This is a review of Bike Center Des Peres.
I recently was wondering why my athletic powerhouse of a husband hadn’t scheduled any of his weekend bike rides in awhile. I missed it a couple weeks back when he told me that the derailer was messed up. It wasn’t until my daughter had asked him to go on a bike ride over the 3 day Memorial holiday weekend that I remembered that his bike was broken. Not wanting to disappoint our daughter he didn’t say ‘yes’ or ‘no.’ It was simpler than that. Instead his response was, “Sure, IF your mom can get it fixed in time.” Oh GREAT! Now the crux of our daughter’s disappointment fell on me for it was the Thursday night before the holiday weekend! My husband always has plenty of work to do, so I have no problem at all getting things fixed around the house; it was the 3 day time period that I was worried about! I remember my husband had suggested I might want to try a local bike shop not far from home.
So I ask you Dear Reader, if you were faced with the same obstacle as myself, where would you start your search? A big sporting goods store that has a bike department and several bike technicians on staff? Or a local bike store that is geared for the bike enthusiast and most likely has 1 bike repairman on staff? Well, I thought it was a no-brainer. I went and dropped off the bike at the big sporting goods store on Thursday night with a one week estimate for the repair. I honestly thought they would push my bike to the front of the list since I needed it that weekend.
Saturday morning I hadn’t heard anything yet. I then realized that just because I dropped the bike off there, didn’t mean it had to stay there to get fixed. But first I needed to find someplace on Saturday morning to help me out. My first call was to a bike shop in Kirkwood where we live. A recorded message came on saying they were closed for the holiday weekend. Oh great, this was not looking good! I then callled the other local bike shop, Bike Center of St. Louis in Des Peres. Not only were they open but he said the repair was something they can usually fix while the customer waits. Woot!
My Saturday morning involved picking up the unrepaired bike from the sporting goods store and then heading down the street to Bike Center on Manchester Road. What made the morning bearable was bringing our 3 year old with me. Each time I wheeled the bike to or from the car, little one got to sit on the seat while I steered. How nice was it was that someone ran to the door to open it for me! Trust me when I say, I was in the shop less than 10 minutes… that’s how well the bike experts there know their stuff. The first technician told me upon seeing bad derailer, “This looks bad, it might even need to be replaced.” Luckily, the store’s main bike guru was still there on this mid Saturday on Memorial day weekend. He had enough experience to know how to fix it without breaking it! Best news yet, I was only charged $20! Scratch that… the meager $20 bill and 10 minute wait was triumphed when I saw my husband’s face with the fixed bike in the car. No no no, these all filled my bucket, but something that couldn’t compete was seeing my daughter’s face when she got to take a bike ride with her dad! I’m so glad the Bike Center came through for me so I didn’t have to let either one of them down!
Bike Center is located at 12011 Manchester Road, just east of 270 in the Des Peres Shopping Center. While their posted Saturday hours are 9-5, they actually answered the phone a little after 8am. How awesome is that! Give them a try. Bike repair and service is just one component. You’ll need way more than 10 minutes to look at all their bikes and accessories! Two minutes more and I would have bought a new bike seat!