University Cycles of Tallahassee

My favorite bike shop in all of Tallahassee! These guys really know their stuff and are willing to drop everything to help you. More often than desired, I have come in with a flat and they’ve fixed it up in minute so I could still be to class on time. The staff is extremely friendly and always fun to chat to as they finish the repairs. They also offer free air up on your tires and lubing of the chains if you need it and don’t have all the equipment yourself. If you live anywhere near campus, make University Cycles your bike shop of choice!

honest and great service.
Helpful staff. Nothing but great experience.

Let me start by saying how much it pains me to write this review, as the owner and most staff were so kind to me. In short: after an accident, I needed a new bike frame. After many trials and tribulations, I had one ordered through this shop as they are very close to where I live. I was quoted a price around $ 1k, so we’re not talking about a small amount of money here. That said, I love riding and the bike I had/​have is important to me, so I was ok paying it.
I received a call informing me the bike was in, and upon testing it out, discovered it was the wrong size (they did take down the correct size when I’d originally ordered, however). The bike shop told me they would order another one, which they did the same day. Up to this point, my experience with them had been nothing but positive and I was expecting to tell people about how great this place was.
Unfortunately, one, sole, member of their staff turned out to be a bit of a colorful character. When my new bike was received, this individual left a message with a higher price than was quoted to me. This difference was about $ 60, so it wasn’t a big deal, and I wasn’t upset. That said, I did call the bike shop just so I could find out WHY, the price was higher. The person who spoke with me, seemed as if I’d asked him to sell me his foot with his reply. I have never dealt with a more unpleasant person, anywhere, in my life. and I’m a college student. His explanation started not with a why, but with a (to paraphrase in a nice way): «there’s no way the owner will take anything off». I called, I explained, to find out why. He wasn’t having it. Apparently, the bike store couldn’t return the old bike and had to eat the cost, and, putting two and two together, was taking that out on me. Now I felt bad about this, and I didn’t say this to him, but, that isn’t my fault. In any event, he hung up, before I could even say anything else. He called me back two minutes later, skipped the formality of letting me speak, told me he talked to the owner and that they wouldn’t do any business with me and gave me back my old broken bike… and for good measure put on a new stem, almost as an additional, well you get the idea. I’m certain he must have conveyed some atrocity to the owner because they took a $ 1500 hit just to not sell me something… when I asked a completely reasonable question, without yelling, in a polite manner.
I’m not angry at the owner, or staff, really. I just ordered a frame myself and will have it within a day; I have not lost out on anything. I’m just disappointed. I’m disappointed that a single, disgruntled, employee would hurt his own business to this extent. Had I been rude, yelled, or what have you, I could understand. But personal vendettas I cannot. By engaging in such business practices, this bike store is not only losing business, but risks alienating their existing customer base, and inviting reviews such as mine, both online and through word of mouth. For the sake of the owner, whom I continue to believe is a truly good person, I hope they can get their act together.
In the mean time, however, if I can recommend only one business to avoid in Tallahassee, this would be it. There are many in this town, most of which are quite adept at customer service, and you have the benefit of not going through what I did. In all honesty, by far the worst business experience of my life.

Super friendly and helpful staff. Must stop by if you are in Tally. Very knowledgable on bike touring and had all types of advice and stories to share. Fixed our two bike in less 90 minutes. I wish all the shops were like this around the country!

Rebuilt my bike after a cross-​country move. They had it reassembled in about an hour, and the price was so low, it made me want to slap my mama!

Either other people lucked out, or I just had an unpleasant experience.
I needed a tune-up…THAT’S IT.
When I go to pick up, he has a large «friendly» smile on his face and rings me up with a big bill.
«Why is it so expensive?»
«Well, we went ahead and replaced the tire tubes for you and the brakes because they were both bad» :smile:
«Sir, I never asked for bike tubes. I have plenty at home and have no problem changing them myself… nor did I ask for the brakes but i’ll let it slide since I did have old brakes. You can remove the tube from my tire if you’d like.»
«Oh oh, well hmmm, I don’t know who did this (IMO sneaky face), but we’ll leave the tube in.”-no comment about the brake.
Based on that experience, my gut tells me that they take college students for fools (which many are regarding bike maintenance) and want to charge them for extra things. Well, little do they know that semi-​pros may go into their shop from time to time, but that’s besides the point.
That wasn’t cool.
Again, maybe it was truly a mistake (I don’t think so at all, since people are being dishonest everywhere) and perhaps I should forgive, but I think it’s important to share my experience.

Awesome shop! Guys there are really friendly and helpful. They have great deals on bikes and offer great benefits from getting your bikes and equipments from them. I can walk in anytime I want to and they will check-​out/​tune my bike for me for free. Did I mention that they are super friendly and very knowledgeable as well?

This is a small, but great local bike shop nearby the FSU campus. They cater mostly to students and local casual cyclists, not really to the bike clubs or serious bike snob. The guy who I assume is the owner or manager, (I think his name is John?) is a great guy who is extremely helpful and has good natured vibe. We spent a long time discussing tires, the Tally bike scene, pro cycling, and the bike business.
Previously, he has helped my college student son with his bike maintenance and repairs. They don’t soak the kids with high fees and he even got a used seat when the old one went bad. In my opinion (colored by my own experiences with many other bike shops) this unselfish approach should qualify a person for sainthood.

I agree completely with Cobra’s review. The people are nice, the service is fast, and the location is very convenient to campus. Definitely easier and nicer than some of the other bike shops in town.

This is the best bike shop in Tally for both service and parts! The guys that own the shop are always friendly and helpful, and I’ve never walked out feeling like I didn’t get exactly what I needed.
The shop has a pretty good range of bike related merchandise, I’ve bought chains, seats, cranks, locks, pedals, etc and I’m still happy with the quality of the parts miles later. The shop is decently close to campus, so it’s not too much of a hike if you need something and live on campus.
Pricing is pretty decent too, you definitely aren’t paying the snob fee that you’ll see elsewhere *cough* Higher Ground*cough*. There has been a few times when they didn’t have exactly what I wanted, and they were more than happy to pull out a catalog and order it.
I’ve never bought a bike from them, but they have some really nice and affordable setups that would be good for campus and around town use. I think they also started selling some used bikes, but I might be mistaken.
I definitely wish I had a LBS where I live now that was a friendly and helpful as University Cycles has always been!