Bikeworks is like a golden jewel that I wish I'd stumbled onto earlier. I could have been saved a lot of time, money and headache.
These bad reviews seem to be coming from a generation of people who are accustomed to people kissing your butt and begging for a sale. Why do I like the old man at Bikeworks? Because he isn't BSing me. He knows his bikes. He isn't pretending to be nice to try and wheedle a sale out of me. He's honest. He doesn't overcharge. And oh does he know what he is doing.
Oh, and strangely enough, I struck up a good long conversation with him. He is VERY friendly. I don't know what some of these other reviewers are talking about, but he was nowhere near rude to me OR my friend. Was he bending over backwards and brown-nosing me for a sale? Hell no (do these college kids REALLY expect that so much?). Did he immediately show us two excellent bikes and wait patiently while my boyfriend decided between the two, and tried them out for an hour, even past closing time, all the while chatting with me and answering questions? Yep.
He got almost $500 for a bike that my boyfriend absolutely adores, and I sincerely hope that he's around for years to come -- and that I get the chance to support his business many more times in the future.