If you've been putting off some bicycle maintenance because you're worried about finding a good repair shop this summer, check out the Puget Sound Consumer Checkbook summer/fall issue.
The other day I came across a copy, which scored 48 Seattle-area bike shops on sales and repair. Fourteen bike repair shops and eight retail shops received the 'zine's top rating — a checkmark. It also scored local auto repair shops, major appliance repair, florists, and so on.
The semiannual magazine is published by the Center for the Study of Services, based in Washington DC. The staff bases its ratings on consumer surveys, complaints, company surveys and pricing.
For the bicycle repair tables, the magazine surveyed customers on whether the shop did the repair correctly the first time, started and completed the job promptly, informed customers about the cost early on, and the overall performance. It also scored for relative prices charged for certain jobs and accessories.
Checkbook warns that the number of responses can skew the findings; some of the 48 repair shops had a dozen responses, while other had more than 100.
The bicycle repair shops receiving a Checkbook top rating, and the percent of customers who rated it superior, are:
Perfect Wheels — Seattle; 100
Olympic Bike & Skate — Port Orchard; 94
Bicycles West — Lynnwood; 93
Bike Works — Seattle; 93
Classic Cycle — Bainbridge Island; 93
Spoke & Sprocket — Tacoma; 92
Stanwood Velo Sport — Stanwood; 92
Rainier Cycle Sports — Tacoma; 88
Montlake Bicycle Shop — Seattle; 87
Center Cycle — Renton; 84
Old Town Bicycle — Gig Harbor; 84
Bicycle Center of Issaquah — Issaquah; 82
Bonney Lake Bicycle Shop — Sumner; 82
REI — Redmond; 82
If you're new to bicycling, the magazine offers guidelines about how to buy a bicycle and what to look for in a retail and repair shop. The Puget Sound Consumer's Checkbook also rated bike shops for bike prices and sales staffs.
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