Ray & Sons Cycle & Ski

Great local shop. They go above and beyond to be helpful, I do a lot of bike work and when I get in over my head they always help me out. Lots of new and used small and spare parts for great prices. Haven’t purchased a bike from them, but they have a huge selection of used bikes as well as a full array of name brand new.

I had a bottom bracket overhauled, a sturmey internal hub gear adjusted, and some repairs done here on a couple of older bikes. Ray and Chris have always been helpful, their work has been high-​quality, and their prices reasonable. I like dealing with Ray and Chris and it’s nice to visit Maynard as well.

There is a reason the shop has been around for 20+ years… They are a great local shop. Costs are what they should be for a local place, the two owners are passionate, friendly and knowledgeable. As for complaint about estimate vs actual… 1) it’s exactly that AN ESTIMATE and 2) most times I pay less than their estimates, or even free if its a quick fix.
If you like to sustain local business, this is the place to go. If you have to get the regimented bottom dollar price, then go someplace else.
You should make a point to ask them questions, as there are lots of options for bikes and it is worth a discussion if you are making a new purchase. Additionally, if there isn’t something that catches your eye on the shelf, they can order anything.

We’ve bought a garage full of bikes from Ray over the years. It’s my all time favorite bike shop for a couple of reasons. First, it has real old school charm, with a building and bicycles that have been there for generations – it reminds me of the bike shops of my childhood. Second, and even more important, Ray and Chris are super kind and helpful. You can see they take great pleasure in helping people find just the right bike.
I was surprised to read the other reviewer’s concern about pricing. Several times in the past, Ray has steered me to less expensive products and repairs than I requested. Overall, they are very fair and offer a great value.

Ray & Sons are super friendly. Very customer service focused.
They do a great job on bikes. I’ve brought both standard size and foldable bikes here for maintenance and small repair jobs and have always been happy with the quality of their work.

I like to support local business when I can. Being a Maynard resident, even more so in the case of Ray & Sons since it is right down the street. Ray (I think… not sure who is the Son in Ray & Sons) is a real quriky character, quite enjoyable to spend a few minutes talking with. I really wanted to feel good about doing business w/​Ray & Sons but sadly it has turned out to be the opposite. I’ve had 2 experiences doing business with them and both have been questionable. So it is with some reluctance that I give them a low rating.
The first was during the winter of ’12, I went to have my snowboard tuned. I was quoted ~$ 30 for a tune up and it ended up being $ 10 more than that. I figured it was no big deal and went on with my day. As far as I could tell the tune up was fine. It was a very old snowboard and I’d never had it tuned before so I didn’t know what to expect anyway.
The second was the following spring. I brought my bike in to have it tuned up. He quoted me $ 100. Having had that questionable experience before, I was hoping it was a fluke or whatever. A couple of weeks later I got a call from him to tell me one of the shifters «was not cooperating» (exact quote) and that they were going to need to replace it. He said he’d try to replace just the one and go with a used part if possible. When the bike was ready I went down to pick it up. The total came out to $ 150 which was more than I had wanted to spend. The bike is an older bike, I understand that things break down. But, the shifters did work when I brought it in. So, I asked him what happened and would he consider giving me a discount on the price of the part given that they were working previously. I got a long-​winded (not uncommon for Ray) roundabout bit of conversation about how that’s the kind of thing his mother would say when she went to have her car repaired but her car was an antique, relic etc. I was a little resentful that he didn’t actually answer my question — what had happened to the shifter — so I pressed again on the discount. He told me to try the bike out and in the meantime he’s see what he could do about a discount. So I took the bike out and rode it around for a bit and it really did ride a good deal better than when I brought it in. They sure deserve credit for their work. When I brought it back in, he said they has estimated the work to be $ 170 and showed me the back of the work card where they had circled that estimate. Ray made no mention of any new estimate and he certainly didn’t bring it up before I asked for a discount.
I have no way of knowing if that was real or something he whipped out while I was out tooling around on my repaired bike. So I have to go with my gut, which tells me something is wrong with both of my dealings with them. If he had given me $ 15? $ 10? off? I would probably have continued to come to him with my business. I’ll be going elsewhere from now on which is a real shame. If you do opt to go with Ray & Sons I would make sure you set some limitations on price or contacting you before any additional work is done etc. Good luck. I’d love to hear if your experience (s) are different than mine.

I went in for a rack for the back of my bike. I wanted the old fashioned kind where the top piece is attached to a spring and clamps down your luggage. They said they didn’t have one of those and showed us the modern kind. I clearly saw one sitting on the ground behind their desk and asked about it. «…oh yeah, I guess we have one…» Wouldn’t you know it was significantly less expensive.
Later I found that my front tire was flat and brought my bike down to get a new inner tube. When I came back later my bf went in to retrieve it. They had replaced the tube and the tire (which didn’t match and looked rather awkward btw) and charged me for both.
I was on my way out for a trip and was already late and didn’t feel like going back in to argue over it, so I ate the cost and I won’t be back.
Kinda p.o.‘d. Not a fan, clearly.

Though this place ain’t Broadway Bike, they do have the advantage of being right down the street from me :)
Really friendly, cheap service. Good prices on bikes, and you can’t even walk by the place, without the owner coming out to say Hi! (That’s Maynard, tho)
They have great service and prices on skis, too. They need to get into snowboards, I think.