Denny’s Central Park Bicycles

We have taken our bikes and kids bikes to Denny’s to repair something multiple times and now won’t go anywhere else. Staff is great and knowledgable. They work extremely fast and have great customer service. A few times we have waited in the store while they have done a quick fix.

Best bike shop in all of mid-​Michigan hands down. Extremely knowledgable, and courteous staff. Mechanics are awesome. Had some major brake squeal and just needed some adjustments, they did it on the spot. I wish I would have purchased my first «real» mtb here, but all of my future bikes will come from Denny’s.

On their website, Denny’s reports that «Labor is also free for the first year and so are all minor adjustments.» It’s my experience that they will not honor this.
I brought my bike in for maintenance within 11 months of purchase, and they charged me 59 bucks to clean the chain and adjust the dérailleur. Based on what the website says, however, it should be free. When confronted on this issue, the merchant claimed that it was messy, so he was going to charge me for it anyways.
It appears to me that Denny’s business focuses around getting the sale. They will tell you what they need to convince you to buy, but then once the sale is finalized, you’re on your own. I got a taste of this on the day that I bought the bike when they sold me the wrong pressure gauge. The bike that I bought had presta valves, but the pressure gauge that they gave me was for schrader valves. C’mon guys…
Then several months later, I came in asking if there was a way to raise the handlebars on the bike. In response to this, the merchant started quoting me for parts and labor costs associated with replacing the brake cables and such. Again… the labor should be free, but not in this case.
In their defense, they do offer you a free tune-​up about a month after your bicycle purchase. Also, they have very well educated staff. There’s a guy named Tom that I have strong respect for that is quite active in the biking community.
They could also benefit from a systems’ update. A lot of the purchasing process is done on paper, and every time I’ve bought a bike from them, they end up scribbling out something and doing the math over again on the receipt.
So in the end, why the 4 stars?
Two points move them in my favor.
1) They’re still the best in Lansing, as far as bike knowledge goes. I’m the kind of guy that reads up on the subject matter before buying an item, and the sales guys here really know their stuff.
2) I believe my earlier experiences to this establishment may have been anomalous. I’ve been here 5 or 6 times now, and all but the first few were positive experiences.
As a final note, this business seems to get all their clients at the same time. If you time your visit so that it’s not during their rush hour (ie… don’t wait until 5:30) you will get considerably better attention from their staff.

We recently decided to get our son a new bike for his fourth birthday. We looked at Toys R Us first, because who wants to spend a ton on a bike for a 4-​year-​old, but the reviews on Toys R Us’ own website weren’t great for any of them.
So we stopped at Denny’s instead and were very impressed. They had a selection of Trek and Specialized bikes for kids, and Don, who helped us, was extremely helpful and friendly. (And patient, which is imperative when you have a 2-​year-​old and 4-​year-​old with you!)
We thought about it for a few days, and my husband and I came back today to choose one of the Trek bikes. Don was there again, and he helped us choose a helmet for our son as well. The store was busy, but everyone was very courteous as we waited for the mechanic to prep the bike and tried to keep our kids out of the way!
We definitely paid more than we would have at Meijer or Toys R Us, but we feel like we got a much higher quality bike, plus the support of a local store (they offer a free 30-​day tuneup plus a year of free minor adjustments).