London Fixed-gear and Single-speed

is this a friendly shop or one to avoid?

my friend who lives in London right now, wanted to get a bike to get around because he hates public transport which im sure everyone here can relate to....he went to the markets to find a cheap thing and ended up buying a unipack sadly as his bike knowledge isn't amazing.....he is the nicest guy going, wouldn't say a bad word about anyone, well spoken and polite.....and as i ride fixed he was intrigued by it and wanted to get into it so yeah, mistakenly got a unipack and wanted to fix up the back wheel so he went into BLB thinking 'seems like a nice place and could give me good advice' with his bike thinking, because bike shops are there in my opinion for advice/information/help/parts however someone in there said "nah, im not working on that"

as a person you wouldn't act snobby like that no matter what position your in.....from other stories ive heard, i think they need to value their customers a bit more.

has anyone got any stories about this shop....good or bad?

forum search 1: unipacks, read and absorb
forum search 2: BLB, read and absorb

weigh up pros and cons, make up own mind.

ive already read up on the unipacks....i have absorbed it and made my own mind on them
ive also already read some comment on blb

i was looking for a main consensus on the place though

Unipack and BLB in the same thread . . this should be a classic

Thats poor from them, i have bought a couple of bits from them, the young dude in the glasses always helpfull, the girls dont appear to give a shit about whether you spend any money there or not. Plus the pricing strategy can be bit of a piss take, but then they do have a somewhat captive audience, and a lot of shit you wont find elsewhere in a shop in London.

However i have heard one too many workshop horror stories on here for me to trust them with working on my bike. You the search function and read for yourself.

- it's a bit pricey
- jan is a nice chap
- it helps if you know what you're talking about before going in there, which is a bit of a shame
- they have nice frames

can't say i blame them for not wanting to work on a piece of total shit.

yeah, it helps in any shop if you know what you're talking about before you go in, but even if you don't that doesn't give them the right to dismiss you....i thought it was just very rude how they treated my friend.

Read this thread . .

http://www.londonfgss.com/thread7505.html

hahaha already did, that was quite classic.

hence my comment 'which is a bit of a shame', but still, i could imagine 'fixing' a unipack, giving it to the owner, watching them ride off and the flimsy piece of cack collapsing. cue 'they just fixed my bike BLB are assholes' rant/thread.

if a customer asks a bike shop to do something regarding bikes in which their capable of doing and paying for that service then what right do they have to turn them down?

they make a judgement. it's entirely up to them. they have every right not to take on work.

guess so, wont act in their favour though...

might do in the long run, might save them from opening a unipack-sized can of worms.

gotta say they are rude . . .
guess they wasnt brought up in the uk . . . cuz there manners in there big toe . . .
dont like the guys the most . . . but the 2 ladies are fine . . .

is this real? or are you angry because you work at velonazirution?

come again ? ? ?
each to there own . . .

nevermind.

jus read the other topic now lol . . .

that last 5-post exchange was rather amusing.

Retail's a tough gig, I think the service you get at any small specialist shop will be a reflection of your own attitude when you walk through the door... I'm always polite so if someone behaves like a cock towards me I simply vote with my feet and go elsewhere... Simple... I've never had a problem in BLB. Though the prices can be a little off-putting at times...

blb i always leap to their defence and always will great range of stuff in there. nice people no-one i know has had any problems in the shop / issues with the people there
no where i suggest in london has a greater variety of bike bits and bobs nowhere has a greater range of frames ( forgive me jos / roberto i haven't seen your treasure troves ) independant run shop worthy of our support

BC has lovely bikes, lovely service

I'm always polite too and got a put-upon, don't-give-a-shit-about-your-needs attitude from the girl. Three times. Must be my face then. Jan can vary but can be a bit sniffy, though he probably doesn't realise.

BC I get polite, helpful staff who have a nice chat about the stuff you're looking at. I bought bits and pieces from them, spent no more than fifty spots. The same money in BLB gets you indifference.

My experience only. Like I say, maybe my forehead tattoo saying "cunt off" doesn't help.

+1... they good
they REAL good

fucking YAWN.

+1, including mine especially. This kind of thing's been done so many times before.

+2, I'm just sick of twats coming on here and slagging places off just cuz they don't get their dick sucked the minute they walk in the door... Grow a fuckin' backbone FFS or shut the fucking fuck up!!! Ah, that's better... :)

You get your dick sucked the minute you walk in the door?! I've never been to BLB I'm going there now! :)

I think a dick-sucking is the least that I should expect from shops I have regularly bought inner tubes from.

I think it's just an urban myth, à la Virgin Atlantic Business Class... ;)

I got my dick sucked the minute I walked in the door of my local Co-op. Not the BC type of co-op, the Co-op Supermarket type of co-op. Not really the minute I walked in the door, more just standing in the doorway, waiting for a bus. The classic Friday-night knee-trembler round Birmingham.

surely all bike shops have to do this all the time though.
have you seen what the majority of people ride? especially outside of london!
i think a "your bike is not expensive enough to grace the floor of my shop" attitude is not going to get them anywhere.
having said that, when i've been there (only on 2 or 3 occasions) the staff have been very nice. it must just depend who's working.

All "speciality" shops are full of shit.

When I first started bodyboarding, it was always shit being dismissed by the staff of the shops I was spending money in. Then I got good and sponsored, and all the shops and staff were bending over backwards to serve me.

Records shops have always been the same for me.

I have worked in both a surf and a record shop. I have never found that I need to be arrogant towards anybody who may know less about the a given subject than me.

Attitude if for wankers who feel they don't need repeat custom.

Can I borrow your oversize glasses when I visit BLB for the first time ; )

Jan's beard tends to chafe the inner thighs, however.

Tickles, too.

im not 'slagging' it off.....i was looking for a general consensus of the place, i neither like or dislike the place as ive never had the chance to get a personal opinion of the place as thats what i judge a place on, my experience, not stories.

however i felt the story my friend told me for his experience