Little River General Store

Anna Bergan

2023-08

Nice little store to rent bikes and they also have tubes! The prices are a bit spendy but the bikes are very nice and ride really well! The worker was very helpful and adjusted our seats for us. The store has just about anything you need for a day spent out In lanesboro!

James Woody

2020-05

Had a good time kayaking, went last Tuesday. Made reservations for 3 for the next day. Everything was good to go. 2 to 2 1/2 hour trip took us 3 hours, chilled and went with the current most of the time and stopped at a couple of beaches for a few minutes. You will get wet. I recommend old shoes or water shoes if you tip over and kinda helps getting out where you land at the end. You park at the end and they take you to the drop spot. Life vest provided. $30 for the three of us ages 35-39. Seeing some wildlife was a plus. Be smart if you take electronics, maybe bring a ziplock bag or something. Anything laying in the kayak is going to get wet. It's nice when you call them to let them know you are done. Hope this review helps.

Kathleen Snydar

2023-11

charged our card $1000 more than they were supposed to and sent us into overdraft and ruined our vacation. Didn't get the refund into our account until we got back home. Careless mistake on their part. They were sorry but that didn't help us on a trip where we had no money to spend. They need to slow down when dealing with other people's money. This really had an adverse affect on us

Jason Justin

2023-09

We ride along the bike trails to Lanesboro, Preston and Whalan every year as a family and I've used Little River General Store almost every year. Last year my daughter's bike tire split and they had a replacement tire in stock that fit the bike and my budget. This year my niece's bicycle was giving her troubles so we rented a bike from here for 3 days. The rental bike was great quality and fit her well. She went from the back of the pack to the front so that was nice for everyone. They even stored her old bike in their shop until we returned the rental bike and offered to have their mechanic look at the old bike if we wanted. Lastly our friend rented an e-bike this past weekend and I was impressed with the quality of that bike too. She did have issues with the seat sliding down, but since it's an e-bike you are not needing to have full leg extension anyway. Looking forward to more adventures in the years to come.

Oleg Dzyuba

2023-06

Great rental place, with helpful staff. We rented 2 bikes, they were basically brand new, it was easy to achieve many miles with those bikes.

erik foster

2023-08

Our bike broke down just outside of town. The mechanic was available and the bike was repaired within the hour before we finished lunch! Great place!

Mark Peterson

2023-09

Rented 2 bikes for 2 hr ride, very disappointed.Expensive and price wasn’t’ reflected on web site. Bikes were poorer quality and poorly maintained. My bike’s seat kept on slipping but couldn’t be fixed on-trail without tools. My wife’s bike (electric) worked better but “grinded” consistent with miss-adjustments or alignment.

Rick B

2019-05

This vendor not only had nice equipment and a friendly staff, they were half the price of the competitor across the street. Our first day out we rented a single bike that was smooth and fun to ride. Our next day we rented the tandem rovers- recumbent bikes~ such a blast. One of our bikes had an issue with the chain, however the vendor made it RIGHT in the end! good customer service.....keep rollin!

Andrew Schewe

2023-08

Had a great tubing rental experience. Staff was very friendly and accommodating. I would definitely rent from them again!

magicjake7

2019-05

My wife and I were out in Lanesboro for our first wedding anniversary. We wanted to rent bikes to take the state trail to Fountain to visit the brewery. We stopped in the on a Friday to feel the place out and chatted with a very friendly employee who too time to talk about each bike, the trails, etc. Saturday we showed up around 1030 and were on bikes within 15 minutes. Both bikes were well maintained, comfortable seats and operated without issue over 23+ miles of biking. Overall the product and staff service were great.

Stephanie Michelle Castlewhite

2021-05

Rented a tandem bike for the afternoon. The manager adjusted the rear seat before we left to the correct angle. About an hour into the ride, the rear seat started to loosen and without tools we could do nothing about it. On our way back with about 3 miles left, the bolt connecting the rear seat to the seat post sheared and the seat fell off the bike.We called the shop and they sent out someone to try and fix the seat. The kid arrived without the right equipment to fix the bike and went back to the shop. After walking about another mile he shows up again without the proper equipment to fix the bike.When we arrived back at the shop, the manager asked us what we wanted to do about the broken bike and our bill. We asked her what she recommended. She offered to change our bill from $28 to $22. We felt that was unacceptable since we walked the tandem bike a full hour back to the shop. She kindly agreed to waive our fees completely.Two stars because the bike was sent out not in full working order and they were inept to fix it on two separate occasions. But they did offer a full refund when we requested it, which was greatly appreciated.PS - never use a padded bike seat. It seems like a good idea, but I was in agony (female perspective). I tried the hard seat that was on the front of the bike and it was amazing on my lady parts. :) Just a pro tip.

Brian Brandsmeier

2019-05

We wanted to rent a tag-along trailer for our daughter. A kid, who works as the mechanic, hooked it up. There were two problems. First, he attached it so tight that it turned my seat. Second, the wheel and pedals on the trailer didn't turn. Thankfully we only got across the street before we noticed these issues. When we returned to the store, the kid didn't know how to fix the issues. Eventually we just left without getting to ride on the trail. They didn't even offer an apology. Poor customer service and product knowledge.

really strange But true

2021-05

Just want to give a friendly heads up to everybody, if you use a credit card, you will have an additional 3 1/2% applied to your purchase! Gulp!If I would’ve had my reading glasses on and noticed this I would’ve waited to make my purchase online and saved 14 bucks, same product directly from the bike company.The lady we dealt with was very friendly and helpful but this place is busy so maybe that’s where the mis communication came in?Loved the town and all the excellent biking trails.

james connolly

2016-05

Rented a couple bikes late summer of 15 to ride the trail. Had issues with the pedalling on one. The sprocket seemed to slip. No biggie. Took it back and exchanged it no questions asked. Later rented a tandem recumbent trike and really enjoyed that but it could've used a few more gears (only 8 SPD). Otherwise nice equipment. Friendly helpful staff. Would rent from them again.

Kab Kaniess

2018-05

Similar story to everyone else on here. Reserved boats and showed up 30 minutes early per the directions. So...9:30am. They had us leave the store and meet the bus at the softball field. Thankfully I'd been to the town before and knew where the ball field was. No directions from them. Waited for twenty minutes and watched them load up the boats only to follow them back to the store to pick up paddles and jackets. 20 minutes later left again and followed them back to the softball field. They then grabbed additional equipment and then we followed them back to the store. At this point the bus was taking three right turns every block rather than left turns and the car caravan following the bus was split up. Since we couldn't find the bus to follow we headed back to the store and just asked for a map to meet the bus at the drop off point. They asked us to just wait for the next ride to the drop off later in the day. We got there at 9:30 and at least got a refund at 11 when the bus didn't show up again to pick us up. Waste of time. Poorly organized. Insincere customer service. Not worth the price difference with other vendors in the area.

Laura Kienlen

2020-05

If I could give less stars I would. Kayaks and life vests provided were obviously very worn and a few in our group were first time kayakers. One of the kayaks we got had a crack down the whole kayak so he ended up sinking and losing his belongings not even a quarter of the way into the trek (the other two boys in the group had to tow him to shore while he was holding onto his submerged kayak in an already swift river since water was higher than average where they were forced to drag him over rocks). The boys had to then rig up a tourniquet for the kayak to keep it afloat since there is spotty cell service on the river so no way to call for help. I would also mention there was a tree all the way across the river with the current pushing into it and a 5 foot gap you have to hit between the tree and a quicksand island to get through...we had two people go under that tree and we had to rescue their kayaks as well. Sooo if you are a novice kayaker I wouldn’t recommend this float when the water is high unless you have a guide or someone with a lot of experience. Because we had lost two kayaks, 4 out of our group of 7 continued on to get to our cars at the drop off point and to retrieve the 2 kayaks so we wouldn’t get charged. Thankfully some nice fellow canoers helped 2 of our people stuck on the island across. They got service and called the outfitter for help to get the last person off the island...the help was two 12 year old boys that have never canoed before. The outfitter also never asked if anyone was okay just simply sent a nasty text stating “DO NOT LOSE ANY EQUIPMENT”. When we all got back to the outfitter we wanted a refund for the kayak that had a hole...manager that took us out that morning was conveniently not there...so 12 year old boy to the rescue again who said to give us our money back. Props to that kid, he’s going places in life. As for the rest of it, what a disaster.Manager left my friend a voicemail later that day stating she would refund anything we lost on our trip, when they went back the next day for said refund, nothing was given. Also, she mentioned to us that she hates when people give bad reviews. Well, I usually don’t leave any reviews good or bad, but in this case it was deserved.

Jo Froglegs

2019-05

Looking over the reviews the most recent looks like paid reviews... after my experience there. I have been wanting to come here for years with my family after visiting lanesboro and seeing the 4 person bikes. Finally got the family together, took a day off of work and drove over an hour to get there. We see the bikes out front in all their glory, I was so stoked . we walk into the building and the kid, yes a kid, walks away. .. another worker came over to us, but no words, only to pet my dogs. We go over to the counter and say we'd like to rent a bike. Just a very cold reaction, no customer service smile. Nothing. We say we'd like a 4 person bike that's outside. It's out of order. There's 2, they're both broken. On the weekend of the cities biggest festival weekend. I say we drove over an hour just to ride that bike, nothing but blank stares. So disappointed. Passing the bike later that day I did see a tiny scrap of receipt paper, indeed it said out of order.. no one can read it, its sun bleached and flipped behind the bar. Obviously they'd been broken a very long time. Its a shame they had such poor customer service, something I've been planning with my kids for the longest. We'd been talking about it all morning, they were so pumped. Seriously thought, oh the reviews can't all be true, it can't be THAT bad. But it was.

Nicole Kaupa

2018-05

Awful. The kayaks were terrible quality for paying almost $55 for each one (which was more than what their website said it was, which is illegal) and they showed us a photo of the sign that we were supposed to get out of the river at and it was ABSOLUTELY NOTHING LIKE THE ACTUAL SIGN! We drove an hour to kayak down the river for a bachelorette party and it was a horrible experience because of where we rented our kayaks! Never coming back here and definitely wouldn't recommend to anyone!

Kanae Nord

2018-05

We wanted to rent a junior bike for our 9 year old. We simply asked for help to find his size. The lady was very unfriendly and rude. It was almost like we were begging her to help us! The old guy just seemed tired of us visitors/tourists. They did not get our business. We went across the street to the other bike rental place. They didn't have his size but were very helpful and friendly (and apologetic).

Jackie Klapperick

2020-05

Picked up our canoes and they were all pretty beat up. Even the seats were broken. Very disappointed. I would be asking for a refund. But there isn't a spot for you to complain. Believe me we will not be renting from them again. We canoe quite a bit.

Nathan Resing

2023-10

I'm planning a bikepacking / fly fishing trip down the root river and Little River helped guide me towards some great resources. Thank you!

Stephanie Lindstrom

2020-05

Poor customer service. I was asked if I worked there because I smiled at them.Needed a bike part for our wheel (basic bolt and washer) but was told to go online. When asking about other bike repair shops he said my best bet was online.Sounds like a bike repair shop is needed here along this lovely trail system.

Michael Smith

2019-05

Good bikes, no issues with customer service. This is our 3rd time of renting from them and will continue to do so. They helped us get fitted in our tandem recumbent bike.

Kraig Garmaker

2022-05

Broke my chain before a 22 mile ride…. Super disappointed! Store owner helped me find parts for the chain, and let me use their tools to fix it! Absolutely first class operation. Help this business thrive!!

Brittany Duellman Alvine

2021-05

The main woman was on the phone the entire time I was in the shop so her young assistants helped us. They asked us if we were doing short vs long trip..we said long. When we got off the location we were suppose to, the cops were called and we had no idea. The woman told us we weren’t suppose to take the long trip, and that we couldn’t return in the same vehicle we picked them up in. Horrible communication......... and horrible service.

Chris Lau

2017-05

Super unorganized and not very friendly. Our canoe/kayaking trip was overbooked, so they had to make multiple shuttle runs which delayed our departure for almost an hour. Moreover, one of our kayaks was missing its drain plug so it took in water throughout the whole trip. AVOID THIS OUTFITTER!!!!

Ken Witz

2021-05

Really cool place. Mostly bike and tube rentals but they also have Tshirts, hoodies, bike tools and bags and some other stuff. They are located at a bend in the river so you walk about a half mile and get in the water. After 30-40 minutes you get out and walk another half mile back and you can do it again if you want.

Megan Mutchler

2020-05

Unorganized and said they had tubes but did not have them. Flipped our boats but had a lot of fun out on the water! The river is beautiful but the service not so much!

Nicholas Morgan

2019-05

The used bikes are a good deal, and the employees are friendly. 2 mechanics looked over my bike prior to the purchase to make sure everything was working correctly.

duane glew

2020-05

Poor service:) tried to make reservations for kayaking trip called twice and didn’t have my name down so stop the day before and said no problem be here at 10. Oh Monday at 10 and nobody to take us:( wow basically the management suck!