Outspokin’bicycles

The people at this bicycle shop are absolutely amazing! They have been nothing but good to me and help me repeatedly for stupid mistakes I’ve made and causation of other cars on the road. They are super friendly and really really interesting. I advise everyone goes to this bicycle shop! It’s the only bicycle shop in Columbia worth going to.

Hands down– the only place I will purchase a bike or bike equipment in columbia. The staff are friendly, knowledgeable, extremely helpful to both novice and experienced riders. They respect their customers and treat them very well.
I came to drop my daughters bike off to get brake repaired. After I got it out of my car I noticed the shop didn’t open for another 20 minutes. I almost turned around when an employee opened the door and graciously let me in. Not only did he attend to me despite my error with their hours, he fixed her brakes on the spot and sent me on my way– no charge. He simply said «this is what we do for our customers. Thank you for purchasing this bike from us.»
Additionally, when each of my children were ready for a bike we brought them to Outspokin. An employee each time took the time to know their names, help them find, size and test ride the bikes until they made their choices. Excellent experiences here as well.
The best in town. Highly recommend outspokin.

Awesome staff! Everyone was friendly! Stopped in got some fresh tape along with a Cool shop Tshift

Good selection of bikes and parts. We found what we needed and more. Their prices can be a little steep but they have a wider selection of parts available than most other local spots.

Great staff, awesome mechanics. I trust my bike maintenance to no other bicycle shop in the area. Never had any problem after getting my bike back from them.
I can’t say what the experience is like buying a bike from them, so they are getting 4 stars rather than 5 just because of that.
I also love their shop dogs. If the dogs are there, always have a wag to greet you when you walk in the door.

The people working there are nice and helpful, courteous. However the work they do is bad. I brought in a recumbent trike and they put on a new cassette and chain per their recommendation. I didn’t really want to but I trusted them, and it was costly. They made a bad estimate on the price because as a trike it needed more chain than they expected. Ok not a problem.
So they did the work and I tested it out in the parking lot, immediately experiencing shifting problems as if they hadn’t even made the adjustements or done it properly.
So I brought it back in and in order to resolve it I had to call a company in colorado who had done work on the bike previously that knew these types of bikes well and did great work (rockymountainrecumbents in ft. collins). Steve walked me thru the adjustments and I was able to have the Outspokin’ bike technician make the adjustments.
When I got home, I got in my bike and found the gears slipped in low gears, made bad noises and it was difficult to get into the high ‘natural’ gears (this is irrespective of the internal hub gearing (sram dual drive) — has nothing to do with it). When I did get into the high gear it was making really loud awful noise as if the chain was hitting the sprockets incorrectly, indicating a maladjustment that I can’t fix without a fully loaded set of bike mechanic tools.
I feel that if I kept riding this bike right out of their shop, it would damage it beyond repair, and I’m right about that because I do know a thing or two about bikes but I’m travelling and don’t have all my stuff with me, hence: bike shop.
So I’m taking it elsewhere that deals with recuments. I am guessing that their excuse at Outspokin’ is that ‘well it’s a recumbent bike we’ve never worked on before’ but mind you, this bike has the exact same mechanics as an upright, only the chain is longer and it has a free spinning idler that does nothing but make the longer chain a U-​shape by directing the chain to the rear.

This place regularly wins the Columbia Free TImes Best Bike Shop award. I suppose this is appropriate as there are no better bike shops around. It’s less a testament to the excellence of Outspokin’ than to the lack of a truly awesome bike store in town. Still, their mechanics do decent work and they’ve got some nice bikes.

My wife and I are in our 60s and ride in the neighborhood for exercise and pleasure. We both have Trek Navigator bikes we bought from Outspokin in the past year. I am giving this 4 stars rather than fewer because the owner, Brian, is very helpful and very professional. Some of the other staff (I’ve interacted with 5 or 6) range from adequate to unacceptable in knowledge, helpfulness, and competence. But Brian bends over backwards to make sure you are satisfied, and their policy of lifetime free service (routine maintenance) on bikes is very valuable.
I had to be persistent and assertive to get my new bike adjusted properly (when I took it home the first time, there were only 20lbs of air pressure in both tires, and many other things were out of adjustment). On my third visit back, I got Brian, and he fixed all problems, and even upgraded my chain for no charge.
Overall, we have purchased three bikes and many accessories here. Another reason I like Outspokin is they will give you a trade-​in allowance for your old bike. The other cycle shop in my area just says you have to sell it on your own (and they do not provide free service).

Staff is knowledgeable, didn’t really have too many issues other then feeling like a customer and not a friend or fellow bike rider.
Service was ok at best, mechanic managed to not make an appointment even though he swore up and down that he would make one so the tune-​up would mean that I would be bike-​less for fewer days.
Didn’t happen. I came in to find out that there was no reservation and I would still be stuck without a bike for almost a week.
Repairs were done right, decently priced. I found somewhere else that I like better. Probably wont go back unless I have to.