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Best Shop Review EVER!

Whitney Wright

Reviewer stats3 reviews • 2 photosReview left by Whitney Wright

5 stars

This bicycle shop was a godsend and may have saved my life! I came down to the area from northern Indiana for the 2023 Hilly Hundred, which is a two-day, 100-mile cycling event. I was way too optimistic about finding a place in Bloomington to tune up my bicycle the day before the event, and then couldn’t find anyone who could squeeze me in, EXCEPT FOR PENGIN CYCLE WERKS!

On the phone, the owner (Michael?) told me he couldn’t, in good conscience, have me participate in the event before my bicycle was tuned up since it had been hundreds, maybe thousands, of miles since my last one; he said if I could get there in an hour, they had 30 minutes for me.

THANK GOD he did see my bicycle because he ended up working on it for OVER 3 HOURS because it needed so much help. What could have killed me is included in the photo I attached. There was a crack in my front hub that likely would have fully snapped during my ride, which could have been really dangerous if I were going really fast downhill. I have gone over 45 mph on my bicycle on a downhill and I cannot imagine flipping over the handle bars as my bicycle falls apart below me and my feet are still attached to the pedals.

Anyway, as you can see in the second photo, he completely switched out the front fork AND brakes AND front wheel/tube (he had no other fork that fit my bicycle, but my wheel and brakes didn’t fit the fork). I believe he also redid some of my front brake lines since he had to do a new brake. Michael and his wife were absolutely amazing and I am so thankful they cared more about my safety than whatever they had planned to work on previously. I’m sure they had other customers who were ahead of me and promised their bicycles by a certain day and time, but they decided to help me instead for WAY LONGER than they told me, and then only charge me a pittance. Thank you so much—like I said, you may have saved my life, or at least spared me from hitting my head and breaking some bones.

All that to say, this bicycle shop is great—they are very kind and VERY knowledgeable. Michael had answers for literally everything I asked and explained what he was doing and why he had to do it. He called me before progressing really far on my bicycle to let me know the major changes he needed to make so I could do this event, letting me know pricing and time. He also gave me tons of information on the bicycles around the shop; it is evident this guy, and his wife, live and breathe bicycles and also genuinely care. Go to Pengin Cycle Werks!!!!!!

Thank you Whitney! I am very meticulous in my shop. Customer safety comes first. I am so glad we caught the problem before anything drastic happened!