The Green Commuter

This was my first time coming to this shop for a tricky job I couldn’t take on myself.
I experienced friendly staff, fair prices, and good communication when there was a small delay. They were very accommodating in terms of letting me test out equipment and even offered me a loan bike while my main ride was being worked on.
I’d recommend looking them up — they’re open all weekend and open late on weeknights which is good from a normal working prospective.

I do as much of my own bike work as I can, and the weirdos at the Green Commuter are always super helpful with giving advice and checking over the work. When I built a wheel they figured out what spokes to get and ordered them for me, and they trued it when I was done. Today I needed a tool for my bottom bracket, and because they did not have it in stock, they loaned me theirs.
Moreover, I have never gotten the typical bike shop attitude from these guys. People who know about bikes often have this condescending thing where they act like you are a moron for asking a question or for suggesting that you might know something about bikes, and it is nice to come to this place where that is never an issue.

My family and I have been coming to the Green Commuter in Takoma Park for several years.
The staff are friendly and responsive, the price is very reasonable, great selection of bicycles (traditional human powered and electric-​assist)
In 2012 they built us a custom electrified Yuba cargo bicycle (which we loving refer to as the school bus!). The bike fits a family of four (two adults and two children), allowing us to zoom around dc/​va for dinner/​groceries.
Occasional tune ups/​repairs to this electrified bike at the shop are well done and we will continue to frequent their store.
Great store and people, would recommend to friends and colleagues

I had a simple problem. I went for a ride and my rear tire got a nail in it. I brought it to them assuming it was a simple fix. They said I couldn’t pick up the bike till the next day. No worries. When I picked up the bike the next day, I paid the $ 40 for the new tube and tire (they couldn’t match my original knobby tires). When I got home I noticed that my back tire (the one they repaired) was bumping into the brakes. I brought it back and they immediately said the problem wasn’t their repair job, but that I needed some type of alignment for my spokes. I pointed out that I didn’t have this problem before, but they insisted. Fine. I paid another $ 25 for the repair. When I picked up the bike again, the wheel was acting the EXACT same way, it was hitting against the brakes and not riding well. This time I didn’t leave the shop. Their tech looked at it. They apologized for not noticing that I had a broken spoke and told me the repair was another $ 12. My assumption was that I broke the spoke when I got the flat. I pointed out that I probably had the broken spoke all along and that I shouldn’t have to pay. They wouldn’t budge. I ended up leaving the bike over night and didn’t pick it up for another week. When I did pick it up, they had the nerv to tell me the wheel was on its last leg and I would need a new wheel and that my other spokes would give out soon. A good service place would have diagnosed the problem early on and would give me the choice to repair the spoke or replace the wheel, not bleed me over $ 75 and then tell me I’m gonna have the same problem down the road. I tried to get these guys to admit that I had a broken spoke when I came in the first time to repair my flat tire. I didn’t ride the bike since I got the flat. But they wouldn’t concede and felt no shame trying to get me to buy more items from the shop. I should have gone to Takoma Bicyle, where I usually go. They always do good repairs for a reasonable price. That was my mistake and I blame myself. But do yourself a favor. Don’t fall for the smile and cheerful manner of these guys. They act nice but are not the most honest bicycle repair people in the area.

I had my work done over year ago. Only reviewing now because my frame is totaled.
Okay. Where to begin.
I dig their mission. Cool. Reduce emissions, get electric bikes/​vehicles on the road. I’m not into that. I like to cycle. No big deal, to each their own.
Anyway, went in for some serious bike work: my seat post had swelled and stuck in my frame from living in a humid salty climate for 5 years. Big problem.
First thing that happened upon going in with my celeste green bianchi veloce (all original campagnalo parts) was a barrage of straight up insults thinly disguised as jokes from the service guy/​part owner. He jokingly told me my bike was worthless and he’d give me 5 dollars for it. No thanks.
Again, I like to cycle. He pushed the benefits of electric bikes on me. No thanks. Got it. Next, offered me a job for $ 10/​hr as a courier. No thanks, I was working as a mid-​level geospatial analyst at the time.
Now onto the work: 2 choices, destroy the frame by using a blow torch to heat and expand the frame and torque that puppy out or slowly cut out pieces of the seat post with the promise that the frame would not be damaged.
I opted for the latter.
I called to check in a week later, they had not started on the bike. When finally done, they never called.
Anyway, it was a labor intensive and expensive job. No worries. I was prepared for that. Now how about that ‘minimally invasive’ work? Bullshit!
The frame has so many stress lines and swelling and beginning fractures on the downtube that is unrideable. They ruined the bike. After consulting with 3 separate mechanics at 3 more shops after moving downtown they agree that the frame was ruined by the ‘service’.
Shoulda just left the seat post in there.
Would not recommend.
Sorry for the scathing review guys, but you earned it.

It’s a bike shop. So just like every other bike shop in the country, they are hugely overpriced and they always try to sell you more stuff than you really need. That being said, their staff is very friendly and helpful. When I went in recently to get a rack for my bike one of their techs gave me some tips on how to install it, but didn’t dumb it down all the way. He figured out how much I knew and just gave me what help I needed, so that was really awesome.

The Green Commuter is a local bike shop in Takoma Junction area of Takoma Park across from the Takoma Silver Spring Co-​Op. As the name implies, the shop specializes in commuter bikes, electric bikes, and other specialty bikes. Two years ago we bought a basic two-​wheeler for our daughter’s sixth birthday. We’ve stopped by the shop a number of times in the neighborhood and they fill the tires and make little adjustments for free. This Spring, they gave us a no-​cost basic tune-​up. This is a small shop, so the selection is not huge, but the products are of high quality and we are very happy with the service.

After reading negative reviews of the Green Commuter, I was concerned about going there. To be honest, I’m new to the area and only ended up there because I couldn’t find Takoma Bicycle (I have since found it). Anyway, I was completely satisfied with my experience. The guy people have said is rude (Gary, I think), was really nice to me. He did maybe have a bike-​shop-​guy attitude at first, but that was just the first 2 minutes, and then he was great. I needed my Cannondale lefty mountain bike re-​assembled after bringing it up with me from South America. It also needed a tune-​up. I told them to replace whatever they felt needed replacing. I maintain my bike well, but it hadn’t had a bike-​store tune-​up in many years.
They did the work faster than what they’d told me, they called and emailed to tell me it was ready, they charged me a very reasonable price, they didn’t replace anything– despite me foolishly giving them carte blanche to rip me off– and the bike is running well. They also brought water for my dog and let him come in and lay down literally in the middle of the store. They just walked and worked around him.
I definitely will return to Green Commuter, and I guess I would encourage people to give them a try despite the negative reviews. I’ll also check out Takoma Bicycle.

I’m not upset writing this review. just disappointed… This place makes no effort whatsoever at solving customers’ problems. I’m pretty sure their attitude is… «who cares about this customer because we already have enough bikes in here that we’re backed up with 2 weeks of work… NEXT!»
There are a handful of unequivocally weird customer service things that happened to me here:
1) I dropped my bike off and they said they could work on it in 4 – 5 days, but I didn’t get a call about approving the work they planned to do until 14 days later
2) On this call, the guy made some weird, insulting comment about how my bike must have not been tuned up since the 1980’s or something. It was awkward, didn’t come off as funny, and I just stayed silent until he realized I wasn’t going to respond.
3) After thinking over the options they gave me for 2 days I wrote them an email and approved the full quote of all the proposed work saying «OK well go ahead. this is fine.» but they didn’t respond until 5 days later and wrote «Shawn, What work would you like done. We talked about a few options.»
4) When I realize they just did no work on my bike, I wrote back «You haven’t started? I said „OK well go ahead. this is fine.“ in my last email. I can’t believe this! My bike has been there 21 days — since May 1^st — and you haven’t even started the work yet. This is completely unacceptable» and «I don’t think I want you guys to do the work unless you compensate me for the fact that it’s been there 21 days without any work done on it when you said it would be ready in 4 – 5 days.»
5) After I gave them the chance to make up for their errors in the one week delay in giving me a quote and five day delay in starting work after my approval, they just write «Shawn, Please come and pick up your bike. I do not think TGC is able to provide the service you are looking for. Sorry for any inconvenience this has cased you, but we can not start work without approval from the customer. Regards, Gary Bailey» and don’t write anything after that.
So basically, they can’t even be bothered to try and solve my problem when they make a big mistake. They’d rather just waste my time by having my bike sit in a shop for 21 days with zero work done on it and not even make a single attempt to make it up to me in any way (no discount, no special offer, not even an apology).
For now, I’m sure they can get away with that attitude because there are bikes in line after mine for repair work and it’s not worth dealing my problems and complaints as a customer. OK. sure. that strategy works for a while, until you’ve pissed off too many potential customers that they talk to their friends, post on Unilocal,and all of a sudden you don’t have two weeks worth of work backed up in your shop anymore…
I will actually be getting this work done at a different bike shop that will give me better prices on the same parts and labor, suggested other more relevant and cost effective work to be done and will not require me to have my bike stuck in there for many days at all. I actually did a direct comparison and the other shop quoted me lower prices for the same parts and labor, although in this shop’s defense its $ 80 tune-​up seems to be a good deal.
Oh well. No one wins in this situation. I was without a bike for 21 days for no reason.
They are not making any additional money off of me (this would have been the third time I’ve paid them for work), they are going to miss out on the $ 350 that I agreed to pay them a week ago, and now they have another 1-​star Unilocal review which means their total rating will now be 2.0 and their 1– and 2-​star reviews outnumber their 3 star reviews (2) and 4 – 5 star reviews (0).
Basically, don’t expect any special customer service from this place. It can work out fine if nothing unexpected happens, but otherwise, they will treat you like you are just a replaceable, unimportant problem customer in their queue of repair work.
I think everyone was friendly in all of my in-​person interactions and it’s tough to give a 1 star review when the owner is a nice guy, but oh well, my bike was in there for 21 days with zero work done and no apology or offer to make it up to me, so I guess they will just have to balance out my 1-​star experience by giving someone else a 5-​star experience.
Will be taking all my future business to 4.5-star rated bicycleSPACE in DC that I’ve also used in the past.

I bought an e-​bike online in 2009 and discovered The Green Commuter when the electronics started needing repairs/​maintenance. While I’m at the store, I usually get other stuff taken care of (tune-​ups, accessories and such). Obviously I could save a bunch of money buying online but I’m more than happy to support a local business. That said, I don’t go unless I need repairs to the electronic parts/​system due to the distance from where I live.
Gary and Joe have never been anything but friendly, upfront and accommodating every time I visit. I am a little shocked at the negative reviews so I thought I would balance things out. I went to TGC without hesitation when the time came to upgrade my bike from the lead acid battery to a lithium ion one ($$$ but so worth it) and recommend them to anyone considering an electric bike.

My daily commute is about 12 miles. I ride my bike hard so it needs work a couple times a year. I was first drawn to this place because they have a great selection of bikes and other gear. You don’t see many shops that sell cargo bikes and other unusual bikes. They deserve points for that.
I first went in to buy something when I needed to replace a crank. They were able to order me one that blended in well enough and hasn’t given me any problems. The one issue I had is that they weren’t open on a Sunday when I was planning to pick it up, They were suppose to be open and I walked my bike a mile to get there. I tried to knock on all of the doors and was really pissed when nobody answered. I went to TPSS and when I came out I checked again and someone answered. Apparently they were at some festival earlier in the day.
The 2^nd time I went here was to repair a broken spoke and get a tuneup. I was worried about how safe my bike was so I wanted a professional to make sure everything was good. They tried to sell me new gears (fixed gear bike), a new rear rim, new rear bakes, and a new chain. I got the bakes and chain. When I picked up the bike it wasn’t running smoothly. It was a slower bike. They warned me that it was b/​c I replaced the chain and not the gears. If I had known that I wouldn’t have replaced the chain. It all left a bad taste in my mouth.
I hope I don’t have to go back here but I’m not willing to totally throw them under the bus.

My wife and I have stopped in twice. This time we picked up a few things for my wife’s city bike. Generally, we found the service to be friendly and helpful. I dig locally owned bike shops crammed to the gills with stuff to check out. Their focus is commuter and city bikes. If you are looking for high-​end racing rigs this is not the place. Gary is very knowledgeable about the bikes and equipment he sells and isn’t shy about giving an opin… providing helpful advice, rather. I found the bike prices to be reasonable but the accessories a bit pricey for my liking.

I’ll keep it simple. The black dude who opened this past Sat was a total a**hole and the Asian guy who did the «repairs» got my rear caliper pushed back so my tire could go back on, but he jacked up my rear brakes so they were barely stopping the bike. Then he told me I had air in my brakes which is causing my rear brake to be spongy. This is bulls*** because it’s a closed, fluid system which requires one to open the system in order for air to enter. It’s also bulls***, b/​c my brakes were just tuned up two years ago and I test rode it just before taking my tire off and my buddy accidentally pushing the brake lever, which caused me to bring my bike in. If I wasn’t riding that day, I would have turned right around when I was met with such unpleasantness from the dude opening the store.
Ps: $ 20 to push a caliper back in is outrageous. Max $ 10.