text: If you want a secondhand bike and own a foldup chair this is the shop for younnPRICE Excellent bikes stripped and rebuilt to a high standard are available for pocket money Parts are also available for tuppence nnQUALITY Mixed You could find a bike here that is in top condition or you could find a banger that really ought to have been scrapped Parts are found here in varying conditionsnnCHOICE If you arrive on a Saturday morning at the crack of dawn you still will not have any choice You can often get backed into a corner by the pressure of the waiting masses behind you and there will only be an arbitrary selection of perhaps thirty or so bikes Plenty of old parts and spares thoughnnSERVICE Staff can be helpful but are often rushed off their feet Problems will start to occur if you are not happy with the bike you got from them Do not expect someone to fix your bike for you as that is not what The Bike Station is all aboutnnIt is about quarter past seven The suns light has just started warming you up and you know there are another three hours to wait before you can even start to think about getting into the shop You have become bored of every little bit of stone around you and the three or four people in front are leaning on each other to sleep You wish that you had brought a chair of some kind or a duvet Or breakfast nnJust before you look back up the line of punters waiting optimistically for their dream bike and see that the queue stretches back out onto Causewayside and down the road Finally you start to shuffle into the shop and you know that you have to grab a bike quick The owners may only let in ten or so people at a time but that does not stop those in front finding a better bike before you can You swing your head from left to right hoping to see a relatively new Dawes Galaxy or another nice Reynaulds frame but as you near one prospective bike it is grabbed by someone who sneers at you like they have won a great prize You look around in desperation and quickly grip the frame of an old roadie that does not look too shabby but has a few terrible and bent fittingsnnYou take it for a test run spend the whole time convincing yourself that it is perfect for you and then you depart with some of your cash It is only ua you think to yourself but you know that it is money that could go in a kitty for a better newer and ultimately more suitable bikennSound terrible Sadly this is what happens at this place Better organisation could avert it but as yet this Saturday morning if you go turn up at least before am bullrun continues Not only do you often end up with a lessthanworthit bike but if you try to take it back saying things like could I swap it for another they will reply by saying that you donate the bike to them this is how they get the bikes initially and purchase another on the following SaturdaynnOpening hours for collecting parts and getting advice are limited too The Bike Station is run primarily by volunteers but this results in a limited commercial entity with many problems Staff confidence is another and you often come out of the place feeling that the staff knew as much or less than you did when you went in nnOn the other hand if you want some cheap spares this place is brimming with them Shelves drawers and pots of generally sorted bits and bobs are all over the place and you can get on with finding them in your own time Staff are friendly and if you are unable to find a part they will ask around the other mechanics to see if they can help The shop also plays excellent music curiously and I am always pleasantly impressed when I hear tunes in a variety to parallel my own manic music library nnI have mixed feelings about this place All I can suggest is to try it out for yourself even the Saturday madness and just avoid being forced into a buy Definitely try here first for spares of all types