Cycle Smithy

John and his team are great to work with! I had ordered a pretty pricy zero setback post for a new CX build and didn’t realize how far back I’d end up slamming the saddle after I’d raced and made some adjustments. Smithy worked with me to get the right post (25mm setback) in and exchanged it no questions asked. This type of service is why a lot of my team relies on CycleSmithy for service and parts for high-​end builds.

As a new bike commuter in Chicago, I was incredibly nervous about wheeling around the city. Luckily, I found Cycle Smithy via Unilocal (which also happens to conveniently be right down my street!) and immediately felt like part of the Chitown biking community. The staff is friendly, patient, and everyone definitely knows their stuff. Beyond that, the service is professional and efficient. It’s comforting to have bike pros right around the corner, but even if you’re a bit further away, Cycle Smithy is always worth the trek! Highly recommend for bikers of all levels.

I won’t bring my bike anywhere else for service.
The team at cycle smithy is really customer focused, and I’m pretty sure they all work there because they are strangely passionate about bicycles.
I’ve been there 4 times in the past month. Each time was a great, fast and high quality experience. They even looked over my 5 year old’s bike, just to make him feel part of the atmosphere.
Highly recommended.

Incredible service once again! On a city ride this morning my wife noticed her old Schwinn Collegiate was tough to peddle – I saw the back tire rubbing the frame, obviously out of alignment.
Ride it over to these guys and it was fixed in five minutes and even toed in her brakes to eliminate some brake squeaking.
The owner is always there and goes above and beyond for bikers. I have gotten a few urban Giro helmets here as well.
Thanks to Cycle Smithy! I will go no where else…

Cycle Smithy has exceeded my expectations every time I have come in. They have a great selection of bikes and amazing customer service. I built a custom bike there last year, have had them work on and repair numerous problems with my other bikes, and have used them as a resource for awesome bike gear!
Being my local bike shop, I have visited them many times in the last three years and picked them as the shop to build my custom bike. Throughout the process they were awesome, enabling me to create my dream bike. Sadly it was stolen within the year. When I informed the guys at cycle smithy they immediately provide all the receipts need for the insurance company and sent out pictures of my bike to all the surrounding shops. Three months later they called me saying one of their employees had seen my bike in a pawn shop! I was out of town and didn’t know what to do. They were quick to say they could help, notifying the police, sending them pictures and vin info, and asking the pawn shop to put it on hold. Amazing to say when I returned home I was able to pick up my bike with the police officer! I am so grateful to all the staff at Cycle Smithy, they took their service way beyond anything I ever expected and I am a customer for life!

Thank you Cycle Smithy for taking the time to research my bike needs. 20+ years of triathlon racing and 2 back surgeries it was time to invest in a road bike. A couple of sessions with Matt provided options that would allow me to ride long and ease the pressure on my lower back that my Tri bike’s could not. The price was fair and the service exceptional.
Highly recommended.

This is hands down the best bike shop in Chicago. When you make a purchase, whether it be your first bike or your fifth, you want to feel like your getting the best deal possible, while not feeling pressured into something you don’t want. That’s exactly what Cycle Smithy offers.
Matt is one of the most helpful dudes in town in the sales dept and every time I’ve brought my bike in, they’ve either done service on the spot or serviced it in a timely manner, sometimes even free of charge for small issues…
They really go above and beyond here to make you feel comfortable with your bike and I always stop in to say hey when I’m in the area.
Highly, highly recommend!

I have had the good fortune for my «local shop» to be Cycle Smithy. Quite literally, it is a mere city block from my apartment.
I’m not the typical bicycle shop client. I am a major bike-​o-​phile, in that I personally ride 4 different bicycles. Racing 22-​speed, fixed gear, as well as single speed. I spend as much of my day as possible on one or all of my bicycles.
So when I walked into Cycle Smithy, I immediately recognized that the shop was professionally staffed and stocked.
I have brought several large-​scale projects to Cycle Smithy and each of the recommendations I have received from the staff has been spot on. My bicycles are now performing better and I’m liking them even more than ever.
And prices are always fair.
If you’re looking for a bicycle shop that knows its craft and which will stand behind you during good times and bad (I’m assuming — so far only good times for me), then you should check out Cycle Smithy, no matter how far away your place is from it.

This shop is the bomb diggity. Cycle Smithy not only helped pick out a new road Cannondale CAAD8 bicycle for me, but also helped me with free tuneups and flats when I was still a novice rider within the first year of purchase. The salesman are all professional and know a ton about bikes, and will always make sure that your experience on the bike is the best one that it can be. I know where I’m turning whenever I’m in the market for a new bike. Can’t recommend then enough!

Extremely helpful and curteous!

To say I know nothing about bikes serves as the understatement of the century. I can ride one and that’s about it as far as my knowledge goes. Needless to say, it then took me about 6 months to figures out that if my seat is continually sliding down when I ride it that I didn’t have to live with it, I could take it in somewhere and get it looked at, which is exactly what I did.
Brought my bike in and explained what I was looking for and my issue, the extremely nice guy there took a look at my bike, tightened… something (this is my lack of bike knowledge coming into play)…told me to go ride it around and come back with any issues, but I didn’t actually need anything done to the bike. He also looked my bike over quickly and told me everything looked good.
He spent about 3 minutes with me and I expected it to cost 20 bucks since he fixed a problem with my bike that had been driving me nuts for months but when I pulled out my wallet he seemed just mind blown I expected to pay. I guess I was a little jaded over my experience with Performance Bicycle last summer (see previous reviews), but this place seems really standup and knowledgeable. The guy who helped me had the opportunity to take advantage of my lack of knowledge of bikes and sell me any sort of service or part, but he didn’t, which earned my trust and my future business next time I do need some work done on my bike.
If their service is half as good as their customer service than this place is gold. Check them out of you need anything done on your bike, or are in the market for a new one!

This has been my go-​to bike shop for four years for service on my bike. I’ve never felt pushed into any service. The jobs were always well done and within the quoted time. What I love most is the little things that they’ll often do free of charge. They’ve tightened my bottle cage, oiled my chain, and made miscellaneous adjustments here and there, and if it was a quick thing that the desk agent was able to do, they didn’t let me pay. The free, public access air pump outside makes this a place I return to often. I pretty close to never get on Unilocal to write a review, but I’m happy to for Cycle Smithy.

Some say: «Nothing is perfect», but Cycle Smithy is as close to a perfect (bike) shop as you can possibly get. The customer service and dedication to quality, led by the owner’s 100% crude love of all things with a pedal, are beyond remarkable. Doing business with Cycle Smithy is like visiting another era where people treated each other with genuine, warm respect (I can’t stress this enough, places like this are an oasis in a world dominated by bottom line). For sure there are quite a few extraordinary LBS places in the city, since most bike people are some of the nicest you can meet, but Cycle Smithy is best described as «special».

My iphone directed me to Cycle Smithy, the closest bike shop to my location, when I got a flat tire during «Bike the Drive». They were wonderful — my tire was fixed within 10 minutes! When I asked about the price I was told «Don’t worry about it — just go out and enjoy rocking the Drive»!
The store has an incredible amount of biking supplies and great people. Next time I need something done to my bike I will return.

I went to Cycle Smithy to purchase my first bike when I moved to Chicago. The experience started off well with the salesman Matt, and I ended up coming back to Cycle Smithy several times to get my bike maintenanced as I biked all winter long. I received good, honest service each time I went.
My bike recently got stolen and I immediately walked over to Cycle Smithy to purchase a new one. Not only do they know how to profile you to find a good bike for your budget and how you ride, where you’re going to ride etc, they also provide good service and attention to detail that lets you purchase from them with pride and confidence. Highly recommended.

I bought my first road bike from here and I couldn’t have had a better experience! The people working here are friendly, knowledgable, and extremely helpful. Not only did they recommend a bike that was on sale and saved me some serious $$, they also gave me a full lesson on using the bike, allowed me to take it for a test ride, fit the bike for me, and did a quick tune-​up.
They carry a large selection of women’s bikes and an awesome collection of antique bikes, which made for a really cool experience.
I highly recommend this shop!

If I lived in Chicago, I wouldn’t go anywhere else for my bike and bike maintenance. To provide some context: I was moving from Columbus, OH to Seattle, WA and I saw they had Spot Ajax at a great price. So I called them to let them know I was going to be passing through and I’d like to pick up the Ajax.
1 — They were super friendly to work with.
2 — When I picked up the bike, they did a comprehensive fitting to make sure the bike was ergonomically adjusted for me.
3 — They helped me pack my bike into my overloaded car.
4 — As I was plugging directions into my GPS, one of the guys who worked there came out and shook my hand; thanking me for doing business with them.
In short: these guys are top class and were very friendly to work with.
I’d highly recommend these guys to anyone in the Chicago area.

My son had gotten a flat tire so I brought it in fully expecting the repair to take a day or two due to the time of year. The shop seemed very busy with folks checking out all the expensive bikes but yet I was greeted immediately and told the repair would take 15 minutes!!! The entire staff was very cheerful and really seemed to love their jobs. I ran a couple errands, returned in about 20 minutes and my son’s tire was good-​to-​go. Again… very impressive, especially when you are only there for a $ 14 repair and everyone else is buying $ 3,000 bikes. A business run the old-​fashioned way… I love it and shall return.
Thanks for putting a smile on both Father & Son’s faces, Cycle Smithy!!!

Awesome bike shop!
Great selection and friendly people work here
They have free air outside that you can use if your tires are low

I brought a friend from South America here to buy a bike.
Matt gave us red carpet service and everyone else in the shop was very nice and attentive– he found a bike my friend wanted, and the shop helped with handlebar and seat upgrades in time to have the bike packed and ready for his flight home the next day. I totally don’t get the comments about lack of customer service because this is 180 degrees removed from our experience.
I just can’t say enough about Cycle Smithy’s excellent old school customer focused service.
The antique and collectible bikes hanging from the celling are worth stopping in to see even if you aren’t in the market for a new bicycle.