Neptune Cyclery

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  From 2006-2013, I've visited Neptune Cyclery 5x, when I visit Florida from Minnesota to ride the Pinellas Trail.  I've been to 3 bike shops on the Pinellas Trail (one in Dunedin, one in St. Pete's, and Neptune Cyclery in Tarpon Springs), and about 30 bike shops around the country, and I have concluded that Neptune Cyclery is the best of the 3 I've visited in Florida, and one of the best I've EVER visited for the following reasons:
  
  1.  FAIR PRICING.  The owner won't overcharge you for rentals and repairs, and sometimes won't even charge you full price, which is amazing for a tourist town.  
  2.  NO UPSELLING. The owner, being a serious cyclist himself, is more interested in getting YOU on the road than in having you hang around the store while he upsells you stuff.
  3.  EXPERT OWNER.  The owner knows not JUST about fancy new racing $1500 bikes, but about $160 racing vintage bikes (RB1s, Nishikis, Bianci Bravas, OLD Schwinns and Treks, etc.)
  4.  FEMINIST OWNER.  The owner never talks down to me, as I have found many bike mechanics do--especially to female cyclists (he has never "mansplained" to me what a gear is).  Hallelujah!  
  5.  GOOD RENTAL FLEET.  Instead of squirreling away their best bikes to sell and renting out only their most indestructible (read: clunkiest) touring bikes, Neptune Cycling will rent you newish, high-end racing bikes (if you want them--you can also get a more touring-type bike with upright bars with wider tires, if that's what you're into).  
  
  To elaborate...
  
        During this visit, I kept one his rental bikes for 3 days and 2 nights.  He charged me for 1 day.... for a $1500 Giant fancy new racing bike.  When he repairs the bike I own, he never quotes/charges me more than my bike mechanics back home do--and I really hold their feet to the fire on what a chain costs because I am not rich--and it is remarkable that he does this because he lives in a vacation town where tourists like me can expect mark-ups.  He's not there to rip you off.  Probably because only two people are working there--only one of them full time.  It's a super efficient, laid-back operation.
        Neptune Cyclery mercifully bucks the trend in bike shops that is sweeping the nation-- the "professionalization" of the bike shop.  You get these young guys there--way too many of them, like 3 or 4 in one shift--and they're not owners, but underpaid and totally exploited mechanics--and they work full-time there.  And although on the one hand I sympathize with their exploitation, they talk down to customers a lot (especially women :( I've found) and the turnover is super high--such that customers like me usually can't build a relationship with a mechanic once we find one we can trust.
      Like the rest of the world, bike shops have gone all corporate, for the worse.  They upsell you everything--electric bikes, recliners, stuff you don't need.  Repairs are outrageously expensive.  So when Neptune Cyclery opens 5 minutes later or closes 5 minutes earlier than the sign says, and there's only two old dudes in there, and it's dimly lit, the big wooden doors are a little forbidding, and they never jump to offer me extra stuff to rent or buy, and the owner never wears a shirt, I THANK GOD there is still ONE BIKE SHOP LEFT in AMERICA that still has bike culture in it: it's laid back; the owner wants to talk to you about RIDING.  That NEVER happens anymore! Man, I miss those days.  The owner always seems like he either just came back from a ride, or can't wait to get back out there for one.  That's the way it SHOULD be.  His mechanic is part-time; the operation is efficient.  Nobody wears matching tee-shirts with dumb logos on them.  There are no signs spelling out menus of tune-up prices that are 20% higher than they should be.  Neptune Cyclery is about the joy of riding.  It's about comradery.  It's not about selling you stuff.  When I'm in Neptune Cyclery, I want to RIDE, and it gets me everything I need to do that.

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  Posted on 06.17.13 Lucia P.

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  Directly on Pinellas Trail.  Was open on Jan 1 when almost all other shops closed so we were able to rent some nice bikes for a very pleasant ride.  Helpful.

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  Posted on 01.30.12 J D.

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