What a breath of fresh air...a decent bike shop in Hyde Park. Take your money, give you merchandise or fix your bike, treat you like a customer...it's kind of amazing how hard a time bike shops seem to have with this business model.
DJ is a really decent, fair guy and a very competent and knowledgeable mechanic. I do most of my wrenching myself and have built or rebuilt 4 bikes for myself and loved ones in addition to servicing many others. I'm not entirely sure I'd use their service for everything - the assistant one day told me that they don't have chain lube because they lube chains with WD-40, which grates on my sensibilities pretty hard. On the other hand, I think their work tends to be quite mechanically sound. Neither I nor my friends have had any problem with DJ's work, be it pulling an old freewheel with weird splines or adjusting a hub.
For standard accessories like helmets or tubes, this place is just fine. The products and prices seem to be pretty standard for a brick-and-mortar shop. On the other hand, I didn't have luck getting special-order type parts for my projects. I ended up going online even for things like rims that are heinous to have shipped.
This is much, much better than the other options - the sadistic treatment at Wheels and Things or the flaky, second-class-to-racers-and-hipsters treatment at TATI (if it's even open). Blackstone has competent and sweet people, and I've bought two bikes there, but they can be a little spacy when you know what you want and just want it done.
So basically, this is my first recommendation for a bike shop in Hyde Park.
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very nice people, and they know bikes without being snotty... They replaced a tube which blew when I had to hit a curb to avoid a car that was about to park without looking and seeing me between the car and the curb... The shop checked out my fork and frame and brakes, finding a part broken in the front brake and fixing it easily... cool people who care.. and prices seem cheaper than northside shops...
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When I'm in Hyde Park, I personally prefer Blackstone, but I've had these guys true a wheel for me, and they did a damn good job. This was in they're temporary location on 53rd st. last summer.
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Terrific neighborhood shop, probably the best in Hyde Park. I've come in for service a couple of times. The first was to ask about a squeaky brake and see if I needed a wheel truing, and they sent me on my way telling me my bike was fine and explaining the cost/benefit ratio of (unnecessary, in their opinion) repairs. The second was to get off a badly stuck part; they wrestled it off on the spot. Friendly, honest, careful guys, and they have a lot of good practical commuting gear.
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Hours 10 am to 6 pm Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, Friday
10 am to 5:30 pm Saturday
Summer's only Sunday noon to 5 pm
Fax 773 955 4402
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