West Side Cycle

Not sure what is up with all the bad reviews. Will is a straight shooter and almost too honest. He came highly recommended from a bike courier/​cyclist who knows his stuff and I must say the service here and honesty is second to none. These other reviews are ridiculous however sometimes you just can’t please them all. Will has been servicing my bikes from high end to middle and he kills it all the time. Do yourself a favor and bring your bike here.

I have shopped here a couple of times. I have found the staff friendly, knowledgeable and they don’t upsell. For me they are fast, friendly and fair! What more could you want.

I went in last year to get a tuneup and fix a flat.
afterwards my bike dérailleur system was messed up, skipping and changing gears, so went back, spent some cash on replacement parts, it got worse, went back again, spent more cash, still the same, but now had spent $ 350+ on to fix a flat a tuneup and bike was in WORSE condition then when I started
went back again end of 2013 with third complaint, after arguing that it wasn’t me or the way the bike was made (NEVER had these issues before they did the tuneup) they made some adjustments, was better but not perfect
took my bike out this spring, the bike dérailleur behaves like a piece of cr@&, on downhills and up hills or whenever there is lots of torque, dérailleur again constantly skips, jumps, misses gears causing horrible cycling conditions… and the light i also bought the first time broke with button just falling off, useless…
i always try to have nothing but positive reviews, but I just have to warn others about this place, i’ve never spent 30% of value of an asset on repairs and had it come back in worse condition. beware

Not sure why other people did not have a good experience.
WSC was the 3^rd bike store I went looking for a replacement brake lever today. I also had gone to Canadian Tire yesterday. The first 2 did not carry the exact item in stock — only the generic stuff or second hand stuff. In fact the 2^nd store told me that she could not sell me the second hand piece and suggested I try WSC. And I am glad that I did. I found the exact thing I needed to replace my broken lever. The lady working there warned me that it may not fit and suggested I should buy a similar one that was twice more expensive but was not an exact match. As the one I was looking for was half the price and the exact same, I decided to take the chance — especially as she was willing to take it back and replace it with the more expensive one if it did not fit my handlebar. Then the guy finished servicing another customer and walked over and gave me some friendly tips on how to fix it and told me to go try it. They were both very friendly and helpful — in fact I think that the owner is pretty much a straight shooter and tells it like he sees it. This may have put some people off — who are used to salespersons fawning over them and bending over backwards to make the sale.
I think given the variety of bikes (some real nice ones) and very reasonably priced, the store is a welcome addition to the neighbourhood. Will definitely go back.

Bad customer service is an ongoing problem here. Last October I went in to get some minor repairs. It took three days because it was «winter» and they are understaffed. This May I took my bike in to get some minor repairs. It took four days. It was spring and they are understaffed. Guess what? Always being understaffed is bad customer service. They treat you as if timely service is a stupid thing to ask for. That too is bad customer service.

Check out Unilocal for some service comments.

To be honest, of all the bike shops in the city these guys had by far the best prices with the most variety… so why the shitty rating? The owner has an attitude problem.
I was walking by with my boyfriend and decided to ask about their repair costs. I told the guy at the register who also happened to be the owner that my back tire wasn’t rotating properly and I wanted a ballpark of how much it would cost to take a look at it. He pretty much said «I don’t know.» Now I did mention to him that this was my first time having a bike fixed and I was unfamiliar with the typical cost structure. I was just looking for an idea of price, is it gonna be a quick $ 20 or more like $ 200? He was than quite condescending with me when I implied that I was aware of what caused my bike wheel to bust and asked if that information would help. «Sure you know what’s wrong with it» (he said in a creepy baby voice) «Why don’t you tell me what YOU think is wrong with it and I’ll let you know if that’s a possibility». I made the decision at that moment that there was no way this asshole was going to touch my bike!
While my bf was looking at a super nice black Electra with an eight-​ball painted on the side, I mentioned to him that a matching helmet might be cute with it. The owner chuckled overhearing my comment and said that «good bike drives don’t need helmets… if you know what you’re doing that is.» That is maybe the dumbest most irresponsible thing I have ever heard someone say, especially since he sells bikes. That’s like not wearing a seat belt on the grounds of being a good driver. It’s irrelevant! Come to think of it I don’t recall seeing helmets for sale there at all… which is kind of disturbing if you ask me.

File this under — DO NOT BOTHER.
This small, local bike store is friendly, helpful when they are taking the money out of your pocket but if anything goes wrong you are out of luck.
After owning a bike, bought at this store, for only a couple of months it seems everything went wrong and continues to go wrong. Rather than looking into what the bigger problem could be they blamed me for all the things that went wrong with the bike and then charged and charged for all the replacements that were necessary. I had to, in the end, contact the company that produces the bike to get any results.
The staff is rude, belligerent and I would have to say know little to nothing about bikes.

West Side Cycle was my fourth stop on my bicycle hunt (I went to Cyclepath on the Danforth, Cyclemania, Sweet Pete’s and here). The guy working here was super awesome! He was very knowledgeable and helpful. He said he wouldn’t sell me a bike until I had the chance to take it for a spin. You don’t know if you’ll like a bike til you test ride it. The weather was too crappy out for me to do that. They had plenty of cruisers and commuter upright bicycles. I was close to buying a Norco for $ 375 but I decided I didn’t want another steel frame. They rust too much and the Norco cruiser I have is a total lemon. This place had the friendliest and most helpful staff. The only reason why I’m going back to Cyclemania is because it had a better deal for what I was looking for. I feel almost guilty not buying from here because he was so awesome.

Here’s a good cycle shop on Roncesvalles which, though seriously into bikes, prides itself as serving those who aren’t necessarily bicycle nuts. It’s not all high-​performance mountain bikes; they carry cruisers, kids bikes, and accessories for a wide range of cyclists.
You can get a tune-​up here for the standard price ($ 35 – 40), and what’s great about getting it at West Side Cycle is that they don’t pressure you into getting a lot of unnecessary extras you don’t want. If you’re getting the basic service and have a specific problem with, say, your gears, you can ask them to fiddle with them as part of the tune-​up before committing to a separate repair – and the problem might get solved in the meantime.