Skate Escape Bike Shop

I wrote a long very detailed review about the grumpy old fart that apparently owns this place. I think his name is Bob (but I’m not sure). Unilocal deleted that very fair and detailed review for some reason, but I think people need to be warned.
This guy is not nice! He’s a certified jerk. If you do business with him, you’re only encouraging him to continue to be a jerk. I will never, ever, EVER spend another dime with this maniac. In my opinion, he should sell the business and go off to a deserted island by himself.
By way of substance, I almost died after purchasing a bike from this jerk. After putting it up on their little rack and supposedly making sure everything was road ready, I found out that they didn’t tighten the bolts on the front tire. I found this out when the tire departed from the bike and I almost went over the handlebars. So in addition to being a major ass, these guys don’t even perform quality work! STAY CLEAR!!!

This is actually 2 buildings, one business. They are super-​helpful and down to earth. It’s a great bike shop in one spot and a great skate shop in the other.
Note that the hours on Unilocal aren’t correct — I was able to verify that this is Unilocal’s mistake. In wintertime the stores close at 6 PM.

I rent bikes in almost every city I visit just to get around, and I had one of my better experiences here. Arrived late on a fall afternoon and was set up right away with a 24-​hour bike for abt $ 40 plus tax. Hyrbid was in great condition, worked flawlessly, and was perfect for city streets. The shop made minor adjustments to the saddle after I’d pedaled once around the block. Biked to out to Decatur for dinner; then a 12 mile ramble around the city the next afternoon checking out the Beltline and beyond. (Bring lights if you’re out at night. Local cops are enforcing.) Easy drop off when done.
Shop a bit cluttered and service a bit gruff, but I thought pleaasntly so. Nice to see a shop with character near a popular attraction like Piedmont Park. I’ll take a crabby encounter with someone who knows what they’re doing over know-​nothing teens running the counters of many rental concessions these days.

They have a large selection of bikes. Overall they are in decent shape, but some need to be retired.
The staff are always friendly and helpful.
Double check your ID before you walk away. I was given the wrong ID once.

I bought a Fuji here in 13, GREAT SERVICE! Took my partner back today fit a great bike (transeo) Bob is VERY NICE, a his voice is a little gruff, but he is very nice and knowledgeable! I’m a customer for life!!!

Excellent customer service from the owner Bob… he was very informative, and extremely helpful being that I was a novice in buying a hybrid bike… He told me my size of bike that fits my height. lol who knew bikes had to be sized… I don’t know what the other reviewer was talking about the man’s tone… He is an older straight man with a deep gruff sound to his voice, nothing wrong with that… Obviously that other reviewer is not exposed to diverse people. I bought a Transeo 4.0 it was barely used sold to me for $ 325 & the regular cost for this quality of bike is $ 550. It came with shocks on it, with 24 speed… I test rode this bike it was so smooth almost like it peddled itself. I really enjoyed my experience with this man, I’m bringing back my girlfriend back to get her one from him… THIS PLACE ROCKS THE BEST PLACE IN ATLANTA FOR NEW AND USED BIKES…

nice staff, very helpful, and great priced rental bike for a ride in the park

So I bought my first bike here about four years ago. Not a $ 1300 bike or anything, but nothing cheap either. Whoever I had that day was amazing and clearly doesn’t work there anymore.
I went back once to get some stuff for that bike and ended up with the asshole that all the bad reviews are about. No clue that he was the owner, I just assumed they built the building around his grumpy old ass because he refused to move or something. Horrible experience, but I was new to the neighborhood and like to support businesses in my neighborhood.
About a year later I was buying another bike (for my partner) and decided to go back there despite the awful service from before. It’s convenient having a bike shop down the block from me, so it outweighed his bad attitude at that time.
Fast forward a couple of years and painful visits having to deal with this angry old asshole. Went back last week to try to buy a THIRD bike from them and this guy was just an aggressive douche about everything. Every question we asked was basically responded to with an «are you fucking slow?» tone/​attitude. After about 5 minutes of this ridiculous treatment we just walked out and took our money with us.
Clearly they’re depending on their rental business, because that seems to be the only good experiences people are having there. I hate to see businesses close in my neighborhood, but if it happens to this place they’ll deserve it. It’s pretty obvious who the problem is. Heading to the other side of the park this afternoon to check out whatever the bike shop is over there. Hopefully I’ll have a good review to write about them by the end of the week.

Awesome experience at Skate Escape. The wife and I have been looking for a shop that sells mid to high end inline skates, as she was looking for a new pair. This was the ONLY place that actually had a great selection of them. The staff was friendly and incredibly knowledgeable. Not only did we buy her a pair, I decided to get a pair as well.
Love this shop and the staff. Definitely recommend and will definitely shop here again!

Owner is very rude and provides very poor customer service. I have gone in a few times to look at bikes to buy and buy parts and I have been put off by the owner’s rudeness and poor customer service every time.

Had an exceptional experience at Skate Escape today. The gentlemen running counter were really friendly and got us set up quickly. They only accept cash ($ 6 for a bike rental) as far as rentals are concerned but that wasn’t a problem for us, although it may be an inconvenience to most. It was also nice that we got to pick our own bike.
Word of advice though, get there early, we did but when we returned, all of the rental bikes were gone. Happy riding!

This place was exceptional! I don’t understand these reviews speaking on how bad customer service was. From the moment I walked in the staff was friendly. I brought my friend who wanted in on the skating trend, and received help from the walk in to the walk out. The staff explained the difference in the skates, and the best brand to buy (which was not the most expensive). One of the male staff members placed the skates on my friend’s feet and gave her a crash course, allowing her to skate around the store while holding his hand. This place is awesome! I even came back with my skates, a product I did not buy in their store, and had them clean and complete some maintenance… for free!!! My only issue is that it’s so far away, but I can’t take off stars for that.

BUYER BEWARE, STAY CLEAR OF THIS SHOP! Never shop this place!
My son wanted to start skate boarding, went there to buy his first set up and was sold low quality garbage for a above market price. He wasn’t aware until he met up with some friends who have far more knowledge and experience in this sport. I sent him back to explain to them he was sold garbage and for too much money to begin with as compared to market prices.. We had hoped they could work with him to get him better «trucks» but was sorry cannot help you. «This is what we charge for the ones you bought», and then went on to suggest he shops elsewhere in the future.
In retrospect, from what we read now on these Unilocal reviews shame on us for NOT checking this shops reviews prior to purchasing. Apparently the older heavy set guy (owner?) who receives so much negative attention on Unilocal has trained his young sales force to be a chip off the old block!

Went here to rent a bike for a few hours, the service was fast and efficient, they had me on a bike in no time! I believe I prepaid $ 6 for the first hour. When we returned from our bike ride along the belt line, I only owed $ 4 more! It’s nice that they pro-​rate the price. With it’s prime location and good customer service, I’d definitely rent a bike from them again.

I’ve visited this bike shop several times over the past two months. I have only rented helmets, pads and bicycles. They are always friendly, helpful and courteous!
Their location is awesome and they have parking!
How much better can it get? Since you asked…
The hours are not that great. Most people enjoy bike riding in Atlanta especially on the weekends in Piedmont park… it would be nice if the weekend hours were earlier and later in the summer — considering it doesn’t get dark until after 8. It kinda forces you to either rent it for 24hrs or like me end up purchasing your own bike.
Overall if you are looking for something random, spontaneous, fun, exciting and cheap ($ 6 an hr)…GO HERE AND GO EARLY!

I’ve visited this business a couple of times to rent bikes to ride through Piedmont Park and the Beltline. The bikes here are decent and the service is friendly, fast and efficient.
I’ve actually never seen inside the store but it seems that they also sell bikes as well. Rafael is most likely the person you’ll be greeted by if he’s not assisting other customers. He’s generally running the front counter and is super friendly. Makes the bike renting experience pleasant and easy transaction. The rates are pretty standard and the bikes are not too shabby.
If you’re near the Piedmont Park area and need to rent a bike or two, this location is a great option. If you visit with minimum expectations, then you’ll be happy with your visit!

Rental process was pretty smooth. The guys seemed okay.
The bike appeared relatively new, but it sounded like it needed chain oil or just to be tuned up. The gears were changing on their own pretty consistently and the chain ended up coming off.
When we returned it, they said everything appeared fine to them and nothing was offered as a refund, even though we paid for a full day and returned it within an hour.
Won’t ever be doing business with this company again

I will be taking my bike somewhere else for service; and if you received the same customer experience as I did, you probably would too.
I needed a new tire and other adjustments/​parts for my bike. When I arrived, I spoke to someone outside helping with bikes. He was nice enough but didn’t really know about servicing or pricing. Then I spoke with an older gentleman who gave me price quotes. I took my bike back to the place; and when I got there, the older man directed my to the pumps.
I was just going to take the bike there and drop it off and have them fix whatever needed to be fixed. But the guy had me do all the work to figure out what was wrong with it, something I am paying for him to do. He told me the estimate and also said that if there was anything else that needed to be done, then they would call. Well, I received a call saying the bike was ready. I went to pick up my bike and was told that she did the best she could with the brake since it was missing a part and the whole thing needed replaced. She also told me that the cable for the gears was rusty and needed to be fixed.
The old man kept saying, you only told us to do those parts. It would have only been $ 20 to change the cables. (I didn’t receive that call that the cables needed to be changed). By that point, I was so tired of trying to figure out everything wrong with my bike for the old man, that I just took my bike and left. Needless to say, my bike is half fixed, and I need to take it to a different shop.
I didn’t give them a one star because the girl actually did fix the two things they said they were going to.

I’m all about that cycle gang lyfe, even on vacation. I happened to visit Atlanta days after «snowpocalyse» came through and it was one of the first sunny days the city had seen so we decided to take advantage of the weather and rent bikes to explore different parts of Atlanta.
When we arrived, it seemed a lot of people had the same idea and all the road bikes were taken but it worked out in our favor since the mountain bikes probably kept us from falling down multiple times on the ice/​snow. The two guys in the shop were friendly, knowledgeable and quick to assist us so we could be on our merry way. Pricing is pretty reasonable with $ 6 an hour, $ 25 for 3 hours and $ 40 for the whole day (mountain bike pricing).
I would recommend this place to anyone who want to get a little exercise in while enjoying the sights that Atlanta has to offer!

I had an amazing experience at this bike shop. My parents and I parked our rental car in their lot (they have a few spaces right out front and a side alley with a few more spots. If not, you’re left to the street) and we walked up to the rental counter to rent 3 single speed bikes ($ 6 per hour). Hand over your identification/​drivers license, put in a down payment of the first hour and hit the road. We were able to find the trail, but simply riding through the park was beautiful in itself. We rented the bikes for two hours and put in a solid 12 miles, a great idea! FYI, going up hills (even the tiniest ones) in these single speeds is HARD.