Joyride Cycles

After being out of the mountain bike game for a few years, life circumstances finally came together to allow me to get a new whip (one of which being a very recent relocation to Southern Idaho). I have about nine years of experience with Santa Cruz bikes, so I decided to give Joyride a chance. The bikes they have in stock range from hard tail single speeds to full blown downhill monsters, and everything in between. I wanted a simple, reliable hardtail trail bike, so despite not seeing the Chameleon on the showroom floor, I asked one of the clerks if they stocked them. To my surprise, they had more bikes in the back, as if the thirty or so on display weren’t enough. They brought the un-​assembled bike out for me to take a look at, and after a price was quoted, I decided to make the purchase. This was at about 5:00, and the shop closes at 6:00. I asked the tech who seemed to be running things how quickly it could be built, and he said it’d be finished the following day. I explained that I lived about an hour away, but that it wasn’t a big deal, and to my surprise he said that they could build it within the hour. They finished on time, and everything is functioning and looking great. I’m blown away by their selection of bikes, their customer service mentality, and the skill with which they assembled my bike, especially seeing as I bought the lowest priced, least glamorous bike in the shop. I will definitely be using Joyride for all of my future needs for the duration of my time in Idaho.

Great service and great selection! Stoked to find the exact chainring I’ve been looking for all over the PNW while traveling thru Boise. They even installed my new cranks, bottom bracket and new chainring the same morning. Having a great local bike shop is such a treat in these days of internet only stores, and Boise has it for sure in Joyride cycles!

I think the whole crew here does a great job. Outside of selling really good bikes they have the parts you need, the advice to help you get the right parts, and on several times have helped me when in a pinch. Definitely worth making the ride down to Hyde park and checking them out.

Super rad location, love the layout the bikes are all dialed from Santa Cruz to pivot! Very welcoming the lady behind the counter was so helpful, thanks for the shop socks that I’ll be wearing until I get a few holes in them!

Joyride in my new favorite shop in Boise! I’ve worked in quite a few bike shops in the last ten years and probably visited over one hundred and Joyride is one of the better shops I’ve ever been in. I recently started looking for a new shop to give my business to in Boise and ended up trying Joyride since it’s the closest to my house. I’d been into the shop a few times over the years but never really as a consumer since I was working for another shop. The first time I went in and was helped by Phil, the owner, I knew I’d found my new shop. Phil is super knowledgeable, friendly, and when he didn’t have exactly what I was looking for on the sales floor he gave me something free of charge from the service area. Every time I’ve been in the shop since I’ve had similarly great experiences. They always go out of their way to get me taken care of when I need service, usually while I wait, and they do exactly what I ask for. They have limited inventory on some things but their great service and willingness to help more than makes up for that. From now on when I need anything mountain bike related in Boise I’ll go to Joyride first.

I typically dont like to give 1 star reviews, but Joyride has kind of gone awry from the great bike shop it was several years ago. They are one of the few more gravity focused bike shops, so they have a good niche market to be in, especially when most of boise is XC oriented. I have several citations:
1) RENTING a bike, my friend recently reserved a bike from them on saturday (they are closed sunday/​monday). and was told 75 bucks and bring it back first thing tuesday. in my experience with every bike shop, this is standard: if the shop is closed on the return day, you tend to get that day «free» so long as you bring it back near the opening of the business day. the guys rented out the bike my friend had reserved, and was like oops, the owner let him rent his personal bike which was a nicer build and the right frame size, super cool yah? opening tuesday comes, and he gets charged for two days. we let the owner know that we were quoted 75 dollars, bring back tuesday, owner says tough luck…150 dollars. I can see how opinions might be divided on this, but to me it was pretty sleezy.
2) BUYING — this was a long time ago, but i always thought it was a goofy mishap. At one point in time joyride was a transition dealer. and I had ordered a bike through them, picked parts out, CC info, ready to roll. And then a few weeks later, I call them to inquire about order status, and the guy was like ‘oops, forgot to place the order.’ I thought that was weird, when you are ready to drop 4 grand on a bike, which to most people is a huge amount of money. I call back one week later, and they still didnt place the order. Needless to say, I had to cancel it, and ordered it online.
3) PEOPLE — the joyride groupride has been getting a lot of discussion lately on social media about poor trail etiquette. I know of two incidents of them not respecting the trail etiquette, but I wont quote those because I was not there. But i have had a personal experience so I am not super surprised: it’s usually a 12+ person group ride, with a wide range of skill. Some 6″ travel nomads to fully rigid 29ers; needless to say they are somewhat reckless on their downhills; rarely doing a full stop for uphill traffic, if not totally just forcing the uphill traffic out of the way, followed by some duechebag comment. I am all about the downhill when I ride and climbing is just a means to an ends but I like to jog, hike, dog walk, hang out with friends in the foothills, and this bravado attitude makes the foothills almost hostile for non-​bikers; which I am not cool with. Foothills are for everyone.
all in all, i was stoked to have a more trail-​ride oriented bike shop in Boise, but I cant really recommend them to anyone.

I researched where the closest place was to buy a Santa Cruz Juliana. Unfortunately it was 200 miles from home! But I knew I had to ride one to know if research and experience match. I am so happy I found this amazing bike shop. Not only did they have several models to demo they also had the most informative guy to help, Bear. He asked me so many good questions to dial in the bike that would best fit my riding style. I was able to ride 4 bikes and even tho I’d researched and read all I could I decided on another after extensive demo riding. Then they shocked me with a great price.
My husband discuss at length what he was looking for with the owner and he told him about a bike they didn’t even have that he thought would be a good choice for him. Were were headed to Park City and he was able to demo it there and it was perfect. Were were both so imposed with their knowledge, friendliness and stock of bikes.
Were have ben to bike shops all over the pacific northwest and both of us commented on this being the best one we have found. You just dont find this kind of service and knowledge easily, Boise you are lucky to have this gem.

You know, I’ve read the negative reviews here and I have to disagree. I’m not a woman, so I don’t think I have a valid opinion about Amy’s point, but I’ve always felt staff at Joyride to be polite, helpful, and realistic. I took my bike there to ask for a tuneup a couple years ago and the guy told me I didn’t need one. Any time someone basically declines to make money off me, I pay attention.
Obviously from the above information I am pretty ignorant of bike mechanics but never felt belittled at Joyride. I ride my bike at most 3 miles a day (to work and back) and have never gone mountain biking or bike racing, but those things don’t seem to bother the staff when I walk in wearing my office drone clothing and dorky reflective gear. The store is never crowded and yes, the staff are usually busy but it is easy to get their attention.
I’ve only been there a few more times than Kyle over the past 3 years, and I live in the neighborhood too.

I was on their website, where they had a couple of hard-​to-​find parts. There was a problem on the site (without weight specified on the product, it couldn’t calculate shipping). I called, spoke with a really nice guy, and hey presto, he fixed the website on the fly. Really impressive service. I’ll be back!

I had not been here before yesterday, but I was helping a friend who needed help getting her bike in order, and she suggested going here since it was near her old house. Unfortunately, this bike shop exemplified why I do not like to go to Boise bike shops.
We were two women who walked in and the man working was helping others in front of us. Eventually, I asked for two bike tubes, and I specified the size, 26×2.125. I figured that was explanatory, and I also assumed that if I didn’t specify Presta, I would get Schrader valve.
The man looked at us again and said, «Did you look at where you’d pump the tire? Is it more like a car or was it long and skinny?»
I said, «It’s a Schrader.»
I am often insulted by the way women are treated in the bike shops in Boise. There is only one exception — the Boise Bicycle Project. I hate that each time I give a bike shop a chance, I find that the men that work there are sexist.
I am sure he was trying to be helpful, but there is an ignorant kind of helpful that really rubs me the wrong way. I’ll not be walking in here again!