BicycleSPACE

I may kick myself for promoting this, but they have an awesome community yoga class on Monday nights. They move some of the standing racks and displays so there is a large, open space in the center of the wooden floor. The class is open to all levels and free/​donation only. You’re encouraged to bring your own mat, but they do have some available for use. I have been attending their community yoga class for the past few weeks, and although the instructors rotate, I have enjoyed every class. And I feel good knowing all proceeds go directly to the charity (this month they are supporting Street Sense).

There’s something wrong with BicycleSpace and the people that they employ – at least at the Adam’s Morgan shop.
You walk into what feels like an invitingly large setting dedicated to urban cyclists and expect to be ignored – initially – and then condescended to, once your plea for assistance has been acknowledged.
The trouble is that neither the sales staff or the mechanics have mastered the air of imparting knowledge on the ignorant populace who dare to seek information, service or merchandise.
The mechanics that I’ve dealt with know their craft, don’t tried to upsell. And when they offer advice, it’s delivered without the patronizing and all-​knowing air that you can find in other nearby shops. The sales staff are equally equitable when talking new gear or new bikes. They’re generous with their time and knowledge, while putting you on as many new sets of wheels as you have time for.
BicycleSpace’s generous, non-​superior, friendly attitude may not work for riders who shave all exposed body parts and ride $ 10,000.00 molded, carbon frames, but I’m OK with it.

One of the best bicycling places in the DC metro area. The people who work here are über knowledgeable and friendly. When I resided in DC they were the only people who I would go to service my bike. Reasonable prices, great sales and greta customer service.

This is the only shop I’ll take my bike in DC. Between the positive attitudes of the mechanics (hard to find in this city) and the wide variety of products they have for sale, I could not be happier that they opened their Adams Morgan location. I strongly encourage you check them out!

I came for my third time to BicycleSPACE.

You know that movie plot where the small, wholesome boutique is put out of business by a heartless, flashy chain (Good Burger, You’ve Got Mail, BarberShop)? bicycleSPACE is sort of starting to feel like that heartless chain.
I used to go to their shop when it was on 7^th St. and had pretty decent experiences. Your experience really depends on the mechanic you get. I’ve had a few down to earth mechanics who will be honest and tell you what you do and don’t really need and others that will try to geek you into submission, word-​vomitting irrelevant details to try to overwhelm you with information until you’ve forgotten what you originally came to have fixed and don’t know what you should do. That’s when they up-​sell you. This is considered a form of rent-​seeking in my line of work, and it’s an obnoxious, insulting tactic that no honest or respectable technician in any field would engage in.
So if you’re looking for a shop to service your bike regularly, I’d say talk to the mechanics, get a feel for them and if they give you the wrong vibe, try somewhere else.

Took my bike to City Bikes, which is around the corner, before Bicycle Space opened. I left there $ 300 poorer and with the exact same problems with my shifters. Bicycle Space fixed both problems in less than 24 hours for $ 40 and without the hipster attitude. Nice big store with friendly folks and reasonable prices for repairs!

I’ve been a daily bike-​commuter in DC for several years and this is my favorite shop. Some of their mechanics are better than others, but even when someone made a mistake they were very understanding and accommodating. Very good prices compared to any other shop in the city and the staff is usually quite nice and very helpful. I’ve gotten some great advice from a couple of their mechanics, and they’ve fixed both a wheel and a fork that a terrible bike shop a couple blocks away told me would need to be replaced.

Bike Space may be clean and well-​lit, but beneath its preppy exterior lies an oily heart of lies. Don’t let appearances deceive: this place is the Patrick Bateman of bike shops.
The repair guys I interacted with here continually lied about prices, claimed he «forgot» about services that he then needed to charge me extra for, and tried to charge me for things that any reasonable person would not charge for (cutting the zip ties holding the light to my spokes, for instance).
Pro tip: If the repair guy pretends to be super-​rueful and offer to «split the difference» when he tries to charge a higher price, don’t do it. He does this with other customers to squeeze more money out of the distracted or kind-​hearted.
Bike Space has permanently lost me as a customer.

This is a review of the service department. They are fantastic and clearly have a dedicated leader to facilitate excellent service in a very busy shop. Bravo! I’ve brought my bike in to replace handlebars and for an overall tune up. Each occasion I have been met with professional, competent, and friendly mechanics, as well as fast turn around time. Thank you to the service department. I saw that multiple shops had been opening up around the same time, so I’m sure it was not easy to maintain organization amongst that kind of ambitious planning! Keep up the good service!

This store is the Apple Store of bike shops! I went in with a busted shifter on my recumbent and took the bike to the back of the store. (Genius bar equivalent) They instantly put the bike on the lift and in 10 minutes it was fixed. I also bought some gear and they had the full range of items at reasonable prices. I love this place.
MDA

Very helpful and friendly. Took time to explain things and were not too salesmanish.
I’m not familiar enough with biking to comment on pricing

This shop is all about selling products up front. Support or service is very poor. They don’t stock most parts and have to order them. The mechanics are unreliable. The sales staff are eager to make sales but not very knowledgeable about the products. I’ve been several times now to both stores and won’t go back.

This is more of a comparative simple review. I know my bike fairly well. I tinker a bit myself, but I like to bring them into local bike shops once and a while … mostly just to support the shops and to save myself time and frustration…
I’ve returend to DC after a number of years away. Went to the other Admo shop (aka shi*tty bikes) with a friend to get some simple work on his bike about a month ago, and they a) didnt know how to replace a break cable for an older center-​pull break, b) insisted on him buying new housing (unnecessary for the repair job at hand), and c) charged an-​arm-​and-​a-​leg. Walked into a former-​favorite bike shop to buy a new lock last month (the Q st place… you know which one), and they were super pretentious and even a bit rude to me (what happened to these guys? I used to be a loyal customer…).
So, when I wanted someone to check out my favorite old bike (which had been stored (thrown around) in a basement for over a year while I lived abroad) to simply check if she was road-​ready, I went to Unilocal to find a new shop. I decided to give BicycleSPACE a shot.
The store itself is gorgeous. Spacious. Clean. Modern. When I rolled my bike to the back and explained I just wanted someone to see if she was okay, they gave her a look (commented on which components were original and which were not), tighened the breaks, checked out the wheel alignment, adjusted the break pads, and replaced an end cap on a cable.
This last thing was key. Last time I brought a bike that was missing a cable end cap to a (different) bike shop (for an unrelatedrepair), the shop folks tried to sell me on having the entire cable and housing replaced (completely unnecessary, btw). These guys just clamped one on and said «enjoy riding». They also didn’t charge for the minor adjustments, even though I had my wallet out and was ready to pay.
This is the type of place you want in your neighborhood. Not pretentious. Not trying to sell me things I dont need. Open to do a little tip and tap.
I’ll be back, BicycleSPACE, next time I need new parts or any work done. You’ve won me.

This beautiful-​looking bike shop is a nice addition to Adams Morgan.
But my recent experience with the service department there was just laughably awful from start to finish.
I had bought a relatively inexpensive Schwinn bike online, and I took it into BicycleSPACE to have it assembled. I was initially told they «might not get to it today,» but it wouldn’t take long. By the time I left that afternoon, that had morphed into «a week.» That seemed like a long time to me, but, hey, OK. I was told it would be $ 75, and they’d call me when it was ready.
One week later, I hadn’t heard from the place, so I called to check on the status of my bike. The person told me it would be ANOTHER week before I could get my bike. I asked what the problem was, and she didn’t know. But she promised me that one of the mechanics would call me «this afternoon, within the next couple hours.»
Nobody ever called. So two days later, I called back again. I was still told it would be ready by the end of this (second) week.
Finally, I got an email that my bike was ready for pickup, 13 days after I’d brought it in. I went to get it, and that’s when things got worse.
First, they charged me $ 105 instead of $ 75. When I told them I’d been quoted $ 75, the guy first offered to «split the difference.» I wasn’t interested in that, and, to his credit he ultimately did only charge me $ 75, which I paid. I was sent home with the bike (with no fitting or personal adjustments or anything, which seemed odd).
But here’s the even bigger problem: The mechanics had damaged my bike while putting it together! Not anything major — it was a decorative rear-​wheel fender. But here’s my out-​of-​the-​box new bike with a shattered piece of the fender hanging off the back. The mechanic I spoke with said he’d try to work with his contact at Schwinn and get a replacement part. He promised to call me either that day or the next day with the details.
Now it’s 10 days later. I’ve never heard from the mechanic, despite my calling the shop to inquire; I don’t know whether they’re going to fix the piece they damaged.
The BicycleSPACE people I’ve spoken with during this whole thing have been polite. But the bottom line is that this was bad service with even worse communication, and it remains unresolved.
I really WANT to like this place, and to support a local business. But I would never recommend this place to anyone looking to get their bike serviced.

I had a great experience with the pop-​up store where I got my bike and the K-​Street location, but the service at the Adams Morgan shop really let me down. They only do bike fits at this location.
Before getting into the frustrating experience of trying to get the bike fit, I’ll just say that from talking to other people, shops frequently provide a free bike fit when you buy an expensive bike at their shop. BicycleSpace does not, but they agreed to do it for a reduced price when I spoke to them — one of the reasons along with the initial purchase that gets the average to 3 stars.
So I made the appointment for Friday, because they don’t do bike fits on the weekend. I’d consider that another strike for anyone else who works M-​F. When I get there, the guy who I made the appointment with is totally confused and completely unapologetic. He says I can wait an hour, then backs it down to 30 minutes — so whoever had the hour appointment double booked with me could lose half their service as well.
After 1 minute talking with Tim, who blamed it on someone else before I confirmed he made the appointment, I had no confidence he would do a good job and decided to take my business elsewhere.

Stellar service, and by far the least snobby of bikes shops I’ve been to — they know their stuff and will explain what you need to know, make good recs based on your level of need. Got my used bike checked out and a few tweaks made in no time at all (on a weekday morning). Thanks guys!

Can’t recommend highly enough. Friendly, efficient, effective and no attitude. I had a small matter of a brake cable that needed replacing and was in and out in 15 minutes. I’ll undoubtedly be back should the need arise.

This is the USAA of bicycle repairs. In other words ace beyond imagination character, knowledge and service. I want to go there because they are a delight. And for my experience the repair prices were phenomenal — probably because they were honest and listened.
Tell me more, you say? Last year I went to three local DC bike shops that were not bicycle space to get my well used road bike up to snuff, and they all gave $ 400±500+ estimates — balogna — I could buy a better used bike for that. So I kept riding as is. This year I went to the new bicycle space location in Adams Morgan for new brake pads. They checked the full bike out for free, said I would hugely benefit from a new cassette and chain, and those plus brake pad replacements came out to $ 183. And they were delightful and nice and direct. No feeling they were trying to squeeze in extra to-​dos when I wanted essentials (like the other stores did), no ridiculous policies about having to literally sit in the store — no stepping out — while they did the service or wait for days and days (Ah-​hem, a certain Logan Circle bike shop).
They like bikes, they like people, they know bikes, they know their individual self value and don’t act all Kool with a K club like for some weird reason a lot of DC bike shop staff act.
So. If you don’t need to be validated by Kook with a K treating you with an edge, and if you do want your bike and your time to be in great hands, go here. Even if it is not your closest shop. It is soooooo crazy worth it.

The entirety of my experiences with Bicyclespace — including their new Adams Morgan store — is that they just care about giving you good, honest service. I feel very comfortable taking my bike here — I don’t end up feeling like they’re just trying to maximize their profit. This is the opposite of how I feel about a certain nearby bike store up the street. The mechanics will even tell you how you can save a few dollars by learning a few quick tips on how to adjust your bike yourself rather than bringing it into the store.