The Missing Link

As I get ready for a bike camping trip across the State of Washington on the John Wyane Pioneer Trial I. Roughy my bike into James at Missing Link for some adjustments and to chang out my stem for a slightly shorter one. I was leaving in just a couple days and I realized with the shorter stem I was not able to use my mount for my garmin. I called James right away to find out what options there were. With Monday being a Holiday and I was leaving Wednesday there was not much time to get part in and installed.
Customer service does not get much better that this. James offered to come in on Monday and open his shop to help me out by taking the part off his bike and installed it on my bike.
I would not take my bike anywhere else. Every time I have been in the shop the service has been outstanding and professional
Thanks James for all your advice and Service

My boyfriend’s old school road bike needed some work beyond the basics he could do himself, so he went in to The Missing Link on a Monday afternoon with the intent to fork over the money necessary to fix it. As the mechanics were looking at the bike they began critiquing its make and quality in a snarky bike-​snob way and then quoted him an outrageous price for the work they recommended. We ended up taking it by a skilled and knowledgeable friend of ours who fixes bikes out of their garage and they called bullshit on the snobs a TML.
I think it’s important to note that not everybody has $ 1000+ to spend on a bike and it doesn’t matter if you think a bike is cool enough. When a person goes to a bike shop to get their bike fixed, they really just want their bike fixed, not hipster attitude or personal opinions about the bike.
When a person brings their bike into a bike shop, they are hoping to have at the very least decent customer service and hopefully a pleasant experience where they feel that the people offering their expertise have their customer’s best interest in mind.
There are so many bike shops in Portland that have better customer service and lower prices than TML. There’s no reason to go there again.

James and Matt are fantastic. Their combined years of bike shop experience shows. So great to have a truly locally-​owned bike shop in the neighborhood. Good selection at fair prices. FANTASTIC repair service. They also have been great supporters of bike to school events.

This is a great bike shop. Matt and James provide high quality work, good prices, and superb customer service that sets them apart from other bike shops in town. We took in a very beat up mountain bike that needed a lot of work. Matt took great care to let us know what really needed replacing and went over what work needed to be done and how much it would cost in advance. They finished the work on time, and at the agreed upon price. They didn’t try to upsell us or charge us for things we didn’t need. When we got the bike back it was perfect. If you want high quality, honest, and affordable service. This is your place!

I work at the ice cream shop down the street, and today I forgot my bike lock at home. So I went to The Missing Link hoping to buy a cheap lock. The person there (Matt) saw my work shirt, asked what my bike needed, then asked when my shift ended. He offered to store my bike at the store for me. When I returned for it 7 hours later, he started to list off minor repairs he had done on my bike; tires refilled, chains greased, brakes checked and oiled, a chronic squeak fixed, and gave me information about what parts were starting to wear down. I’m pretty sure he actually *cleaned* it too. Just because! Who are these people?
When I gushed to my coworker about the random act of kindness, she informed me she too stopped by The Missing Link and found them to be extremely thoughtful and helpful. Obviously, these people are house elves, like the Harry Potter kind, and we should all go there and bask in their kindly and knowledgeable magic.

Staff is super friendly, helpful, and has a long history in the Portland cycling community. The shop seems to be family/​community oriented, but I’ve taken my high end Specialized road bike in a couple of times for service — once for a rear wheel repair and another time for a hydraulic disc brake repair. Both repairs were very reasonably priced and amazingly finished next day! A welcome addition to Woodstock!

Got a bike for the first time in many years and went to this place in search of the essentials: bike lock, helmet, and a new seat. My friend recommended the place and I trusted her judgment.
Rule 1: Don’t trust your hippie friend’s judgment.
This is a small shop and apparently new and the people who work there are quite friendly and helpful. So there’s that. If I were judging on that alone this place would have 4 stars.
However, their selection of accessories is pretty small. (There looked to be a decent number of bikes.) And their prices are a bit high. For example, the only U-​locks they had were the expensive Kryptonite ones (the lowest price was $ 75) and in the $ 40 range all they had were super thick/​heavy chains and such. The helmets started at $ 25, but the majority were in the $ 40 range. And of the few bike seats, the least expensive I saw was also $ 40.
As I said, I went in after getting a bike for the first time in many years and since the place was recommended I didn’t do a lot of shopping around. That was my mistake. I did *not* buy the $ 75 U-​lock because I knew I did not want to spend that much. I did buy the other stuff.
Also, the guy working said that the bike could use a minor adjustment and the fee for that was $ 15. I said sure.
In the few weeks since going to this place I’ve gone to some other bike shops in the area. I still needed a lock, of course. And a while later there was a mishap and my handlebars were out of alignment. I now know that many of the things I bought cost less in other places. And bike shops roughly the same size nearby have a bigger selection. And only charge $ 5 for minor adjustments.
I get that the location of the place probably means they need to charge a bit more to make rent. And the guys there are so friendly! But a larger selection of accessories, and more of them on the lower end of price ranges, would make this place more enticing as my go-​to bike shop.