Seattle/Portland Shops

[dumbod]

I'm visiting the Northwest next month. What shops are 'must-visits'?

On a related note, can someone recommend bike rentals in both cities?

Thanks.

[tedschwartz]

in seattle i would recommend branford bike or harriet sports performance and cascade bicycle studio for the high end boutique style stuff. For framebuilders shops- elliot bay bikes (home of the bill davidson of Davidson) and rodriguez bicycles. wright brothers cyclery for the classic old bike shop feel

[tedschwartz]

i think recycled cycles rents bikes in seattle

[PSC]

Montlake bike shop rents bikes and has some cool stuff while your in Seattle.

[bargainguy]

Sellwood Cycles in Portland. They have a pretty extensive used bike selection that you can browse online. Also second the recommendation for Elliott Bay in Seattle -- small but has a good vibe. Not sure who has rentals, though.

Don

[ORMojo]

Three Portland shops that rent better bikes:
Sellwood Cycle (http://sellwoodcycle.com/rentals/)

Veloce Bicycles (http://www.velocebicycles.com/)

Clever Cycles (http://clevercycles.com/services/rentals/) rents city bikes

Personally, I'd start at Veloce. Also a nice shop to visit.

River City Bicycles is also a good visit.

Of course, the thing to do in Portland isn't a shop visit, but visits to the builders!

[krhea]

Portland: If you need ride routes please lmk, also, please join me on one of our club, Portland Velo, rides either mid-week or our Saturday ride. Depending on where you're staying you'll have a great choice of rides in and around Portland. Drink our beer and have a slice at Escape From NY Pizza on NW 23rd. Ride up to Council Crest from downtown, rent a mtb or cross bike for a couple hours at Fat Tire Farm and ride "Leif Erickson Trail", ride the West Hills along Skyline Blvd, ride up the "in town" volcano Mt Tabor etc etc.

Shops:

Velo Cult- might not be open yet, brand new shop to Portland
WesternBikeWorks aka Biketiresdirect- big with lots of cool stuff
Western Bikes- small, boutiquish, hip, high end
River City and the River City "Outlet"- classic Portland shop
En Selle- tiny with a clear direction of hardcore road
Athletes Lounge- big, bright, cool brands
Fat Tire Farm- cool mtb shop
Chris King- call them, sometimes they'll offer you a tour
Renovo- call them, sometimes they'll offer you a tour
Vanilla- " " " "
Universal Cycles- great mix of road/mtb with small parts inventory
Bike Gallery(s)- downtown and Sandy Blvd locations, Trekish but nice shop

Seattle: Hop on the Burke-Gilliam trail and ride!

Shops:

Gregg's Cycles- always voted "best in Seattle"
Recycled Cycles- great place, cool stuff, museum items
Elliott Bay Bicycles- vintage eye candy
Velo Bike Shop- cool shop since the late '60s
Branford Bike- Campy heaven

[MattTuck]

From Seattle, take the ferry to bainbridge island.

http://classiccycleus.com/home/

They've got a ton of old bikes hanging in the shop. Very cool. bainbridge is cool too.

[krhea]

From Seattle, take the ferry to bainbridge island.

http://classiccycleus.com/home/

They've got a ton of old bikes hanging in the shop. Very cool. bainbridge is cool too.

I'll second that suggestion! Amazing place.

[dumbod]

Dang.

45 minutes and a half-a-dozen responses.

You guys are the greatest.

[Der_Kruscher]

In Seattle:

As other have mentioned Recycled Cycles is cool, particularly if you like rummaging through bins for the good stuff. The used inventory is hit or miss but every once in awhile you happen upon a very good deal. They have decent Raleighs for their rental fleet.

I also like Montlake Bike Shop. They have a good mix of cool bikes to suit just about anyone; Serotta, Gunnar, Colnago, Volagi (if you need to see what the hubbub was about), Giant, Ridley, and Salsa. They're also very nice and like to chat about bikes. The shop is only about a mile or so from Recycled.

Still looking to go to Cascade Bicycle Studio myself - they just opened their doors for regular hours a few days ago.

Have fun while you're here!

[fourflys]

"Universal Cycles- great mix of road/mtb with small parts inventory

second this especially if you want to look at/ride an Salsa products... I bought a bike from them this last summer when I was up there on vacation and it was a very pleasant experience!

Also, if Velo Cult is open I can only imagine what Sky has done with the new shop... his shop here in SD was awesome and now he has a ton more room... just an overall great guy as well as Tom and George too...

[cnighbor1]

Old classic bicycles hang everywere
Charles

[cnighbor1]

Take fery boat to Winslow and ride the Islands

[northbend]

^ Listen to cnighbor1. You won't be disapointed

[rwsaunders]

Montlake bike shop rents bikes and has some cool stuff while your in Seattle.

+1...Montlake has a good selection of rentals but call ahead to reserve.

[pjmsj21]

Ditto on Classic Cycles on Bainbridge....also River City in Portland is a great shop....my favorite shop including those in Seattle that I frequent as well.

[Mattbotak]

+1!!!!

Has Velocult moved or just opened another shop?

"Universal Cycles- great mix of road/mtb with small parts inventory

second this especially if you want to look at/ride an Salsa products... I bought a bike from them this last summer when I was up there on vacation and it was a very pleasant experience!

Also, if Velo Cult is open I can only imagine what Sky has done with the new shop... his shop here in SD was awesome and now he has a ton more room... just an overall great guy as well as Tom and George too...

[fourflys]

+1!!!!

Has Velocult moved or just opened another shop?

Sky packed up everything including the employees and moved to Portland...

[akmonkey]

I find myself visiting Seattle now. Without hijacking this thread, can anyone recommend a Seattle bike shop for a bike fitting? None of my bikes are here, so I just want someone good to run my numbers so that, when one of you posts a super sweet ride in the classifieds, I can comment with such things as, "Shucks, it's 1 cm too big." Thanks in advance.

[ORMojo]

Portland: Velo Cult - might not be open yet, brand new shop to Portland
Many of you know of Velo Cult from San Diego, and I've been following their move to Portland, literally including the employees, and waiting for their opening.

According to today's post on their blog, it looks like it will still be a while before they will open.

Posted on February 16, 2012
http://velocult.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/HelloPortland15-580x384.jpg
We have been hard at work building our new dream 10,000sf shop in the Hollywood area of Portland. We are a small shop trying to do the impossible which is to move our store to a much larger building and in a saturated bike market while doing it on very limited funds. Our old shop was only 1,200sf so we don’t really even know how to pull this off but we are doing it anyway. Sometimes you have to take a chance and just go for it. Bravo for my entire crew for believing in this and moving up to Portland to be a part of all this. We are not a corporate mega shop and we don’t have contractors working to get the shop built. We ARE the contractors and we are learning as we go. We are a family shop and we are relying on ourselves and each other to get this place built.

This building was an antique mall for 30 years so it has little display area’s for the different antique vendors. There was a lot of demo that we had to do and while it was hard work I’d lie if I didn’t say it was fun at the same time. Bike mechanic’s building their perfect shop in which to spend their days (and nights). As with most things we do at our store we do it to please ourselves and inevitably our customers end up loving it too because it shows personality, originality and a thought out approach to a bike shop. Every day we come up with a new great idea and go for it so we don’t have a master plan by any means. As of right now we have our cafe area and repair area pretty much completed and now I’m setting to build out the bar. It’s slow going because we aren’t professionals but at the same time we are doing it right. We have removed the ceiling to expose the 7 foot higher bow truss wood beams, stripped the flooring down to the baseboards and got new paint. Oh, and we have a castle draw bridge from a neat old castle that was once here in Portland. Fun little bit of local history there which will become a stage for bands when the draw bridge is down. We have met some really great portlanders who love to volunteer their time or skills to help out and not to mention offer pieces from an old castle. I don’t have a date yet but soon enough we will let everybody know about our grand opening party. We have some big things planned for this party and we hope that you all stay tuned.

[Nags&Ducs]

Sky packed up everything including the employees and moved to Portland...

Why would anyone do that!?!?!?!? SD is the MECCA for cyclists and athletes!!! SD and Boulder that is!! PDX can't compare to SD- no way now how!!! ;)

I like PDX a lot but dang, SD is about the only place in all the US that I would consider living over Boulder.

Look forward to seeing the new shop. Hope they have some nice Nags and DeRosas!

[fourflys]

Why would anyone do that!?!?!?!? SD is the MECCA for cyclists and athletes!!! SD and Boulder that is!! PDX can't compare to SD- no way now how!!! ;)

I like PDX a lot but dang, SD is about the only place in all the US that I would consider living over Boulder.

Look forward to seeing the new shop. Hope they have some nice Nags and DeRosas!


I asked that before they moved... it's about their niche, vintage bikes... they had about 100 really loyal customers I was told, just not enough to make a shop run... Portland's scene is much more in tune with Velo Cult's style... SD is a cycling mecca, but mostly new carbon, Tri, and MTB...

[fourflys]

I find myself visiting Seattle now. Without hijacking this thread, can anyone recommend a Seattle bike shop for a bike fitting? None of my bikes are here, so I just want someone good to run my numbers so that, when one of you posts a super sweet ride in the classifieds, I can comment with such things as, "Shucks, it's 1 cm too big." Thanks in advance.

I would think Elliot Bay...

[Fixed]

civilization
imho
cheers

[Fixed]

civilization
imho
cheers

[Ozz]

I would think Elliot Bay...
+1 It is located just north of Pike Place Market....

[sirbryanclark]

Why would anyone do that!?!?!?!? SD is the MECCA for cyclists and athletes!!! SD and Boulder that is!! PDX can't compare to SD- no way now how!!! ;)

I like PDX a lot but dang, SD is about the only place in all the US that I would consider living over Boulder.

Look forward to seeing the new shop. Hope they have some nice Nags and DeRosas!

PDX > SUM(SD,BO)

[dave thompson]

In Portland, bicycles are much more ingrained, a life-style to many. It's a hugely bike friendly/bike centric city (or eccentric city if you will). It's got more co-ops and tiny shops than anywhere else I can think of.

[reggiebaseball]

I find myself visiting Seattle now. Without hijacking this thread, can anyone recommend a Seattle bike shop for a bike fitting? None of my bikes are here, so I just want someone good to run my numbers so that, when one of you posts a super sweet ride in the classifieds, I can comment with such things as, "Shucks, it's 1 cm too big." Thanks in advance.

Monkey,

For a sport/race oriented shop with excellent fitting I would say go with Herriott Sports Performance, it is at the base of Queen Anne on the back side across the river from Fremont, on Nickerson way.
They have the GURU fit system, it is a mechanical bike that can dynamically move around to get your fit right, while it measures your power and output, pretty cool.

By the same token, if you are a casual visitor to the city looking for a store to browse, I am not sure HErriot is the best stop as it is not a large storefront, though they have about 10 nice bikes built up (Look 695, some new Belgian Ridley with integrated brakes front and rear into the forks), but it is more of a racer service center, than a browse around store.


OP - if you are going to Portland I think you should go to the HET Fairwheel Gallery
http://www.hetfairwheelpodium.com/

It is like a "Modern Bicycle museum" and has several exhibits of interesting custom, awesome bikes.

[martinrjensen]

Elliot Bay Cycles is a block or 2 from the Pike Place Market and it has a lot of old bikes hangng from the ceiling also. For Seattle, I would have to include that, and RecycledCycles for the same reason.I'll second that suggestion! Amazing place.

[EricEstlund]

+1...Montlake has a good selection of rentals but call ahead to reserve.

Way back when part of my duties were running that rental program. Say hello to Neil, Gary and the gang when you stop in for me.