Recommendation - Flanagan's in Sligo

Ghost Rider

To anyone from the west of Ireland, or anyone visiting there, let me recommend Flanagan's bike shop in Sligo as a place to get your bike serviced.

I arrived in Sligo last week to spend four days touring the west but, thanks to some desperately shoddy work done on my bike in Dublin the day before, my right-side pedal crank had been rendered useless.

So I now needed to replace both the crank and the chainring - no small task, considering my bike had used old Shimano STX parts and there was no guarantee that any new part would fit my chainset, front derailleur etc.

The guy in Flanagan's (not sure of his name but I think he's the owner) bent over backwards to fit a new chainring there and then. And, even though the new chainring was larger than my old one, he managed to get it working as well as possible with my existing setup. He did a really good job and, even though he was working through his lunch break, I could see he was one of those conscientious mechanics who just can't leave a problem alone - always a good sign.

The service at Flanagan's in Sligo was in stark contrast to the service I received here in Dublin. Without naming any names, I went to three bike shops in Dublin - two of them among the better known shops - and I had very frustrating experiences in all three. I wasted a fair bit of money too.

A mechanic in one shop wasted my time by telling me he could fix something without first checking to see if he had the requisite part. It transpired he didn't. Two other shops failed, in different ways, to deliver the service I paid them for. One place simply did not look at everything I asked them to look at, but accepted full payment nonetheless. (I simply didn't have time to go back and complain.) In fact they gave me the impression that they were so busy that I should feel grateful for whatever bit of service they could give me. Well, I can certinaly relieve them of at least part of their workload - by never leaving my bike with them again.

The guy in the other place actually made the problem a lot worse than it had been. By hammering a new pedal on to my right crank, he ruined the crank treads and ultimately caused the new pedal to fall off. This happened outside Connolly Station, minutes before I boarded the train to Sligo - a nice way to start a cycling trip.

Rest assured that I have no vested interested whatsoever in Flanagan's. I just thought I should communicate my recommendation seeing as provincial bike shops probably get less attention than their Dublin counterparts, not always with good reason.

Finally, if anyone from Flanagan's is reading this: thanks, you made my trip possible. Bravo!

Johnny Jukebox

Um, you should do us all a favour and name names. Any 'mechanic' who hammers a pedal onto a crank and strips the threads should be on the dole.