Bicycle mechanic recommendations

Can anyone recommend a decent bike mechanic in central(ish) Munich please, we are cycling home across Germany back to Sheffield (this Thursday) and just done a roadtest on my partners bike and the gears need some adjusting? We have used a couple of bike shops but the service has not been brilliant so a recommendation would be much appreciated. Thanks, Nick.

I can talk to myself on this thread, I went out to the bike shop in Frauenhofer Strasse this morning and got soaking went, asked the guy if he could sort out the derailleur, he all but told me to get lost and that he didn't do racing bikes FFS, all its got is dropped handlebars. Anyway, I then went to Der Radelbauer at 25 Paul-Heyse Strasse and a top mechanic fixed them in about 5 minutes. So I would recommend Der Radelbauer.

The bike shop in Fraunhoferstr is RIESENHUBER. I went there one month ago to get a new mudguard and they fixed an appointment on the 5th of June! Of course it was because I didn't buy the bike there.
I went then at http://www.velo-am-ostbahnhof.de and they proposed to fix appointment for the week after, they would have charged me 25 euro
When I asked to buy the mudguard they sold it for 5 euro. I'll do it myself.

They're fine, but often booked up for weeks, so you were lucky. Probably it's worst at the beginning of the season in late March/early April.

Last time Radlbauer was booked up, I found a place not far away in Paul-Heyse-Str. called something like Extreme.

DO NOT go to Dr. Bike. I've been there a couple of times and they always do a half-assed job. Just a couple of weeks ago I went to get my light fixed as it had broken off my bike, as well as had the front tire replaced. They mounted the light back on, but never checked the wiring etc. to see if it actually worked. So when I rode it in the dark a few nights ago for the first time, I found that the lights were not working.

They obviously do the bare minimum - the light looked fixed since it was mounted back on, but was not functioning. I also noticed while I was riding it that the chain was also very squeaky - it would've been nice of them just to quickly oil my bike chain, as an added customer service. Needless to say I'll not be going back there.

That being said there is a very nice man at a bike service/used bike shop on Schleißheimerstr. at the corner of Theresienstrasse. He was always very nice and did these little services (oil, tightening the brakes, etc.) at no extra charge. I just opted for Dr. Bike the last couple of times since it was around the corner from my apt.

I second that: Do not go to Dr. Bike! I've let them do an overhaul and none of their repairs were lasting longer than some days.

I'll third that, do not go to Dr Bike. I went there on Friday afternoon and got charged €5 (I know its not much) but I don't think they even looked at the gears and because I'd been in the Hofbrau across the road I didn't test ride and this is what started my Bank Holiday bike trauma.

I used to live right next to Velo and I have never ever been treated a in manner even vaguely resembling friendly. No smiles, just grumpy bike repair people.

Has anyone found a good bike mechanic in town?

Fahrrad Express Müller-Hohaus
Holzstr. 41
80469 München

Tel.: 089/26 43 52

Der Radl Bauer
Paul-Heyse-Str. 25
80336 München

Tel.: 089/53 33 23

Doctor Bike
Schelllingstr. 58
80799 München

Tel.: 089/271 81 43

I always go to RABE for all my bike needs, and they've been great (and good prices). Only problem is they're usually booked out weeks in advance.
I use the store on Lindwurmstr. 203, but they have several locations; check out www.rabe-bike.de. However don't know if there's a difference in service and know-how.

Another place that seems to do a good job is Swim&Bike, (www.swimandbike.de) but again, might not get an appointment on such short notice.

Good luck!

Whats so hard about mending a bike that it needs to go back to the shop. Its not got a motor or engine management. €25 for looking at a bike in student money thats 6-7 pints!! ask a Student hell do it for a cup of coffee and a bit if cake, thn you can cycle don the pub and drind the 4 you saved

Its as bad as taking the car to the tyre dealers to change from winter to summer tyres thats €40 down the drain. Do we all have too much money on TT?

Its just that people these days don't liek to get their hands dirty on anything mechanical. Quite a shame really as along with losing the skill of fixing things you lose the skill of understanding how things work. Result of this is that you can get stuck in a situation if it goes wrong and you are clueless about it.

That being said, higher disposable income and overly complicated cars are factors in this - why do it yourself if you can get someone else to do it? A feeling I do not share, hands off, let me do it!

The bigest problems ive ever had with a car was after it was serviced or repaired, sparkplug few out the engine block 2 days after a service. And the other three were loose as well, had to ring the ADAC as I had no tools in the car. waited 2 hours on the Autobahn drove back to the garage and the Meister said a Marder probably unscrewed them. How dum do they think we are!! If the could remove a M16 sparkplug done up properly train a few of the furry things and replace the spotty gits who work in the garage

sorry for missusing the thread

Okay, how about this; Can anyone recommend a good bicycle repair manual? I'd have a go at fixing it myself, but I honestly don't know how.
Things I need to fix on my bike (damaged by vandals):

Replace back tire spokes (some asshole kicked them out)
rewire back light (some asshole pulled out the wires)
replace back break pad (some asshole stole just one)
mount shopping basket (the bike didn't come with one)

I'm afraid I could totally bugger the bike if I try to do all that alone. The most I've ever done is replace the tube in a tire.

Wierdly I got my bike fixed once in the Kaufhof in Karlsplatz - they have a bike repair bit in the basement (at least they did about a year ago). The guy fixed my bike (braking and gear problems) in less than an hour and it wasn't too expensive. Maybe try that if they still do it.

Just wanted to have a rant and add on to my story here - so I just went back to Dr. Bike to have the light looked at again. I showed him the receipt and told him that I'd only seen the light failure the other day, and automatically he went on the defence. In German "how am I supposed to believe that you only rode in the dark once since we repaired it? This receipt is from 3 weeks ago.. you could've ridden the bike every night since then for all I know. I can't just believe you and then do everything for free...bladiddy blah blah blah"

This is a fair enough argument, but to accuse me of lying when I look so sweet and innocent is just plain illogical.

Anyways, I insist he have a look at it and he plays with the wires a bit, gets the front light working, but the back light doesn't work still. He takes off the cover of the back light and says, rudely:

"See! The bulbs burnt out. You can't tell me you haven't ridden this in the dark." And I yelled back, "are you calling me a liar? Because that's just bad business. As I said, I rode my bike once at night time, maybe it burnt out then. But the bulb shouldn't burn out even if I had ridden it every evening for 3 weeks."

What a dickhead. I will surely not be going back there EVER! I feel also like printing this thread out and sending it to them, so if any of the rest of you have stories, feel free to jump in.

I like http://www.velo-am-ostbahnhof.de

They are good to me. I've gotten quick adjustments without an appointment. I get reasonable advice and explanations. They've never given me a hassle. And they warm up once they know you.

At first you might get a cool look or two (the apprentice can look surly), but it's the Bavarian facade. These guys aren't Midwestern folksy friendly, they are New York big-city wary. But like I said, they warm up.

sheldonbrown.com

I wanted to suggest this a while ago, but could not remember his name but I just stumbled on it again. He covers just about everything I think.

There are a number of branches of Radl Bauer in Munich, so if you can't get an appointment at one, give the others a try. The Zirkus Krone one is pretty central as well for example.
Radl Bauer Shops in and around Munich

This looks like a job for Bicycle Repair Man!

Book - Zinn and the Art of Mountain Bike Maintenance
Sheldon Brown's site has been mentioned

AND

mtbr.com - one of the best forums about biking - you can find all sorts of help and info there...

@jeremy - your link seems broken

don't you mean Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance. I read that book as a student, and tried hard to understand it but got bloody lost for about 8 pages in the middle. Too bloody clever for me.

I have a recommendation for a *fantastic* bicycle repair shop near downtown Munich:

CycleClinic
Heßstraße 54 (just one block north of the Theresienstraße U-bahn stop)
www.cycleclinic.de
Tel: 089 / 85 63 14 82

The people in this store are incredible. They have fixed my bicycle quickly and inexpensively (without my making an appointment), they are friendly, and they have given me a wealth of advise on bicycle upkeep and also where to go bicycling in the area (I've asked them on a number of occasions about various things - they always respond with a smile and a lot of helpful information). I strongly recommend going there.