Phil's PhAQs
Here is where you will find all the answers to your questions. Well, at least, Syracuse Bicycle's Service Department most asked questions.
Q: Do I need an appointment?
A: Nope. Bring in your bike, wheel, or random bike part and come on into the store. Take a left turn and head to the service desk. If you need help bringing in your bike, come on in and we’ll make the magic happen for you.
Q: How does it all work?
A: That’s a pretty broad question, but here’s how it mostly works. Bring your bike in, and we will put it up in the stand and look it over with you. We will look at a handful of things including but not limited to tire wear, hub tightness (if you don’t know what that means, no worries, trust us, we’re mostly professionals), chain stretch, worn components, frayed cables, wheel trueness (are they straight), etc. Once we’ve assessed your bike with you, we will give you some options as far as a best path forward while doing our best to be fiscally responsible with your hard-earned money.
Q: How long will you have my bike?
A: These are strange times with Covid. We really want to get you your bike within two days, but the reality is that we’re very backed up at the moment and we’re currently looking at a week and a half to two weeks. If you REALLY need your bike because it’s your only mode of transportation, you have a big event, or if your bike is the only thing keeping you sane at the moment while you homeschool your kids, we will do our best to accommodate you. That said, if you can live without your bike for a little bit, we’ll get it done as soon as possible.
Q: Do you service bikes that you don’t sell?
A: Absolutely. Do we wish you bought a bike from us? Sure. Do we care if you bought it somewhere else? Not really, bring it in and we’ll service it. Hopefully you’ll love our shop and staff, and we can sell you your next bike.
Q: Do you take appointments?
A: We try not to, but we can. If you are coming from an hour away, or you need your bike and don’t have time to leave it with us, we will do our best to be flexible and work with you. Ideally if you can swing by with the bike, allow us to assess it (see above), and make sure we have the appropriate parts, etc. we can then send you on your way with your bike and you can bring it back on a specific day and time so we can perform the work.
Q: Do you box bikes for shipping?
A: Yes, yes we do. We will box the bike for you, and then e-mail you the dimensions and weight of the box. Then you can go to www.shipbikes.com or www.bikeflights.com and they will send you a shipping label. E-mail it to us and we’ll affix the label to the aforementioned box and get it to FedEx or UPS. You’re probably wondering what we might charge for such an amazing service, and the answer would be $100.
Random Thoughts and Tips
If you need a part, brake pad, seat post, bearing, etc., it’s very helpful when you bring the complete bike in. The bike industry has surprisingly few standards, and if you show up and insist that we give you bearings for a wheel we’ve never seen that was taken off of a bike built in 1983, it’s just as frustrating for us as it is for you. We want to help, we promise, but we also don’t want to waste your time and send you home with the wrong thing.
If you need something done quickly, give some thought to bringing a baked good, a pizza, or maybe some beer. Let’s face it, we aren’t above being bribed on occasion. Do you need to do that every time, definitely not, but showing a little love never hurts. We promise not to drink the beer before we close the shop and we’re done working on your stuff.