Block Bikes PDX

Being new to the area I stopped in to get acquainted with the area bike shop. This is one of the best LBS experiences I have ever had. Having lived all over the U.S. I have had to get to know several shop owners /​mechanics to get any amount of customer service, much less a decent bedside manner. Often times having to prove my knowledge to get treated like a person.
Not at Block Bikes. Flint was immediately welcoming and answered whatever questions I had. I am super happy to have this as my home shop here in St. Johns. They have just about what you’re looking for. Nothing more, nothing less. As someone who wrenches on his own bike’s I was really happy to see a selection of tools right at the front counter.

I recently stopped in to have some adjustments done as my bike was shifting all sorts of terrible. They immediately assessed it and told me what needed to be done and offered to do it on the spot or I could pick it up the next day. Because of some previous plans I opted for next day pick up. It was ready right away after they opened the next day, I came to get it, they explained everything, and the price was spot on what they had quoted and what I had expected. They’re super friendly and as an additional plus as a lady, I didn’t get the weird attitude I sometimes get from male bike shop folks. I’ll definitely be back!

When this store opened I was pleased to see a bike store near my daily commute route and started visiting them right away. Since then, I’ve been unfailingly delighted with the quality of service here. Ben and Flint are excellent mechanics and good conversation. I often receive immediate service. On two occasions I’ve left my bike locked up out front after hours with a flat tire. When I call the next morning to tell them about it, they’ve *already fixed it*. I couldn’t ask for better.

I had a weird experience with these guys. I brought 2 bikes in to get all tuned up. Then I waited for them to call me for a couple weeks and didn’t hear a peep. When I went out of town on a camping trip with no service for 5 days, they called me a couple times, left a pretty nasty voicemail and rude texts for me upon my return because the bikes were «taking up space». Going back to pick up the bikes was super awkward. They did a fine job at fixing up the bikes but I will never go back here.

Since getting a bike earlier this year, I’ve visited a few bike shops around town for various things. It’s like anything: it’s always good to shop around when you don’t know what’s out there yet. I checked out Gladys Bikes for their try-​before-​you-​buy saddle library; bought a helmet at Universal Cycles during a sale they had; dropped by Joe’s Bikes to ask a question about belt drives; and of course visited my neighborhood bike shop, Block Bikes in St. Johns for a few must-​have accessories. So far, I’ve gotten my lock (PDX Lox), rack, water bottle cage (PDW), pedals (Wellago) from Block Bikes. But I had a recent experience that will probably have me sticking to Block Bikes for most, if not all, my bike needs.
One afternoon, my coaster brakes unexpectedly malfunctioned (the thingy holding up the brake arm had failed) and the resulting skid popped out my internal hub and threw my drive train out of whack. I did the equivalent of limp-​walking my poor bike to Blocks Bikes. The guys there, Ben and Flynt, took a look at my injured steed and gave me a plan of action for repairs at a reasonable cost. I shot off an e-​mail to the bike maker to verify warranty info and I lucked out – they agreed to pay for the parts and install. Ben kindly coordinated getting the needed replacement parts shipped over, and updated me on the process. In just a few days, I had my bike back. The day I picked it up, I decided to add a front wheel brake, too, and Flynt took care of that in a flash. Got a great recommendation: a Tektro and Avid combo for a good price. Cabling was neat and tidy.
Then a few more days pass… I took my bike on a longer spin. It shifted beautifully, but I started to wonder about the belt drive (it was tracking off a bit). At the time, I was in the vicinity of the bike shop Metropolis, so I dropped in and asked them to take a look. The guy there offered to adjust the tension. On the ride home, I noticed a lot more pedal resistance and noise; my thought: the belt’s now waaaay over-​tensioned.
The next day, I head back to Block Bikes. Their assessment: Yep, the tensioning wasn’t right. On the spot, they put my girl on the repair stand and started tinkering away. Ben and Flynt spent 15+ minutes troubleshooting, all the while taking the time to explain what probably happened and why (before and after I stopped at the other place…). No charge for the adjustments. I’m happy, and the bike runs much smoother now.
They have so much patience here for bike newbies, never seeming dismissive or coming off like they are patronizing you (which I often get a whiff of at the bigger shops). At the same time, they can wax poetic about the virtues of Velo Orange components or answer my basic questions about bike builds with enthusiasm that gets you excited, too, but you’ll never get an elitist vibe from them either. I love that. They are also willing to answer questions and give honest opinions that never sound like a sales pitch. I guess it’s that great St. Johns ‘tude. If you live in North Portland, come here for super accommodating, solid bike service.

Awesome & knowledgeable dudes! Fixed up my old beloved bike, now she rides (and shifts!) like a dream. So happy to have Block Bikes in the neighborhood.

These guys are AWESOME!!! 4 years ago, I had my bike stolen from my home… By some random miracle, the police had it! I went straight from the PPD Evidence Impound to Block Bikes PDX! My bike is now back in my hands, and good as new!!! They had it back to me a week earlier than I thought! Kept in awesome contact with me during the process, and just such a pleasure talking to them! These guys are great! Highly recommend! I’ve had great service here on multiple occasions! If I could give them 10 stars, I would!

Had in incredibly positive experience today. On a long ride from the Westside to Flugtag with my brother. Skidded a bit going over the St. John’s Bridge and my tire exploded about five minutes later. By sheer coincidence and good luck, was within three blocks of Block Bikes. Walked my bike over, rolled into the shop, and they took absolutely first class care of me. It was the sort of service where I felt like I was friends with the owner or something. Instant greeting, smile, diagnosis, yes we have a tire for you right here. Yes, we can put it on right now. No, will not make fun of you for your rookie skid move on the bridge. Yes, we will carefully check the air pressure in BOTH tires before you leave. Would you like some water? Wow!
These guys are great. They’re not all that close to where I live, but if you’re in St. John’s, North Portland, etc., I would advise putting them on your preferred list of bike shops based on my experience today.
And, yes, we made it to Flugtag. Oh my gosh is that fun… at least until the Coast Guard shut the whole darn thing down. :(

It’s a smaller store, the selection of lights is good, but I’ve mainly needed it for repairs.
Ben was incredibly helpful every time I went in to ask questions and he was particularly helpful when my bike was involved in an accident. He took his time looking things over and was extremely fast in getting in back to me despite having many others to work on in front of mine.
*They never make you feel stupid if you don’t know much about bikes
*They are up front and honest with you about what you need (aka no up-​selling)
*I never once felt like I was being taken advantage of money-​wise
*They patiently work with you when they clearly have repairs that need to be done
*They get your bike back to you quickly (mine needed massive work and they had lots of others before mine — took it in late on Friday, got it back the following Thursday).
I’m extremely grateful this spot is here and will happily return when more maintenance is needed.

Ben and Flint are amazing. They always go the extra mile to make sure that their customers are taken care of which is why they are always busy; everybody wants to keep coming back for anything that they need bike related. Prices are always reasonable and they are never going to try to upsell you or do something to your bike that isn’t needed. They are fantastic.

Ben is a magical bike wizard and his bike love knows no bounds! His prices are competitive, even compared to shopping online. He’ll help install anything you buy for your bike in a flash! His integrity as a business owner shines the brightest when he recommends improvements based on you and your bike, not on up-​selling. Block Bikes is conveniently located in the center of St. John’s, right by the bridge!

This place is awesome! Full disclosure… I don’t know anything about bikes or bike stuff or pricing or anything bike-​reated. But Ben is such a doll, his co-​worker (gosh darn I forgot his name again!) is also super sweet. A friend took me by here to do business and knew Ben, now I visit this incredibly convenient St Johns store just to say hi myself! Once in a while I even karaōke with him! The place is freindly and welcoming with cool, funky and even pink bikes. Pretty sure they can take care of whatever you got and will order stuff for you… When the time comes, I will surely bring all my bike biz here!

A big thanks to Block Bikes for giving North Portlanders a great place to bring our bikes. I started going here after being frustrated by the poor customer service at another nearby shop. No longer! Everyone here has been very friendly and competent and has always been willing to take a few extra minutes to explain what they did — even when I was obviously fishing for tips so that I could do the repairs myself at home. I highly recommend this place for any of your bike related needs.

Echoing other reviews, «Block Bikes saved my life» YUP, been bike commuting about 20 miles round trip to work for the last few months and my bike has been getting shredded. I’ve swung by Block Bikes twice for help, and they were absolute bike angels.
First incident, made adjustments on my bike for free as they weren’t totally sure what was up. They didn’t try to up-​sell me or make me feel indebted. The opposite!
Second incident, they opened up shop to fix a deflated tire. Say what!
This shop is my new bike shop, lucky to live in the hood!

Block Bikes saved my life!
I almost got hit this morning when an elderly driver didn’t stop while making a left turn. If I had my old brakes from a couple weeks ago there would have definitely been a collision, but thanks to my fancy new brakes installed by Katie I was able to stop just in time. Thank you!

A little over a year ago, before Block Bikes PDX opened, I had one bike that didn’t shift well, and one that didn’t stop well. I took the one that didn’t shift well to another nearby bike shop, the one that had «fixed» the shifting problem a few years back (more on that later), and was told that there wasn’t any way they could make it shift better and that I was just being «too picky.»
For a triple chainring bike, not being able to shift from the middle to upper or the lower chainring is not what I consider a great luxury, but something that a bike should be able to do. The other shop acted like it was my problem, so I left.
I suffered with this a few more months, and fiddled with it a bit and got it to work okay, so I started a bike tour down the Oregon coast. The front shifting FAILED the first full day of riding, so I was stuck basically on the middle chainring for 20 miles into the next town with a bike shop. Fortunately for me, this was the mostly flat part of the ride. The very helpful bike shop owner in Seaside, Oregon, told me that the parts that were on the bike were fundamentally incompatible, and that that was my problem. He said he’d make it work the best he could, and charged me about $ 10 for an adjustment to get it as good as it was going to get, and sent me on my way. (I didn’t have the money to do a total parts overhaul on that particular day or I would have.)
The day after I got back from my trip, my daughters wanted me to take them on an organized ride, so I did. The dérailleur was having problems again, so I got an adjustment at one of the mechanic’s tents. The mechanic told me that the dérailleur/​chainring/​chain/​rear dérailleur combo was fundamentally incompatible, and suggested I see a more full service mechanic.
The next time I was out and about and saw our new bike shop open, I stopped in. Ben, the proprietor, took a look at it, and immediately said, «these parts are not compatible.» Three out of three mechanics couldn’t be wrong. He also pointed out some other goofs in the work that should be obvious to a bike shop.
I’d struggled with this for three or four years and so I went through with Ben and figured out all the work I wanted to get done. He gave me a bit of credit on some of the useable parts he was able to take off the bike and didn’t try to up-​sell me on stuff I didn’t need. He worked within my budget and returned to me a bike that is a joy to ride, that has a smooth drivetrain like one right out of the showroom, no mean feat for a 16 year old bike.
I later took my old Fuji road bike there, and got some work done on it to solve the braking problem. This is my go-​to shop now for anything cycling related. I am so glad to have them here in the neighborhood.

1) Block Bikes does great work and keeps you informed every step of the way.
2) Until the other place with the long history moved out of the neighborhood (no hate, just truth) and Block Bikes opened, I’d never been to a bike shop where I didn’t feel like I had to pretend to know more than I do about my bike or cycling culture in general. I actually enjoy stopping in here, rather than the moderate bike shop-​induced social anxiety (and I know I’m not the only one) that I can get at other places around town.
3) They won’t try to upsell you here. It’s just not what they do. They’ll give you good advice, and will let you know if you need to go somewhere else for some specific retail need. When I wanted to try out clipless pedals, they sold me some SPD commuter pedals, but acknowledged that I needed to go somewhere else (they recommended River City) for the actual shoes and cleats. They also gave me straight talk about heading over to the park to test out the system so that I could topple over in peace and relative privacy.
4) When my bike was a casualty of a burglary and I finally replaced it with an awesome consignment bike from Block Bikes recently, here is how I found out my new bike was all tricked out and ready for me to pick up: I left for the bus on a weekday morning, saw the owner walking his dog, and he told me my bike was ready to go.
5) Their accessories are very reasonably priced. I snapped a picture of something the other day and sent it to my mom, because I knew she was collecting the item in several different patterns (it was one of those wicking circle scarf things that you can pull up to be the bottom part of a balaclava, or whatever). The price tag showed up in the picture, and she was astonished at how much cheaper the exact same scarfy thing was here than it was at REI. So uh, take that, REI?
6) This isn’t the place for you to go to if you want to try three different kinds of padded capris (or really any kind of clothing except for reflective vests and some jackets, when the season’s right). Other than the lack of straight-​up clothing, though, their inventory is conservative but very purposeful, considering the small footprint of the store. They have cool bike things for kids. No, I haven’t been tempted by the alligator handlebars — why do you ask? And that’s definitely not my bike out front with the dino and lightning bolt decals.
7) If I had have never moved to St Johns, but had still discovered Block Bikes, I would be traveling across town to them for all my cycling needs. Once you find that place, you know it’s just not worth it to go anywhere else.

In a neighborhood loaded with bike folks, St Johns was pretty underserved in the past. No more. Block Bikes has been a welcome addition to the neighborhood, and a reliable store where they stand behind their work and are supportive of the community. There may be some limitations to their capabilities right now as they are a start up business. That said, they do good work, are fairly priced and genuinely nice folks.

I have a shop just down the street from Block Bikes and we use a bike for delivery of fresh roasted coffee.
There have been a couple of recent occasions when our bike has needed help so I contacted Block Bikes.
In both cases, Ben did great work, not to mention the phenomenal customer service.
Another aspect of his service that I appreciate is that he doesn’t try to «upsell» you into extra parts and services.
Top notch guy and shop.
Wouldn’t think of going anywhere else.

Block Bikes is a cute little bike shop, and has everything you need. Me and my boyfriend stopped in before a bike ride and bought a couple of accessories and asked some questions. Ben, the owner, is very knowledgeable and enjoys sharing his knowledge with newbies like us. We will definitely visit Block Bikes for all of our biking needs.