Clarence St. Cyclery review by Tim Hughes

I ride every day and need to by a new bike every 3-5 years. Just recently I went through the long and painful process of buying another ride. Long - because the curse of Australian bike shops is that (like car dealers I suppose) each store signs up with a particular manufacture - meaning you have to go a lot of stores to try different bikes. Painful - because (again like cars) bikes in Australia are so much more expensive than bikes in America. All of the online information on bike selection comes from the US - giving me good information but also a glimpse of the prices I should be paying. In the end I bought a bike from Clarence St Cyclery. Two factors drove the decision and will keep me coming back. Firstly they gave me fantastic service during the test drive process. I need to try the bike i eventually bought in a bigger size. We set an appointment for the time and place for the test drive and they met it. Sounds simple, but amazing how many bike stores were not that organised. Secondly they open their service centre from 8am for drop off. This is so convenient. Most bike stores have their service centre keep the same hours as their shop. Means drop off has to be at 9am which does not work. Being able to drop off a bike on the way to work and still make the office by 830 is great.