Vernon Barker Cycles

Shocking experience of being charged approximately double the initial estimate and still left with a non-functional bike. This from someone who apparently has been repairing bikes for 40 years.The most concerning part of the experience; the brake “repair.” Dave was asked to attach hoses to a new pair of shifters and bleed the brakes. On getting the bike home though, the front brake wasn’t working. Having taken the bike to another shop, the reason for this was confirmed as a lack of brake fluid in the system.Dave was made aware of this. His response; “I am clear that it was correctly filled with fluid and bled.” Well, I’ll let you take a look at the videos on Google Maps showing how the brake was returned (Dave was also sent one of these) and be the judge of that. Perhaps you agree with Dave, perhaps you think it’s a fundamental safety failing.That aside, as with previous reviews, I felt other aspects of the workmanship were poor, and costly given the number of unresolved issues. Other problems included:- Not being able to covert my wheel from a 142mm to 135mm axel. All necessary parts were provided but the work ended up having to be completed by another workshop.- Incorrectly attaching an E-tube junction box and taping the handlebars (although Dave did admit to this and refunded me the cost).- Being charged for gear adjustment despite having no functional gears and, on getting the bike home, finding out the wires for my gears weren’t even plugged in.- Carrying out work beyond what was agreed without contacting me to find out whether I was happy to incur the additional costs.

Work locally to this store, and currently taking part in the Cycle300 charity race for CR UK. Bike was taking a bit of a battering from so many miles the past few weeks. Dropped in after work one day, expecting to book in for a service, and they spent the next half hour with it, putting it all back as it should be - with no charge! Absolutely astonished by the level of service from this place; would recommend in a heartbeat. Thank you so much for all your help, Vernon Barker Cycles. You deserve all the praise these reviews have been giving you!

As always, absolutely fantastic service of our electric cargo bike (crucial due to being our main form of transport) - very thorough job, high levels of expertise and friendly staff always willing to answer any questions. Thanks so much!

Honest thorough trustworthy fair. Good service on my electric bike.

Unfortunately similar to the review below. There had been a few niggles with previous work but I'd forgiven them because they are so convenient. He struggled to internally route a rear brake and rather then letting me know about the issue he just externally routed it, charged me and phoned me to pick up the bike. I realised when I got home but when I went back to ask him about it he became very defensive and rude with swearing. Won't be going back.

After reading some reading some reviews about this company I took a vintage bicycle frame to be resprayed. It took 4 months to be completed. The results were very disappointing.My advice is go to Bob Jackson of Leeds or one of the new enthusiastic places such as cycles in motion.

I found Dave's workmanship to be poor and his attitude belittling to the point of being rude. Twice I was sent away with issues, one I repaired myself (which he denied was wrong) and the other I had to go back to show it wasn't right. I would not trust him to do a good job.Another friend had a similar experience where they failed to recognise the issue with her cleats and was made to feel that she was at fault not the actual mechanical problem.

Got a pair of wheels built up by Dave. Asked if the hubs and rims I was supplying would be ok as they were straight pull, all fine apparently. Rear wheel stayed true for about 20k, Dave blamed this on the hub being too dished. (It's a rim brake DT swiss hub, renowned for being good hubs) it became apparent that he'd limited experience of working with straight pull hubs. Had to go to another shop to get wheels working, gave Dave several chances, maybe you'll have better luck with an old school wheel.You can see the lack of tension after 1 20k ride in the video....

Solved 2 problems with my frame that my local bike shop could not. Years of experience that was quickly apparent. Really professional and excellent attention to detail: milled a few parts to properly fit my bike. Proper engineers.

This is a real bike shop. It smells of oil, paint and metal. The guys who work here really know their bikes. They're uncomplicated, uncompromising and genuinely qualified to do the job. We got a bike resprayed here. Looks awesome and wasn't expensive.