Norm - Radstation

Well I have had pretty good experience with them in the past two years, prices are not out of line, courtesy is good, and my bike is doing fine.

Do not, under any circumstance, make the same mistake I did and do business with this shop.

As my bike is my main means of transportation, I take good care of it, keep it clean and lubricated, change any worn out or broken parts, and bring it in for service when necessary. I like riding it and like keeping it looking like new.

So when it started spontaneously changing gears I took it to three repair shops to get diagnoses and estimates. The diagnoses were the same, three parts needed to be replaced: the chain, the part between the pedals that is housed within the frame, and the back gear unit.

The estimates were within 40 euros of each other. I chose Norm-Radstation for three reasons: the price was a bit cheaper than the second-lowest estimate, I like to support small business, and the employee there seemed friendly.

That was a huge mistake.

When I picked up my bike the next day I immediately found that there was a problem. By "immediately" I mean within 5 seconds of riding it. The chain kept slipping on the back gears. I wasn't shifting, just riding, and the chain slippped on the same gear making a loud noise and causing the pedals to quickly turn without warning.

The employee took the bike to adjust something, but that didn't solve the problem. Then he changed the chain and it worked a bit better but continued to slip. I was told that I had to ride it to "break it in", which was ridiculous but I was in no mood to argue and had another appointment to go to.

I brought it back in three days, after plenty of "breaking in", and after I discovered another problem. The front and tail lights had stopped working. I know they were working before I brought my bike in for repair because I had just replaced the fenders and had checked them.

My inspection found that the wire which runs through the frame, from the front light to the back light, was somehow broken and grounded within the frame. Whenever the wire was attached to the front light, it stopped working too. The back light wouldn't work at all.

This time they kept my bike for three days. When I picked it up, I found that they had cut the wire going through the frame, leaving about half a centimeter sticking out of each side, and fastened another wire down the frame, up the rack, to the tail light. They used black plastic ties to attach it to the frame and the wire was spliced with electrical tape in five areas. They didn't bother to use a new wire of the correct length, rather they used what scraps they had lying around. Additionally, they left the ground wire for the tail light hanging loose because it doesn't seem to work.

I left disgusted, not knowing what else to do.

On the way home, I found that the front gears which worked originally and after the first repair, no longer worked. I could only ride in the 2nd gear. The chain rattles and scrapes, while in the 1st and 3rd gears.

So, now I have a bike that runs WORSE than when I brought it in, with a sloppily-rigged wire strapped along it so that the tail light will work. The parts they used seem to be of the cheapest quality.

I think that I'm going to have to take my bike to another, competent shop and pay even more this time as they now have to fix the wiring.

I would rate them with zero stars if I could.

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This is a follow up of my review.

Although I have practically no experience at bicycle repair, I bought the parts and the necessary tools to do the work myself. It took an entire Sunday afternoon, however I successfully repaired my bike so that it runs great. To be honest, it wasn't that hard just a bit time consuming as I didn't have a rack to hold my bike and I had to read the instructions.

In making the repairs myself, I found that Norm-Radstation had used what appears to be used parts. The piece that goes between the pedals and is housed in the frame was definitely a used part.

One more thing; my chain guard had broken a while back. Although I had removed the cracked plastic housing, I had left the bracket that holds it in place screwed to my bike so that it would be there when I was ready to install a new chain guard. While making the repairs I found that this bracket and the screw is missing. Of course it could have fallen off somewhere but that's not very likely.