Best cycling/bike shop in chicago (personal opinoin)
So i live in the burbs but ill be heading up this weekend to check out some shops i chitown. So tell me your favorite one, and why.
Thnks
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Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Doug Haynes on
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Funny, I thought the old Turin in Evanston had not been owned, in anyway, by the old owner who had a shop in, I wanna say, Denver for like 6 or 8 years.
The name change to Ten 27 was because they got sued over the name. While technically true that Turin is a returning bike shop here in Chicago based on the name and the owner it has nothing to do with the business that was named Turin and serving customers in Evanston up until the name change.
ChrisO! said:Actually, it is.
The address in Evanston that we occupied for over 40 years is now a major Trek shop from Wisconsin that's been looking to get into the Chicago market for some time. Our partnership split provided them with this opportunity.
We took the opportunity to find a new home and do some things that we've wanted to for a long time, namely produce our own bikes and take more control over the type of bike shop that we want to be.
In the end, we couldn't be happier! The community has been overwhelmingly welcoming and the reception that we've received from both Turin lifers and new friends that have found their way through our doors has us downright tickled!
I think anyone that's been familiar with Turin over the years will find comfort in many of the same things that we've done well throughout our history and new acquaintances can enjoy a friendly environment to nerd out on fun stuff across the spectrum of cycling.
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Permalink Reply by ChrisO! on
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I know there's been a bunch of confusion surrounding the various goings on regarding the shop in Evanston over the last year and change and without getting into the dirty details, I'll simply explain it like this:
In 2003, one of Turin's remaining original co-op owners took on a partner, in part to allow himself to focus more time and energy on his other business ventures. Through the course of the next 8 years, the two grew into opposing viewpoints regarding the appropriate direction of the shop. In the Spring of 2012, the two dissolved their partnership, with the original - and minority share - owner retaining the rights to the name Turin which he and the owner of the Denver shop - also an original co-op owner dating back to the 60's - owned outright.
Faced with the need to develop a new image in the wake of this changing reality, the remaining partner named his shop after the building's street address. Owing to MANY internal issues, Ten27 eventually closed its doors as I'm sure you all know and in its place is now Wheel & Sprocket; a shop that leases their space from from the building's owner, Ten27's (former) sole proprietor.
Today, the two remaining owners of Turin Bicycle Co-Op Chicago (as it was known in 1965 when the doors first opened) have re-opened their first Chicago location since the mid-90's under the same Turin flag that has flown so prominently in the area for over 4 decades now. Our staff is comprised of family that have worked for Turin in various forms throughout its more recent history and is helmed by the same ownership structure that, as enthusiastic teenagers, built their bike shop out of a passion for all things bike
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Permalink Reply by Far'arned Retrogrumpalunkus #63 on
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Facts be damned. If Dug says you are wrong -you are wrong.
Those are the rules here on The Chainlink. Fight against it and you'll get his whole crew coming down on you in these forums!
ChrisO! said:I know there's been a bunch of confusion surrounding the various goings on regarding the shop in Evanston over the last year and change and without getting into the dirty details, I'll simply explain it like this:
In 2003, one of Turin's remaining original co-op owners took on a partner, in part to allow himself to focus more time and energy on his other business ventures. Through the course of the next 8 years, the two grew into opposing viewpoints regarding the appropriate direction of the shop. In the Spring of 2012, the two dissolved their partnership, with the original - and minority share - owner retaining the rights to the name Turin which he and the owner of the Denver shop - also an original co-op owner dating back to the 60's - owned outright.
Faced with the need to develop a new image in the wake of this changing reality, the remaining partner named his shop after the building's street address. Owing to MANY internal issues, Ten27 eventually closed its doors as I'm sure you all know and in its place is now Wheel & Sprocket; a shop that leases their space from from the building's owner, Ten27's (former) sole proprietor.
Today, the two remaining owners of Turin Bicycle Co-Op Chicago (as it was known in 1965 when the doors first opened) have re-opened their first Chicago location since the mid-90's under the same Turin flag that has flown so prominently in the area for over 4 decades now. Our staff is comprised of family that have worked for Turin in various forms throughout its more recent history and is helmed by the same ownership structure that, as enthusiastic teenagers, built their bike shop out of a passion for all things bike
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Permalink Reply by John C. Wilson on
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No one here knows Lee Katz, Neil Fine, Dan Joseph, Lionel Bottari, Gary Page, Carol Fields (RIP) and all the original gang at Turin. It is more complicated than any conjecture or spin offered here and if you had the whole story it wouldn't mean much to you. Give it a rest.
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Village Cycle does not offer test rides! What they do offer instead is a 7-day money back guarantee. Their reasoning according to one in-store salesman: "Insurance issues and because we are the number one shop in Chicagoland, we never needed to offer test rides." Yeah right, whatever. Every other bicycle shop in Chicago that I have gone to offer test rides as standard practice, and I have visited a fair number of shops in the past year because I was looking for a new ride to buy.
A test ride before completing a new bicycle purchase is vital. If you spend money on a bicycle without first taking it out on a test ride, you're not really a savvy consumer, in my honest opinion. Even though I balked at first when the sales employee told me that Village Cycle doesn't do test rides, there was a previous-year's model Trek hybrid that I was interested in because they were offering it at a fairly low price to push out older inventory. When I asked if I could at least see the bike and sit on it inside the store, they obliged. But what they came out with was an already used model that a previous customer returned under their 7-day guarantee. It was so obvious that the bike was already used and they didn't even have the nerve to thoroughly clean it before presenting it to the next customer. When I expressed my disappointment and stated the bike's obvious condition, the sales clerk offered to lower the price even more but I told him that this place isn't for me.
dan brown 4.4 miles said:also to avoid : Village Cycle Center on Wells in Olde Towne.
gimmicks and some unscrupulous practices (no spell checker here)
DB
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Permalink Reply by Michael A on
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The fact is most bike shops in Chicagoland are good, what matters more is if you are a good customer. Tell the sales people what you want in a bike, what your budget is and you will get a good starting place.
If someone does not want a TT bike, tell the salesperson that and they will show you what you want to see. We all have our favorite shops, mine have all been listed here. You will not find a high end carbon fiber race bike at Heritage nor will you find a linus dutchie style bike at get a grip.. Shop around, find a bike that fits you and the style of riding you want to do. DO not expect to find the perfect bike the first day you shop, and try not to shop on the first sunny weekend day. Asking a site of 6500 plus users what there favorite will bring lots of opinion, 500 or so from the same 4 people.
Shop around and good luck to you
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As Cameron has pointed out I may have been misinformed about a few of the details but the heart of what I said is correct; the people running the new Turin are not the people who ran the Turin that was up in Evanston.
I mention that fact because the new Turin does very little to make it clear they had nothing to do with how the old shop ran for the last 8 years. If anything it seems like they want people to think that and I find that to be a little sketchy.
Cameron 7.5 mi said:
From what I've been able to piece together, there's some truth to both what Dug and ChrisO! said. My understanding is that the for many year's silent partner in the Evanston Turin owned a shop in Denver and the rights to the Turin name. At some point the silent and managing partners of the Evanston shop had a falling out, leaving the Evanston shop forced to change its name after the partnership was dissolved, creating Ten27. Ten27 eventually folded and the space is now occupied by Wheel and Sprocket. The once silent partner in the Evanston shop has now opened a new Turin in Chicago. So as Dug stated the new Chicago Turin is not the same people customers dealt with at the old Evanston shop, and as ChrisO! stated the new Chicago shop is owned by the same people who have owned Turin for years.
That said there have been lots of rumors, spin, and hurt feelings surrounding Turin and Ten27 since the split so it's hard to really know what happened. Take what read with an extra grain of salt and if this matters to you do your own research.
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Permalink Reply by Tony Adams on
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I told myself I would not bring up my Get a Grip horror story unless the place got mentioned again. It was a long time ago, but it was so unforgivable that it bears repeating. I need to repeat it because Get a Grip should not be included in the statement that "most bike shops in Chicagoland are good."
I broke the seat post on my daily rider. I found it was seized. It was an aluminum tube in an aluminum frame and I freely admit that I had not maintained it properly. I am better about such things now (including mostly sticking to steel frames). I bring the bike into Get a Grip on Irving and I'm told that there was nothing they could do. I was flabbergasted. My other option seemed to be to trash the bike. Now subsequent to that I've experienced some other seized seat posts and I know that the effort to remove this one might have ended up exceeding the value of the bike. But really? throw a bike away because of one broken part? Seems pretty inexcusable. Ok, so that was very bad and I know that I was implicated (due to failure to keep the tube lubed) so ok, I could find a way to move on with my life.
But as I was leaving the shop a father and son come in for some service on the son's bicycle. They are also shooed out of the shop - refused service because the boys bike was deemed not worth the effort. What kind of lesson is that for a child to learn at a bike shop? That what we are supposed to do in life is buy carbon fiber road bikes that are worthy of a bike shops attention? That we are not supposed to keep what we have running? That the solution to mechanical problems is to throw your bike away and get a new one? Any business that elitist, that snooty and that unconcerned with cycling's future riders or our environment has no business calling it self a bike shop.
If these two events didn't happen at the same time I might not still be holding a grudge, but they did and I am.
Michael A said:The fact is most bike shops in Chicagoland are good, what matters more is if you are a good customer. Tell the sales people what you want in a bike, what your budget is and you will get a good starting place.
If someone does not want a TT bike, tell the salesperson that and they will show you what you want to see. We all have our favorite shops, mine have all been listed here. You will not find a high end carbon fiber race bike at Heritage nor will you find a linus dutchie style bike at get a grip.. Shop around, find a bike that fits you and the style of riding you want to do. DO not expect to find the perfect bike the first day you shop, and try not to shop on the first sunny weekend day. Asking a site of 6500 plus users what there favorite will bring lots of opinion, 500 or so from the same 4 people.
Shop around and good luck to you
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Did they have a terrible attitude when dealing with you or with the father/son combo?
Honestly both of those are things that I have done in a bike shop.
Most shops will shy away from stuck seat posts because they are very labor intensive to remove and there is a chance of the frame being damaged in the process. A lot of shops will also try and take a pass on repairing really cheap bikes, especially kids bikes, because it often opens up an ugly can of worms.
Tony Adams 6.6 mi said:
I told myself I would not bring up my Get a Grip horror story unless the place got mentioned again. It was a long time ago, but it was so unforgivable that it bears repeating. I need to repeat it because Get a Grip should not be included in the statement that "most bike shops in Chicagoland are good."
I broke the seat post on my daily rider. I found it was seized. It was an aluminum tube in an aluminum frame and I freely admit that I had not maintained it properly. I am better about such things now (including mostly sticking to steel frames). I bring the bike into Get a Grip on Irving and I'm told that there was nothing they could do. I was flabbergasted. My other option seemed to be to trash the bike. Now subsequent to that I've experienced some other seized seat posts and I know that the effort to remove this one might have ended up exceeding the value of the bike. But really? throw a bike away because of one broken part? Seems pretty inexcusable. Ok, so that was very bad and I know that I was implicated (due to failure to keep the tube lubed) so ok, I could find a way to move on with my life.
But as I was leaving the shop a father and son come in for some service on the son's bicycle. They are also shooed out of the shop - refused service because the boys bike was deemed not worth the effort. What kind of lesson is that for a child to learn at a bike shop? That what we are supposed to do in life is buy carbon fiber road bikes that are worthy of a bike shops attention? That we are not supposed to keep what we have running? That the solution to mechanical problems is to throw your bike away and get a new one? Any business that elitist, that snooty and that unconcerned with cycling's future riders has no business calling it self a bike shop.
If these two events didn't happen at the same time I might not still be holding a grudge, but they did and I am.
Michael A said:The fact is most bike shops in Chicagoland are good, what matters more is if you are a good customer. Tell the sales people what you want in a bike, what your budget is and you will get a good starting place.
If someone does not want a TT bike, tell the salesperson that and they will show you what you want to see. We all have our favorite shops, mine have all been listed here. You will not find a high end carbon fiber race bike at Heritage nor will you find a linus dutchie style bike at get a grip.. Shop around, find a bike that fits you and the style of riding you want to do. DO not expect to find the perfect bike the first day you shop, and try not to shop on the first sunny weekend day. Asking a site of 6500 plus users what there favorite will bring lots of opinion, 500 or so from the same 4 people.
Shop around and good luck to you
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Permalink Reply by mike w. on
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The history of Turin Evanston is filled with all manner of drama from the day it opened. i also get the feeling that drama extended to the very early days of the Co-op when they were a hole-in-the-wall on Carmen av. There were several shops in the original Turin Cooperative, including Yellow Jersey of Madison, and IIRC, Rainbow Jersey in Milwaukee, and a shop in Colorado (Denver or Boulder.) i don't remember what exactly happened to the old co-op, but i think the old hippie-anarcho-capitalist business model just faded away with the 70's. Egos and other such human foibles contributed to the many phases and failures and rebirths over the years. Eventually i guess they just ran out of airspeed altitude and options.
i had a love-hate thing going with that shop. i bought my first ten speed there in '72, and hung around on my days off learning by osmosis how to wrench while waiting for the container load of French bikes to arrive. At times the elitism of the shop rats was insufferable, and other times i got screaming deals from friends who worked there.
Like people, shops get born, they grow old, and they die. Sometimes they reincarnate, a Phoenix out of the ashes. i don't know what became of the old Turin, but i wish the New Turin well as also the Wheel and Sprocket and most of all the other shops around here with one notable exception in Chicago which i cannot mention online due to legal concerns.
notoriousDUG said:As Cameron has pointed out I may have been misinformed about a few of the details but the heart of what I said is correct; the people running the new Turin are not the people who ran the Turin that was up in Evanston.
I mention that fact because the new Turin does very little to make it clear they had nothing to do with how the old shop ran for the last 8 years. If anything it seems like they want people to think that and I find that to be a little sketchy.
Cameron 7.5 mi said:
From what I've been able to piece together, there's some truth to both what Dug and ChrisO! said. My understanding is that the for many year's silent partner in the Evanston Turin owned a shop in Denver and the rights to the Turin name. At some point the silent and managing partners of the Evanston shop had a falling out, leaving the Evanston shop forced to change its name after the partnership was dissolved, creating Ten27. Ten27 eventually folded and the space is now occupied by Wheel and Sprocket. The once silent partner in the Evanston shop has now opened a new Turin in Chicago. So as Dug stated the new Chicago Turin is not the same people customers dealt with at the old Evanston shop, and as ChrisO! stated the new Chicago shop is owned by the same people who have owned Turin for years.
That said there have been lots of rumors, spin, and hurt feelings surrounding Turin and Ten27 since the split so it's hard to really know what happened. Take what read with an extra grain of salt and if this matters to you do your own research.
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No, they did not have a terrible attitude in either case. They were somewhat dismissive of the father/son combo, but I would not call it a case of terrible attitude exactly. Sure it is just an anecdote and I suppose it was a rare cooincidence, but what killed me about it was that both of these events happened within a few minutes of each other.
I totally get it (now) about the seat post, but I think even if it ends up in a financial loss for the shop, kids need to be encouraged to maintain their bikes rather than being encouraged to throw them away. A positive experience at a bike shop for a child - rather than being turned away - goes a long way toward building a life-long rider and eventually a paying customer.
I know that bike shops run on a razor thin margin. But any business that wants to survive for the long haul needs to have some patience and be willing to invest in the community if it expects the community to invest in them.
notoriousDUG said:Did they have a terrible attitude when dealing with you or with the father/son combo?
Honestly both of those are things that I have done in a bike shop.
Most shops will shy away from stuck seat posts because they are very labor intensive to remove and there is a chance of the frame being damaged in the process. A lot of shops will also try and take a pass on repairing really cheap bikes, especially kids bikes, because it often opens up an ugly can of worms.
Tony Adams 6.6 mi said:
I told myself I would not bring up my Get a Grip horror story unless the place got mentioned again. It was a long time ago, but it was so unforgivable that it bears repeating. I need to repeat it because Get a Grip should not be included in the statement that "most bike shops in Chicagoland are good."
I broke the seat post on my daily rider. I found it was seized. It was an aluminum tube in an aluminum frame and I freely admit that I had not maintained it properly. I am better about such things now (including mostly sticking to steel frames). I bring the bike into Get a Grip on Irving and I'm told that there was nothing they could do. I was flabbergasted. My other option seemed to be to trash the bike. Now subsequent to that I've experienced some other seized seat posts and I know that the effort to remove this one might have ended up exceeding the value of the bike. But really? throw a bike away because of one broken part? Seems pretty inexcusable. Ok, so that was very bad and I know that I was implicated (due to failure to keep the tube lubed) so ok, I could find a way to move on with my life.
But as I was leaving the shop a father and son come in for some service on the son's bicycle. They are also shooed out of the shop - refused service because the boys bike was deemed not worth the effort. What kind of lesson is that for a child to learn at a bike shop? That what we are supposed to do in life is buy carbon fiber road bikes that are worthy of a bike shops attention? That we are not supposed to keep what we have running? That the solution to mechanical problems is to throw your bike away and get a new one? Any business that elitist, that snooty and that unconcerned with cycling's future riders has no business calling it self a bike shop.
If these two events didn't happen at the same time I might not still be holding a grudge, but they did and I am.
Michael A said:The fact is most bike shops in Chicagoland are good, what matters more is if you are a good customer. Tell the sales people what you want in a bike, what your budget is and you will get a good starting place.
If someone does not want a TT bike, tell the salesperson that and they will show you what you want to see. We all have our favorite shops, mine have all been listed here. You will not find a high end carbon fiber race bike at Heritage nor will you find a linus dutchie style bike at get a grip.. Shop around, find a bike that fits you and the style of riding you want to do. DO not expect to find the perfect bike the first day you shop, and try not to shop on the first sunny weekend day. Asking a site of 6500 plus users what there favorite will bring lots of opinion, 500 or so from the same 4 people.
Shop around and good luck to you
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When i was a shop rat, i would fervently pray to whatever deity might be listening that the boss would meet some of our repair customers at the door and politely tell them to bugger off. There are some bikes that should be consigned to a scrap heap that no amount of love and labour can make usable or safe. But i was just a mech and fortunately for the business, not a front-end employee/customer service guy.
That's probably the biggest reason i years later turned down an offer to manage a shop. It is a people skill that i lack and apparently also lacking in other shop assistants as well. The difference is that i was aware of my shortcomings in that regard and stayed behind the shop door as much as possible.
notoriousDUG said:Did they have a terrible attitude when dealing with you or with the father/son combo?
Honestly both of those are things that I have done in a bike shop.
Most shops will shy away from stuck seat posts because they are very labor intensive to remove and there is a chance of the frame being damaged in the process. A lot of shops will also try and take a pass on repairing really cheap bikes, especially kids bikes, because it often opens up an ugly can of worms.
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