Bikeworks

Thinking back on all the bike shops that have passed through my life, this is the worst and sticks out like a nightmare. i don’t think I would ever say this about anyone else I’ve interacted with buy the owner is a sociopath. I have no Idea why I put up with him on multiple occasions but he is incredibly rude, condescending, and flat out refused to fix one of my bikes because I had gotten it online.
I’ll also give him some flak for constantly playing Big buck hunter at Murphy’s every weekend. What kind of 40+ adult hangs out alone at an undergrad bar on the weekends?

I have known Bruce for over 20 years. He put me into my first Bianchi Brava. Then the first cycle cross. Then into the first grizzly mountain bike. He has always been there for support and information. I trust him with all of my biking gear and information. The only one to go to at the U of I.

Bruce K’s Bikeworks defies summary capsulation as a bike store, much less a legitimate business. In my time in champaign I was twice denied service by Bruce. Both times involved refusal to work on my high end road bicycle on the grounds that he didn’t sell that brand, he then went on to compare it to a Wal-​Mart Magna. I thoroughly enjoyed all these experiences and appreciate Bruce for being a unique dude.
If you can get him to work on your bike, the guy is a magician. He un-taco’d my wheel that had been run over by a car and somehow got it perfectly true again. I was speechless, then became even more taken aback when he told me the price… super cheap. He also replaced spokes for me and sold me some tools at a good price.
Given my persisting disdain for Wurst… I mean Durst, I am a stalwart supporter of Bikeworks. He also has a lot of cool shit to browse if he doesn’t yell at you for looking around. Most of that cool shit is Mapei and Telekom gear from the 90s that he never sold, or refused to sell for some unknown reason.
Worth the trip!
Reading all the negative reviews about this place makes me miss it that much more. I will be stopping by the next time I am in town!

Bikeworks is like a golden jewel that I wish I’d stumbled onto earlier. I could have been saved a lot of time, money and headache.
These bad reviews seem to be coming from a generation of people who are accustomed to people kissing your butt and begging for a sale. Why do I like the old man at Bikeworks? Because he isn’t BSing me. He knows his bikes. He isn’t pretending to be nice to try and wheedle a sale out of me. He’s honest. He doesn’t overcharge. And oh does he know what he is doing.
Oh, and strangely enough, I struck up a good long conversation with him. He is VERY friendly. I don’t know what some of these other reviewers are talking about, but he was nowhere near rude to me OR my friend. Was he bending over backwards and brown-​nosing me for a sale? Hell no (do these college kids REALLY expect that so much?). Did he immediately show us two excellent bikes and wait patiently while my boyfriend decided between the two, and tried them out for an hour, even past closing time, all the while chatting with me and answering questions? Yep.
He got almost $ 500 for a bike that my boyfriend absolutely adores, and I sincerely hope that he’s around for years to come — and that I get the chance to support his business many more times in the future.

This is a little bike store in a neighborhood right by U of I. I went in today and recieved great service in help buying a bicycle. I had a laundry list of issues and was helped very well! About everyone else citing attitude problems, he doesn’t have an attitude, he knows what hes doing 100% 30 years of experience. He even stayed late with me past closing even though he had an appointment with a friend right after work. If you want the best tune ups and service go here. if you want a friendly smile, terrible service, being overcharged, and lies to your face go to durst.

Bruce is excellent. He’s a master craftsman, he knows what he’s doing, and he hates to see shitty bikes and bikes in poor repair – just as most expert craftspeople hate to see shoddy or badly treated work. I trust him totally and think he’s the best bet in the area for all my regular bike maintenance and bike woes. If I have a bad bike or one in poor repair I simply confess it when I walk in and ask him politely if he thinks he can handle working on it. The most recent times I’ve used him: for way overdue bike maintenance (and to put kickstand on bikes, which he hates but does anyway) for current bike, and for fixing up *old* bike bought through craig’s list which needed a fair bit of attention before being driveable. Did great work; He’s made of awesome.

The worst service ever. Not helpful at all. Definitely turn to this weird and stingy old man if you wanna pay for being verbally abused.

I got an old Bianchi bike that had been beaten up pretty badly over the years… I basically got it from this friend under the terms of «if you can salvage it, you can have it.» Since it came from Bruce originally, that’s where I went to get it fixed. So here’s my experience…
When I first called, he asked a few questions like «road or mountain?» and «what kind of handle bars?» and «what company?» He wasn’t particularly bubbly, but he was no where near as rude as some people have claimed he is.
I walked my bike over. Before I was even in the door, he commented on how the chain hadn’t seen much oil and a few minutes later he scolded me for having the U-​lock sitting on the handle bar when I walked it in. Again, I didn’t find it rude; he had a point — it is bad for the bike. He took my contact information and said he’d call a few days later when it was fixed. (He tried to give me a cost estimate then and there, but I don’t think he was certain with everything that was wrong with it.)
I don’t think I got any phone call, so I showed up like a week later. My bike was fixed — brand new front tire, new front inner tube, new front brake pads, newly unbent/​aligned rim, and he fixed the wobbly seat. All of these repairs (and perhaps some I don’t exactly know) cost me $ 95. (He showed me exactly why he had to make so many replacements.) I asked which oil he recommended for the chain, and he sold me some for $ 4. He also showed me how to properly oil the chain, which was very helpful. And this time he was really friendly!
Closing thoughts: I really think he’s just misunderstood by some folks (like those giving him poor reviews). The man knows his stuff and has done this for years — you shouldn’t be wasting his time with a cheap bike or if you don’t care about your bike. I’ll admit he can seem kind of harsh, but as long as you walk in with a little humility and patience, you’ll walk away happy. I’m very satisfied with my experience at Bikeworks. I’d recommend Bruce to my friends.

the guy has issues.
I think unless your’re a good looking girl won’t even help you.
Don’t waste your time

I had a flat tire and brought my bike to Durst who was in the middle of closing and very rude, telling me there was no way they could fix it on the spot. As I am new to town, they recommended taking it to Bike Works, which I did. I called ahead to make sure they could fix my flat on the spot which the owner agreed to do. His assistant took care of it for me and even taught me how to oil the bike and also change a flat in the future! It was great, and cheap!
A few days later my bike’s chain fell off and you know who I went to. This time it was just Bruce. He was a little irritated that my bike was from Wal-​Mart (his policy is that he doesn’t work on Wal-​Mart bikes), but because he knew me from before, he said he wouldn’t enforce the policy on me ;) The chain issue ended up being a million other issues (because, surprise surprise, it’s a Wal-​Mart bike and not put together right). He taught me why the bike was crappy, and what to tell Wal-​mart when I return it, which I plan on doing.
He spent so much careful time putting it together and didn’t even end up charging me! (well, I bought other things, he even taught me how to lock up my bike so that it never gets stolen!) I understand when people say he comes off as unfriendly, but I like to think of Bruce as misunderstood. He’s seems passionate and knowledgable about his work and his store, and he really just wants you to always have a good quality bike. Always. It probably annoys him when people bring him awful bikes, because they should have never settled for that in the first place. Condescending about my Wal-​mart bike? Maybe, but what he was saying wasn’t lies, he was telling it like it is, and he would know because he’s been at that business since ’81. He has a direct way of talking but to me, as a new bike owner, I was just happy to listen to his reflections and took it all as a learning experience. Maybe because he was direct and telling the truth is what throws people off in this customer-​is-​always-​right country. I would bring my bike back for sure, and you should too. But just don’t go in there expecting flowers to dance above his head as he works, this isn’t a customer-​service store with smiles and greetings, it’s a get-​er-​done kinda store and because he works fast, it works for me!

Apparently Bruce does good work for reasonable rates, but please do not attempt to patronize this business unless you are fond of being verbally abused and talked down to in the worst possible way. I had heard that he was rude, but I let it slide, thinking maybe people were too sensitive. I should have heeded the warnings, as I have never before wanted to punch a grown man in the face as I the one time I visited his shop. Plus, we didn’t even get any help with the bike… Bruce just made insinuations about the shop where we had purchased the bike and wanted us to try to get information from the shop and then bring it back to him. It was all kinds of creepy and unhelpful.

If you don’t feel like dealing with someone rude, this is not the place to go. If you have the mental energy and/​or thick skin, Bikeworks is a great shop. They do quality work for a very reasonable price.

BRUUUUCE!
Ok, I admit it, it’s been like, nine years since we used Bikeworks, but his repuation holds with our bikey C-​U friends, and he and the guys had the best bike fu anywhere. They did several tune-​ups and more major work for us. We had no issues with his bedside manner.
It was one of his guys who introduced «tacoing the wheel» to us, still my all-​time fave bike accident term.