Fat Johnny’s

My wife and I have been looking for a local bike repair place in Clayton, and came across Fat Johnny’s on Unilocal.We’ve used him 3 times this season for various services (tune-​ups, accessory installs) with the last time being today. My wife is doing the Beach 2 Battleship Half-​Ironman this Sat. and wanted her bike checked out. Johnny was working on a bike when I walked in, stopped what he was doing, put the bike on the rack and gave it a quick one-​over…$ 10. Could of talked me into another tune-​up, but apparently that’s not his style. Needless to say I was pleased, and will continue to bring him our business!

A group of us cruised into Clayton from Raleigh via the Wake/​Johnston county greenway. We had a small mechanical problem in our group and found Fat Johnny’s due to its proximity to Deep River Brewery.
Johnny (I assume) welcomed us into his shop, fixed our issue, chatted with us, gave us tips on things to see in town and we went on our way.
Very hospitable and helpful. We will be back!

Very happy with Johnny’s expertise! He tuned my road bike and installed new pedals on it. Made sure that I could clip in and out with the new petals and adjusted accordingly. Found many things that I knew weren’t right on my bike that other mechanics couldn’t! This will be my new bike shop! Highly recommend, very reasonable pricing and did the work the same day!

I was so relieved to find out that there was a bike repair shop in Clayton, so that I would not have to travel to Raleigh. Today I walked into Fat Johnny’s at 2:30pm to have my bike’s bearings repaired or replaced. I walked in and introduced myself and my issue to Fat Johnny. There were no other customers in the shop. When I went out and got my bike out of my car and brought it into the shop, an older couple had come in, inquiring about buying a recumbent bike.
I was now subject to 15 straight minutes of listening to discussions of recumbent bikes, what they are made of, their pricing structure, where in the US had current stock, etc. Fat Johnny even went into what trails they could take it on! Looking at the couple, you could tell they would cruise it around their cul de sac a maximum of 3 times before parking it in the back of their garage and forgetting they have it. Now this may not seem so bad, until you take into account a few things.
1. All of the answers Fat Johnny was giving were to questions not asked.
2. During this bloviation, I was completely ignored.
No, «thanks for being patient, I’ll be right with you»,
no,“excuse me folks, let me help this gentleman, this will only take a quick minute”, nothing.
After looking at my watch, realizing that I have been standing there for 15 minutes, with plenty of breaks in the recumbent discussion where I could have been addressed, I realized that this was not the type of service I want, and that I was willing to drive 33 minutes for excellent service at Oak City Cycling Project. As I picked up my bike and made my exit, Fat Johnny decided that this is the time he would engage me with his style of endearing customer service. What follows is verbatim.
Fat Johnny: Hey, you can’t wait any longer?
Me: No, I have things to do.
FJ: All right, well have a nice day. (offered up with sarcasm)
Me: I have a shop that offers service and can fix this.
In the end, I am saddened by the experience. Anyone living in Clayton knows that services such as this, and many more, are desperately needed and would do well in Clayton, if properly run. Whatever Fat Johnny’s excuse is, be it regional norms, believing that he was properly servicing the other customer, or anything else, it just isn’t enough.

I have gone to John for several things on my road and mtn bike along with my wife’s road bike. He’s been able to fix everything the first time and for a better price than I can get in Raleigh. He recently did a full tune up on my dirty road bike and it came back looking great. He took the time to clean out all the internals along with polish up the exterior. Also, a great guy who is willing to patiently listen to you try to explain the issues you’re having even when you don’t know what you’re talking about. I highly recommend going to this shop for maintenance.

Okay, I’ll have to admit, the first time I stopped by this place I didn’t know what to expect. Fat Johnny’s Bicycle Repair is located in an old cotton mill in front of Deep River Brewing Company. From the outside, there is no indication that there is a bike shop inside other than a yellow banner hanging at the top of the outside stairs. The wife and I have been in the market for a bike for a couple of years now. We just never pulled the trigger, though we’ve done our share of shopping. Anyway, we were driving around a couple of weeks ago and decided to stop in. It’s a pretty small space but setup really nice. They don’t have a lot of inventory yet as it’s a newly opened business. What they lack in inventory, they make up for in service. They had a bike in a box that hadn’t been assembled yet. It looked like one my wife wanted, so the owner told her to stop by tomorrow and he’d have it together for her. She bought it the next day, and the price was very reasonable. I decided to order one for me while I was there. I wasn’t sure what I wanted, so John listened to me for a while and helped me pick the perfect bike for my needs. He ordered the bike from California at an awesome price. When it came in, it had a few scratches from shipping. He assembled the bike and immediately ordered a new one before even talking to me about it. He called and told me about the scratches and gave me the option of taking it at a discount, or waiting for the new one to arrive. He even said I could use the one with scratches over the weekend while I waited for the new one if I chose not to take it. That my friends, is customer service! I didn’t ask, he offered. John may not have the over the top people skills of your local used car salesman, but he is knowledgeable, helpful and price competitve. I highly recommend this place for your bike purchases and repairs.