Lanterne Rouge's Page

Hi Jim--sorry, unsure if this is as private as PM but we have to be friends before I can message you. Feel free to destroy after reading.

I never bought a bike there but I used to commute to downtown Evanston from the South Loop; Turin was the nearest store so I often took my bike there for service, or stopped in when I needed parts and accessories. I felt like customer service was downright neglectful unless you were standing at the counter right in front of them. On several occasional I went it, browsed for 20 minutes, settled on the item I needed (like a helmet, or fenders), and the checkout was the first time anybody even acknowledged me. Other times I was ready to drop some dough there on something vaguely big-ticket like a pair of panniers or rain gear and nobody ever even talked to me, so I didn't end up buying there. On the occasions they did talk to me, I felt like they were steering me in directions that were not necessarily what I needed, like to tires that were too light/skinny to stand up to a commute like mine over city streets. 

No quarrel with the mechanics, they always did fine work.

I don't expect to have somebody kissing my ass over every blinky or spare tube, but I think it's reasonable to expect some level of customer service when you're looking at mid-ticket accessories (or at least checking whether you need help or info or not). I know my way around a bike enough that I was able to do okay on my own, but my friend is an utter novice, so it's not a place I would send him. 

It has been several years since I've been there, so they may have totally turned it around, but my experiences were consistent enough over several years that I don't feel like I'm being unfair.

Cheers,

Colin