Riverside Cycle

Great shop with friendly, honest staff. Just got a quick service and I am back on the road. Thanks!

When your bike is broken, you take it to a shop with trepidation. For example, how long will it be out of service? Will the repairs be done right? Will I be ripped off? At Riverside, the customer service is off the charts. Yes, the service department has plenty of bikes lined up needing major specialized work, but if you come in with a minor problem – an adjustment, flat, spoke – they make someone available to do the fix immediately. They want: 1. Satisfied customers and 2. As few bikes in «service storage» as possible. I’ve now been a customer for 15 years and regard this shop as one of Newburyport’s treasures. I’m not big on writing reviews except when I find an exceptional business. Riverside is one.

The service these guys provide is far and away the best I have experienced from any company. I have purchased three bikes from Riverside. The attention to the customer is fantastic. They remember my name when I walk in and are always extending a welcoming hand to shake. They have tuned a funky dérailleur twice for no charge on my Specailized Fatboy. Prices are not the best, but they are very competitive. Price does not matter to me if the product is good and the customer service is good, and here at Riverside both are stellar. Shops like this is why you don’t buy online. Go to your local bike shop and buy your bike there. And if you live around here, buy it at Riverside.

I have been a customer for 20 years of various bike shops from Boston north. These guys are tops when it comes to sales and service. Their customer service is bar-​none and they go out of their way to help you. You can buy your parts cheap online or even bikes. But supporting a local shop like Riverside provides benefits you will get back ten-​fold for the cheap entry price of online parts. Service, recommendations, help in a pinch, I can’t speak more highly for the guys.

Sent mail requesting cost of rental, since I was going close by on vacation from CA. They sent me the weekly rental charge and they requested the size bike I am used too. I sent them the info and was quite impressed thinking they are going out of their way to make my ride excellent. When I went to rent/​pick up the road bike the price went up $ 100 more. Not happy. On vacation with no bike as planned. I have read the reviews of this shop and was expecting better.
I had been to this place for 3 other times/​years vacations and have been very happy with their service.

Not sure what all the elitist/​snobby comments are about, but my boyfriend and I were in today for some pretty basic repair/​tune-​up work and the repair people were prompt, knowledgeable and super friendly even though our bikes aren’t snazzy in any way. Highly recommended.

I meant to write this review months ago, but I never motivated to. Sadly I called these guys the other day and was reminded about the horrible service. In short, these guys are your typical elitist biker shop jerks with absolutely no reason to be that way. Last fall I went in on a Saturday and dropped off my bike with a request to adjust the disc brakes. They said it would take a few days and I said that I would pick it up the following Friday. They said it would definitely be done. The next Friday I went in to pick it up and they said it wasn’t ready. I had a ride planned for Sunday, two days later. They said that they were busy and that it would most certainly be done the following morning. I went back to the shop at noon thee next day with my 6 year old daughter. I asked if the bike was ready and they said no and then the service manager decided to be excessively rude in front of my child when I explained my situation. His combative attitude escalated to the point that I had to sit my daughter down afterwards and explain the sad reality abouthow some people on this planet are genuine unpleasant and mean individuals. I could not believe the way he behaved with a customer, never mind the fact that I had a child with me. The fact that he was so horribly rude in front of my kid is beyond reproach.
That was episode one. Then a few days ago I called riverside. I said that I was a customer and I was just curious if they knew the condition of the local mtb trails. It’s been a muddy spring and winter and I suspected that the trails might still be wet. Who better to ask than my local bike shop. The guy who answered the phone didn’t know, but he kindly asked a few of his colleagues who had been on the trails. His response: they said you cannot ride them or you will ruin them for the rest of us for the whole season… He elaborated a bit from there. Wouldn’t any person with some semblance of customer service experience just say something along the lines of: the trails are still wet so let them dry out… Maybe I’m over reacting here, but the way that the guy responded was clearly that of yet another elitist cyclist in a bike shop…
Bottom line, I live nearby and will likely go back only because it is convenient. If you have a choice and the time, go somewhere else. Leave these guys alone to ponder why they feel the needs to behave so poorly and maybe someday realize that customers do speak up in forums like this. Oh and for the owner, maybe you should chat with your staff about their attitude. You are in a small community where people talk and it can’t be good for business. It would be sooooo great if this place had more decent people working there than guys like the service manager and the others there with the horrible attitudes.

The service guys are great. The guys upstairs are rude and condescending. If it wasn’t for the convenience of the location I would find another place.

The Cannondale rep turned me on to these guys when I broke the frame on my Scalpel Ultimate. They had a new rear in stock and I drove the 90 minutes up from Boston to catch them before a big race. I got stuck in traffic but Scott he Team Mechanic for the store team stuck around and got me sorted out — he then proceeded to give me some great hacks to make the bike even better. Sure it cost me a few bucks, but he saw the bearings were already grinding, replaced them, had a new idea for a more efficient bottom bracket and swapped that out, and changed out my headset. All about two hours after the shop was meant to close.
Awesome mechanical work — dedicated to getting it right, and stuck around to provide great service. Great place to have a MTB tweaked, especially if it’s Cannondale.
But beware! Scott doesn’t drink beer so if you want to thank him, bring a pint of Ben & Jerry’s. (The Cannondale Rep got the beer!)

If I could give these guys 10 stars I would!
My experience with Tom and Aaron at Riverside has been great! It begins last year when an out-​of state bike shop shipped my awesome carbon-​fibre road bike to Riverside for a rebuild. The other shop packed the bike incorrectly and it arrived to Riverside with a broken and unfixable frame, and missing components which would cost a ton to replace.
Tom was on the phone in a hot minute to tell me the bad news, and to say that he would work with the other shop to replace the frame, even though the other guys had forgotten to insure the bike when they shipped it!
He and everyone at Riverside made the experience as seamless as possible. When the other shop tried to back out of the deal, they all went bat for me until i was on a new and awesome bike, at no charge to me,… And They’ve been great on repairs when needed ever since…
More recently I’ve been in the market for a commuting bike. Tom and Aaron have been so helpful and patient to help me find the right bike despite my cranky knee and back issues, and pretty limited budget. I’m looking forward to making this next purchase from them soon.
I can’t recommend the shop enough, and hope you stop by too!

These guys saved my ass!
Me and a buddy started at 5am to ride from Boston to Portland. Last train leaving Portland was at 6:45pm. 14 miles into the ride, my rear dérailleur imploded and took some spokes with it. My buddy, (the first guy to save my ass on this day), had brought his chain tools. He was able to shorten my chain and convert my bike into a single speed.
The ride continued with the plan being we would ride until we found an open bike shop on or near our planned route. We knew it would be hours before a shop opened, but figured we would exhaust all options before we called it a day.
It was sloooooooow going on a single speed, but sometime before 10am we hit Newburyport. I was half expecting the bike shop to tell me I was shit out of luck, or that it would take a couple days, but much like the E.R. at Mass General, the staff at Riverside Cycles sprung into action. It was nothing to them! Like everyday some guy riding from Boston comes in on a busted bike telling them he has a train to catch 100 miles away.
Scott, the ace mechanic, took my bike, told me it would take about 20 – 30 minutes, and pointed us to a kick ass bakery (key lime whoopie pies) where we could refuel while we waited. When i went back to get my bike, Scott asked about our route to Portland. He was nice enough to call his wife to make sure the Route 1 bridge was open (we had no idea it had even been closed, I guess it was hit by a Tug boat or something and just reopened a week ago). He also recommended some joints to eat in Portland if we had any time to spare.
Thanks to Scott and the guys at Riverside Cycle we made it to the train 30 minutes before departure. A little close for comfort, no time for duck fat, but not at all possible without Riverside Cycle.
Speedy service, fair prices, great staff, and unheard of refreshing customer service. If you are anywhere near Newburyport, please go checkout Riverside Cycle and thank Scott for me.

These guys hooked us up with our bikes for the day on Monday and were super helpful and friendly. The dog Cooper is awesome. Cheap rentals too, with pretty much no time limit except «be back before we close». Looks like they have a pretty sick selection of bikes for sale too.

I was very disappointed with the service I received at Riverside. They were more interested in making a sale than in helping me find the right bicycle for me. I’m a novice biker and having never purchased a bike of this quality, I had many questions. When I asked about the different features and functions on the bikes, I was told only that I didn’t have to worry about ‘those things”. The sales person was very keen on selling me one particular bike that he kept guiding me to without providing explanation about the other bikes, or providing explanation about why this bike was especially good for me. After riding the bike, I decided it didn’t really fit well and I wasn’t even offered other bikes to try. That sales person gave up on me and helped someone else. They only care about the sale and not the customer!

Aaron & his crew at Riverside are so terrific that I call it my «local» bike shop even though I live in North Andover, and it’s a 20 minute drive (or 50 minute ride) to get there.
Alex is right: It’s not just a shop — it’s a community. Once you connect into Riverside, you connect into their rides. They have a big variety, from ones for local sightseeing tours for people on hybrid bikes, to club rides for faster riders (in association with the Essex County Velo cycling club), rides for mountain bikers and cyclo-​cross riders, and routes for people looking to jump on a cruiser bike to ride around wonderful, tourist-​friendly Newburyport. And once you connect to the rides, you build friends with other folks who like Riverside.
The store has upped it’s game recently, bringing in some new blood that’s been really helpful at polishing this already-​shiny jewel. The team has done some remodeling, pushed product growth, and otherwise built on what was a terrific base. This season (2011) will be a good one at Riverside.
I bought my «mid-​life crisis» (read «top-​end») bike at Riverside after shopping all the main bike shops north of Boston. Yeah, it was partly about bike choice, but I could have bought this particular bike from one of several stores, and Aaron won me over with his attention to detail and willingness to let me be anal-​retentive and not get bent out of shape. ;-)
He also more than demonstrated his skill as a bike fitter. He took plenty of measurements of me in all kinds of straight, and bent-​up positions, and after doing the initial dial-​in using the measurements, he really REALLY knew what to tweak to improve my power transfer to the bike, my comfort, and my happiness. He also used my old bike to check out my overall riding position & style before he ordered my new frame, and in fact improved my fit on my old bike — despite me having paid to have a full fit on it at another shop (that used much more high-​technology to fit me) just months before. I MUCH prefer Aaron’s fit to the high-​tech fit; I’m more comfortable, more powerful, and he just instinctively dialed it in for me. It’s a good demonstration of bike fit skills. By the way — I felt the price for the bike was more than fair, given his investment into making it work for me.
Oh, and it’s a great repair shop, too :-) I’ve had several bikes serviced there, and each time I learn something. I recently was having front dérailleur troubles, and the mechanic showed me 3 things I was doing wrong in self-​servicing my bike. You can tell the greatness of a shop by how orderly the benches are; the benches are out for all to see at Riverside, and they’re always organized. This = good repair shop, IMHO.
Riverside is one of those local bike shops that you should know, love, and spend your money at. Bike shops overall are frequently labors of love of the owners; often running on too-​thin margins with customers that either are frustrated, or in love with their bikes. But they run bike shops because they love bikes, and the people who ride bikes. Make friends with your local bike shop; it’ll be good for you, and for them. And Riverside is the place to do it.

Has to be the best bike store in the state for service. They are the nicest guys and will spend the time necessary to properly fit a bike. Both the road bike and mountain bike selections are huge. Everyone from the casual rider to the hardcore riders can find something here.
Everyone who works in the shop is a rider themselves and have used most if not all the products they sell. If you want a great bike shop who isn’t going to hassle you as well as provide information on local rides and the cycling community, this is it.
The beginning of the year bike sales are the best in the state. Find me a bike shop that would put a sub $ 1000 bike on sale at 20% off with the economy the way it is, well… they did it. Favorite shop hands down