kind.

Great service. Knowledgable staff. Helped set me up on a fixed gear bike so well I went back and bought my road bike from them. Tune ups always done quickly and great prices too. Love the new location on Dundas as well. Kensington Market one will always be my favorite.

I really want to like this store. The guys who work there are really nice. But the level of incompetence has frustrated me to no end, and I am a pretty understanding person.
So where do I start?
1) Assembled the wrong frame, that is after I waited for a week for them to assemble it
2) Sent me home saying I’ll get the right frame the next day without checking they had the right frame
3) Sent me to the other location to pick up the right bike, but it turned out they ended up assembling at the original location
4) The steering and the front basket were lose — the steering wheel dropped down as I was riding home and the basket nearly fell apart. I had to check every single bold and screw when I got home and tighten everything myself.
5) Installed a bracket for my rear light, but forgot to clip on the light. When I called a couple of days later, they wouldn’t even check if the light was still there.
All in all, I recommend you go elsewhere for your bike needs.

BOW has saved my life on more than one occasion. Every time I get fucked over by another bike shop, these guys save the day and give me their honest opinion, do what’s needed and do a great job in a pinch.
Today I took my bike to Urbane Cyclist because they front wheel had been feeling wobbly for a while. Actually– ever since I got the bike back from them last time. I rode my other bike for most of the summer, so I didn’t notice how bad this one had become and in addition to needing a tune up, I thought I should get this wheel checked. They were unhelpful and showed no immediate concern for my safety. Just quoted me a price for a new wheel and asked if I wanted to have them do it but they couldn’t tell me when they’d have it done. COME ON! Anyway… BOW saved the day.
I rode away to BOW Kensington and explained my situation. They were super helpful and mentioned that I might need a new wheel, but they would check it out and have it fixed by end of day, latest tomorrow morning. And for far less than UC quoted me.
Not 20 minutes later, while at my favourite fishmonger, I received a call saying that the mechanic had taken a look at it and they just needed to tighten the bolts on the front wheel and that the repair was so minor that they weren’t going to charge me! Holy CRAP! They made my day! I walked back over, thanked the guys and picked up my bike. I also made sure to leave a small gratuity for them. Although it was free of charge, if people do me good, I make sure to show appreciation. I wish I had been able to leave them more, but I didn’t have a lot of cash on me.
So, you guys know about my hipster aversion… I just don’t get that here. These guys have always helped me out and been super nice. I will be coming back here first from now on. UC was just closer to my work so it seemed more convenient.

Better prices than Urban Cyclist. Customer service is hit and miss. After spending a little under $ 200 in bike accessories they wouldn’t lend me the proper tool to put them on my bike. Customer relations should be #1 in my opinion because competition is fierce in this market. It’s a shame because it only seemed to be one guy in particular seemed confrontational. Looking elsewhere next time.

I called one afternoon, asking about getting a tube replaced on my bike. The person on the phone told me that they’d be able to do the repair on the spot, assuming the store wasn’t busy.
I came in two hours later, expecting the repair to be done on the spot. The store was empty, but the person there told me they couldn’t do the repair.
I travelled across the city to get there. Why waste your time with a place like this?

Everyone is calling this place Douche/​Hipster on Wheels. I’m unashamed to admit I’m mainstream: both in appearance and attitude, I’d probably be the type of person that hipsters «ugh» over as not being cool. At both BOW locations, I was treated with respect. No biker arrogance, no attitude; none of that. Only great service. I wasn’t flashing bills around or dropped any significant cash either so no one was kissing my ass for the $ either.
Anyways…
I went into the Queen St. location sort of looking for a new bike; sort of just browsing. They had all their Fuji bikes $ 100 off and Dano & Matt went over all the details between the Track Classic and the Feather; and suggested a frame height for me. After a test spin and some more questions I left without buying anything so I could think it over. Both guys were friendly, knowledgeable and didn’t pressure me into anything. Helpful and not pushy. I ended up calling back a few days letter asking for them to build me up a Track Classic and they told me because of the Queen St. workload, the Kensington location would build it for me by the end of the day.
When I went to Kensington (5 min before closing) the bike was ready but was brought to me at the front counter in fixed gear with only the front brake installed. I wanted both brakes installed and in freewheel. To BOW’s credit, I didn’t specify such when I asked for the build and the guy at the counter told me most customers want it installed in fixed, front brake. I wheeled the bike back to the mechanic at the back and even though it was time to close up the shop he took the time to install the rear brake and freewheel and when he was done, he went over the build to make sure everything was to my liking. The guy was completely professional about it: no complaining that I came in late, no arrogance, no BS. Much appreciated. I wish I got his name so I could give him the +1 he deserves in this review.
Last year my wife started riding a bike at 30. She had just bought her first bike and on her first ride ran a flat (what luck). She was getting all worried and brought the bike into the Kensington location and told them what happened and they dropped everything to get her flat fixed in less than 10 minutes. As lame as it sounds since it was just a flat and no big deal; they made her feel better about the situation and explained the difference between a tire and the inner tube and showed her how the flat occurred. Again, no attitude, no one was laughing at her, so I dunno why people keep complaining about that!!! Respect is a two way street?
Thanks again Dano, Matt and the mechanic at the Kensington location.

So I went to Douches on Wheels.
And I feel as though I’m doing the general population of Toronto a huge injustice by giving this place one star; I apologize because there is no option to give it simply one or none.
I walked into the store and all I could smell in the air was a very strong scent/​cologne on the employees, a cologne that they probably purchased from a sample sale that you probably weren’t cool enough to have heard about, a scent that just screamed «ugh-​I-​hate-​all-​these-​customers-​that-​are-​walking-​in-​ugh-​I don’t-want-to-make-eye-contact-ugh-I’d rather-​be-​home-​listening-​to-​dilla-​and-​reading-​pitchfork».
So I approach an employee who works there, oh yeah sorry, I think he’d rather I address him as a «bicycle mechanics enthusiast slash part time blogger, and he converses with me in a manner that makes me feel as though I failed grade 2 twice and am being given a monotonous and phonetically broken down dictation about a general tune up.
Then another overly animated bicycle mechanics enthusiast directs me to the counter where the pedals are on display in a fashion that would make many think that I was directionally challenged and he was just a very helpful and enthused and excited to help a girl understand which way is left and which way is right.
I explained to the bicycle mechanic at the back that in addition to a general tune up, I’d like these new pedals I just had purchased to be screwed in (very IKEA-​esque type of installation labour was required to do this). I could have done it myself but hey, why not just get the fella to screw them in while he is operating on my ride?
That was all.
I get a call a week or so later from a dude and he lets me know that I can come pick it up.
Same service /​feel /​ambiance as last time.
And the bill? It was a magnificent total of fuck-​this-​place-​never-​coming-​here-​again dollars & suck-​my-​dick cents.
There are approximately 9,248,783 other better places for your bike in this city.

Bikes on Wheels was originally a coop with various people involved. Businesses such as these need to be treated differently from a typical owner-​driven, or mom and pop outfit. If you get an attitude, simply move on to another person there as your results may vary. I admire their teamwork regardless and everyone there seems to enjoy what they do. It’s a competitive market for bicycle sales and service downtown, and this is a spot I go to for specialty or tricky requirements such as finding a longer seat post. Since the posts have subtle differences in sizes, even 0.2mm difference will make or break the upgrade, you need the help of experts and Bikes on Wheels delivers. Their accessories are well sussed out and spare you searching through a huge selection and they have cool swag with their logo on various items having a renegade bike courier look to them. Recommended, especially if you are near Kensington.

Worst service I’ve ever encountered. I was ready to drop a few hundred on accessories and safety gear after seeing a fellow cyclist struck by a cab. After waiting around for about 15 minutes hoping to grab someone I was getting frustrated. Finally I asked if anyone could help and I was told to wait a bit despite there being more people behind the counter than customers in the store. Finally, when I asked again if I could get some help, the hipster clone who responded couldn’t even be bothered to walk over to me; he simply gestured towards things I was enquiring about.
Plus, it’s over priced. Like seriously, go somewhere else, rather than pay the hipster douchebag tax.
People who rate this place highly must either be friends of the clones or are easily impressed by flash and snobbery.

Gears or jeans that don’t look shrink-​wrapped in place are definitely not welcome here. Overly large wallet chains, silly moustaches, and fixies are welcomed with as much of a smile as a hipster bike store employee can manage. Since it’s fairly convenient, I’ve bought several things there and also had a tune-​up.
The TUNE-​UP: The tune-​up was done by a rather rude mechanic, who was not very interested in telling me what would or wouldn’t be done. As one can imagine, it was a very, very basic tune-​up at a relatively expensive price. Maybe if I’d brought a fixed-​gear in, it would have been done more professionally. The rule issue though was that I had problems with my rear dérailleur which continued to get worse. I brought it back in abut 6 weeks afterward, and they had absolutely no interest in helping me. They told me they’d look at it for another $ 30. Way to not stand behind your work guys.
I also had a weird experience, which sounds pretty minor, but was annoying. I just went in to buy some chain lube. The lube rang up for a higher price than the price sticker on the lube, and the guy insisted on charging me the higher price in their electronic system. It was only a $ 2 difference, but I thought that kind of practice was illegal.
Anyway, I’ll be steering all my bicycle needs elsewhere from now on. I’m afraid this shop is just a little too trendy for me. The stuff they have in stock is quite expensive… it also caters more for the crowd that want to make a statement with their bicycle rather than just get around or go on recreational rides.

ME: I brought in this broken part for my bike. Do you have a replacement?
MECHANIC: Well, this one should work. If not, tell them that I said you could bring it back.
GUY AT REGISTER: The mechanic couldn’t get you the right part? Well, you can just bring it back.
Of course the part didn’t fit. So I take more time out of my day to bring it back, with the receipt.
ME: This part didn’t fit. The mechanic said I could bring it back.
MANAGER: Oh. Okay. You can have store credit.
ME: But I don’t want to buy anything here. I just want my money back.
MANAGER: Well, we don’t do that.
ME: No, no. The mechanic said it was fine.
MANAGER: Well, I’m sorry, but it’s our policy.
ME: Can I speak to the manager?
MANAGER: I am the manager.
ME: So you’re not going to give me my money back, are you?
MANAGER: No.
Defeat. They got my money in the end. This bike shop is not worth the hassle. Go to Urbane Cycle, Curb Cycle, Bike Pirates, or anywhere else.

I’ve been here twice in the past for «tune ups» and they didn’t really do a good job for too much $$$. Nor were they timely. meh. Go elsewhere if you’re looking to get any work done that you can’t do yourself.

I can’t give them only one star, because I bought my darling Clementine there in 2006. She is a marvelous bright orange one-​speed. (Hi Clementine!)
When I bought her she was only $ 200, my lock cost more. Now the same bike sells for over $ 600 there. They saw the hipster value of the old school bikes, and then hiked the prices up waaaay too much. Uncool.
But here’s my big beef:
Last year I ordered a new seat and helmet from them, I gave them both of my phone numbers. They never phoned. The items just NEVER came in. So I re-​ordered them, and again, they never came in.
The worst.
Mo game: Around this store you can’t tell if a teeny stache is hipster or Movember. It’s a fun game to play. Hips-​or-​Mo?