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| - As I've written in some of previous reviews for cycle shops, each one has its fans as well as detractors, and there are always pluses and minuses for each. Depending on who you ask, any given shop could run the gamut from horrible to great, but I find that the star rating that is most prevalent is probably the rating you should trust. It's with that in mind I give Duke's 3 stars. Here's why.
Duke's isn't a bad shop. It's not run down and the staff there haven't been rude to me when I've gone. Most people I've dealt with there were pretty nice actually. But the reason I give it 3 and not 4 or 5 stars is that in my experience there the customer service I've gotten has simply been just OK. A couple of the people were really really nice. A tall gentleman I spoke to about a specific bike they'd had before and a couple of the girls who work there were very polite. A gentleman with longish gray hair was not excessively rude but has never seemed that enthused and a couple times didn't even address me even though I was the only person on the floor. Another thing that I'm not crazy about is the layout. By far this is the biggest cycling store in Toronto, but the variety is not that great. Maybe it's because they wanted to specialize in the types of bikes I don't ride, but they typically only have a few fixed gear and they're not displayed in a way that makes them stand out so as to find them right away. The selection also says to me that they're looking to satisfy only the beginner rider (at a price roughly around $200 more than your average starting fixed) and the very high end ($2200-2300 for the Cevelo T1 last year and the new Cannondale around the same price this year). Nice bikes in the high end, nothing special on the lower end. I won't hold this against them too much as it may just not be their target market, but there are other things I don't like as much as other shops either. Whereas many cycle shops display the rims they sell so you can see them first hand and gauge what quality and aesthetic you want, Duke's keeps their rims downstairs where the customer can't see them. When I brought in my bike to replace the front wheel, they only had about 3-4 options. Not a fan. Also, it's definitely a store where it helps to know what you're talking about already. For instance, I got a Gatorskin tire there and they were charging $75 for it, whereas it's usually $55 max anywhere else. There is two types of Gatorskin so it may have been the pricier option, but it looked exactly the same as the one I already had which was $50, and I checked the specs on the tire so I feel pretty safe that it was the same version. I only bought it because it was an emergency replacement situation. Other examples are: Pedal straps ($11 at Duke's, $5 at Urbane), Inner tube ($12 at Duke's as opposed to about $7 anywhere else) and almost all accessories.
The pros are the staff is mostly all friendly, they do have some pretty sweet bikes if you ride race or mountain or anything with gears, and they have an excellent selection of bike carriages for kids, racks for carrying stuff on your bike, and the store is spacious and clean. They have a great selection as well of Cervelo bikes, and also carry Cannondale and I believe Trek. They have a nice selection of parts and Brooks stuff and are full service.
Overall not a place I find unpleasant to shop at but I'd probably only go there if I had something specific to buy such as the T1 or fluorescent green Cannondale Fixie.
Generally too expensive. Better for starters than riders looking for an upgrade on parts.
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