Best bike repair shop(s) in Republic of Ireland?

[AnnieS]

Do any forum members in Ireland have recommendation of a good bike repair shop that has experience with touring bikes or even Thorn touring bikes in particular? I have an old Thorn Club Tour that needs lots of work and I have had bad experiences with a number of bike shops including one shop that said their wouldn't deal with it. Ideally in Cork or Dublin but I could ship it elsewhere within Ireland. Thank you!

[Andre Jute]

Do any forum members in Ireland have recommendation of a good bike repair shop that has experience with touring bikes or even Thorn touring bikes in particular? I have an old Thorn Club Tour that needs lots of work and I have had bad experiences with a number of bike shops including one shop that said their wouldn't deal with it. Ideally in Cork or Dublin but I could ship it elsewhere within Ireland. Thank you!

You'll have more luck asking for bike shops to avoid. Your best bet is to learn to do the mechanical work yourself. That's what I did when I bought a sophisticated bike. Instead of paying for unsatisfactory labour, spend the money on tools. If you can strip the frame, local motorcar painters can spray it for you, or you can send it to England, say to Bob Jackson's with instructions to return it painted with the fork, stem and bottom bracket mounted; those are the difficult parts to fit yourself for the first time. You can buy the rest of the parts from SJS or, if there will be trouble with Customs post-Brexit, at whatever internet parts pusher you like. Chainreaction Cycles in Belfast charges no carriage for components sent to the Republic but for fancy stuff I shop in Germany and France. If you stick to Shimano components, they have amazingly detailed instructions available as (English) PDF's on the net from Paul Lange, their German distributor.

[leftpoole]

Do any forum members in Ireland have recommendation of a good bike repair shop that has experience with touring bikes or even Thorn touring bikes in particular? I have an old Thorn Club Tour that needs lots of work and I have had bad experiences with a number of bike shops including one shop that said their wouldn't deal with it. Ideally in Cork or Dublin but I could ship it elsewhere within Ireland. Thank you!

First of all, your bicycle is no different to any other bicycle. It has a frame, wheels and components. Thorn whilst being well made are still bicycles!
Why would 'one shop' not deal with it at all?

I do not use any bicycle shop to do any work on any of my bikes past present or future!
You might ask 'why'?
Answer:- Experience.
The only sure way to get what you want done to your satisfaction is to learn yourself.
Failing that, it will cost in the short run, but send complete bicycle to St John Street Cycles for repair.
Best regards,
John

[lewis noble]

Hello Annie

It's disappointing that you have had this experience, and surprising that a shop says they won't tackle it; there is nothing unusual or out of the ordinary in Club Tour build and components - Thorn's strength is in matching together well-proved and reliable components, rather than hard-to-sort unusual kit.  Have the shops gone so far along the route of external bottom bracket bearings and double chainsets that they no longer have the tools for traditional (and many would say better) bearings and components?

It would be useful to know something of the history of the bike and previous repairs.  What exactly is wrong with it?  In my (limited) experience, bikes that have been bodged (e.g. threads stripped, bolts of sockets stripped, threads crossed or bent) are much harder to fix, and need more 'out of the box' thinking, tools and experience. Neighbours sometimes see me working on family bikes, and bring along something from their cellars with seized seatposts, bent brake components etc to 'have a look at' . . . . .

Having said that, the majority of things can be fixed.  Good luck!

Lewis

[PH]

I'd ask around any local cycling clubs, see who they recommend.
If it's anything like the UK bike shops are overwhelmed at the moment, some quoting weeks for jobs that would normally be done same day, some not taking on new work till they've cleared the backlog.  Sadly it's sometimes simply uneconomic for a shop to take such jobs on, the time spent on sourcing and fitting equivalent parts, rather than those they stock, can easily mount up to the cost of a new bike. As others have said, most of it isn't complicated, just time consuming, if you don't feel it's something you could take on, ask around and see if anyone has a friend who might.
Good luck