Bradley G
Google
The kind of place you’d gatekeep if it was sustainable, but these folks deserve all the public love we can give them, since that’s what they show their customers. The shop appears unassuming and lowkey but is staffed by kind, extremely precise people who give a damn, many who hit way above their weight in terms of knowledge and expertise. You can trust them with a $30 vintage commuter or a $20,000 road bike as well as trust that you’ll be treated with the same respect. They have an eclectic selection of well-studied inventory from recognizable manufacturers as well as often obscure artisanal and craft fabricators, a number for which I suspect they’re the only US distributor.
I love discovering a few days after maintenance that they did something without even telling me like clean up the frayed end of a bar bag elastic steadying cord when I had merely brought it in for new bottom bracket bearings. They aren’t just knowledgeable they’re wise, and you can tell by how they are able to see beyond your immediate concerns or those you think to raise with them.
They are one of but two bike shops in the world I trust to touch my bikes, which are particular enough that most veteran shops just stand around scratching their heads or are afraid to touch anything. For example I was probably the first in the U.S. with contactless magnetic dynamos mounted on my brake shoes, which I installed myself, and I can’t expect anyone to know or work on them. Comrade Scott (🫶🏻) hears my offhand remark that one light hasn’t ever glowed as brightly as the others and three minutes twelve seconds later he’s adjusted an internal conical washer in the brake shoe to fix a problem that has been staring at me for over a year.
They are very efficient, you can count on them for quick work. If they say there is a wait trust that it would be twice as long and half as fixed elsewhere.
Before I brought my very introverted friend here to build her first bike she was so intimidated, but she felt immediately comfortable after meeting the Comrades, building the prettiest little bike anyone has ever seen.
The amount of Chicago folkloristic types who stop in here is also in the Goldilocks zone, the shop and staff are woven into the community. Of all commercial establishments in Chicago I’ve been struck by how Comrade has the best customers, so keep that going!