Bikes & Boards

Wow.
I don’t think that often going into any store, but what happened to me here is nothing short of amazing.
Let me set the stage. My bike is old. It has gears. Many. And it makes noise. A lot of noise. Which means that I was not able to cycle very fast anymore, because noise usually means also friction…
Anyway, the other thing that was wrong with it were the breaks. It came to the point where it was pretty dangerous to cycle, so action had to be taken. Since I am a good procrastinator, this was also very much overdue!
So we find ourselves on a Saturday afternoon, around 4pm… 1 hour before closing time. I actually was going to the neighbor (hairdresser), and I thought, why not ask if they have time to fix my brakes real quick. I got into the workshop, and 3 guys were working on as many bikes. Here goes my luck I thought, and against better judgement, I asked one of the guys if they could fix my breaks. Even though the look on his face was a bit difficult, he walked with me to my bike, and took a quick look.“Oh, these are the old style breaks”. whatever. The guys start a quick discussion, with the result being «sure, we can fix it. will be ready in about an hour…». I’m like «Yay!».
So, while I am getting my scalp in order, they work on my bike. and about 45 minutes later, looking sharp, I walk over to them, only to find out that my bike is already finished. the guy just came out of the workshop, warning me that I now should be careful with braking :) So. I went into the store, and paid for everything. I remember it was not super expensive. about 15 euro for materials, and 20 euro for labor. not too bad!
But. now the story takes an unexpected happy twist. I get on my bike, and start cycling. Wait just a minute. What is going on here. Where is my soundtrack? Really, I hear nothing. Nothing at all. This is amazing! In the 45 minutes or so that they worked on my bike. they not only fixed my brakes, but only fixed the noise. I now have a bike that cycles almost perfectly.
So just to be clear. They did work that I did not ask them to do. They did not charge me for it, and my bike is now a super happy bike again… and by association, I am not also super happy!
Truth be told. I have not been to other bike shops on IJburg yet (remember the procrastination?), so I would not be able to say if Bikes & Boards is better or worse than the other stores. but I CAN say that IF your bike is broken… go here, because they can fix it quickly. and then some!