Bay Area mechanics

[grnrcr]

Looking for someone who cares about their work. Good attention to detail (cable length, bar tape, proper torque on bolts, that kind of stuff). And familiar working with higher end parts.

Who do you use and love?

[jtakeda]

Adam @ Oakland service course.

He’s a member here but I can’t remember his handle.

[livesadventure]

Anson @ Spoke Easy SF. He’s done 2 impeccable di2 builds for me. He’s a genuinely caring guy too


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[sfscott]

Tom at VeloTech in Palo Alto

[zetroc]

Second for Adam Schwarcz at Oakland Service Course.

[ibis]

A Bicycle Odyssey, and Roaring Mouse have been good to me in the past.

Anyone have any experience with the crew at Above Category?

[pdmtong]

Looking for someone who cares about their work. Good attention to detail (cable length, bar tape, proper torque on bolts, that kind of stuff). And familiar working with higher end parts. Who do you use and love?
where/city are you located and how far are you willing to travel?

[joosttx]

A Bicycle Odyssey, and Roaring Mouse have been good to me in the past.

Anyone have any experience with the crew at Above Category?

AC is very good but very expensive. Not sure if Mike Webber is still there but he was very good. The team at Studio Velo in Mill Valley is the great.

[FlashUNC]

AC is very good but very expensive. Not sure if Mike Weber is still there but he was very good. The team at Studio Velo in Mill Valley is the great.

Mike's moved on from AC. Just Robert now in the service bay.

Second Andres at Beyond Aero and Adam at OSC.

[illuminaught]

Adam, who is... Oakland Service Course.

Cares about his work, actually rides his bikes, and has impeccable taste...:banana:

[srcarter]

Looking for someone who cares about their work. Good attention to detail (cable length, bar tape, proper torque on bolts, that kind of stuff). And familiar working with higher end parts.

Who do you use and love?

4th for Adam at Oakland Service Course. As mentioned above, the shop is just Adam. He can source parts for you or work with parts you bring him (he built a bike for me with parts mostly sourced on the forum). He also builds wheels.

[pdmtong]

IMHO things like torque and cable/housing length should be expected at a certain level of build/price.

By attention to detail do you mean things like chris king headset logo perfectly aligned forward? Housing cut so that the word campagnolo is not truncated and length sufficient to allow some spacers up/down? number of wraps and width of wraps of bar tape perfectly symmetrical? tires installed so tire label centered on valve stem? the small details...

[grnrcr]

IMHO things like torque and cable/housing length should be expected at a certain level of build/price.



By attention to detail do you mean things like chris king headset logo perfectly aligned forward? Housing cut so that the word campagnolo is not truncated and length sufficient to allow some spacers up/down? number of wraps and width of wraps of bar tape perfectly symmetrical? tires installed so tire label centered on valve stem? the small details...



Yassssss! Details all day. I want someone as anal as me. That $hit makes me happy.

I’m in SF. Will give Adam a ring to start since there is so much love for him here.

[Heisenberg]

AC is very good but very expensive. Not sure if Mike Weber is still there but he was very good. The team at Studio Velo in Mill Valley is the great.

webber's gone. mechanical engineering now.

heard whispers of sal in the marina.

[jtakeda]

Yassssss! Details all day. I want someone as anal as me. That $hit makes me happy.

I’m in SF. Will give Adam a ring to start since there is so much love for him here.

Adam is that level of attentive

[grnrcr]

[follow up]

Went to see Adam. I’ve been lovingly staring at this front end since I picked up the bike from him.

https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20190816/1e3ac0073d291f539ba8705e069eb4b8.jpg

[crankles]

[follow up]

Went to see Adam. I’ve been lovingly staring at this front end since I picked up the bike from him.



+this.

[ibis]

[follow up]

Went to see Adam. I’ve been lovingly staring at this front end since I picked up the bike from him.


Is that some sort of protective tape (like 3M clear bra) to keep the cables from rubbing on the lower part of the head tube?

[weaponsgrade]

It's like a ballerina pirouetting on the tip of the barrel adjuster.

[grnrcr]

Is that some sort of protective tape (like 3M clear bra) to keep the cables from rubbing on the lower part of the head tube?



Ding ding ding! I thought about cutting out smaller patches for the hot spots but this looked cleaner to me.

[grnrcr]

It's like a ballerina pirouetting on the tip of the barrel adjuster.



You get me

[onetwentyeight]

Hi everyone!

Adam from Oakland Service Course here. I don't come on here too much, but Ryan said people were saying nice things about me and I needed to clean house on the classifieds, so uhm. Hi!

I would define my builds and mechanical approach as "borderline OCD," logos are aligned, housing lengths are carefully considered. My background is one of artists and engineers, and I like to think I fall somewhere in the middle. Respect for the craft is #1

I've worked in shops in the Bay Area since 2006, including and not limited to MontanoVelo, Bespoke and Beyond Aero. I took frame building classes from Koichi Yamaguchi, and am USAC lisenced as a race mechanic. I worked with Shimano MultiService and SRAM NRS, as well as a few different regional dev teams. Oakland Service Course grew out of me working in my apartment for loyal clients who followed me from shop to shop while I was between jobs, and it eventually built up enough steam that I was able to turn it in to a legitimate business. I moved in to my current space a little under 3 years ago. I refer to it as a workshop, not a store.

I structure my business around my work, but I am set up with wholesale accounts like any other shop. If you bring me a bunch of parts from elsewhere to build, obviously I'm a little stricter about labor costs. The best results always come when we work together from start to finish, so keep that in mind.

I can do fittings, but I don't like to and therefor have partnered with a local coach (Ryan Moore, from Achieve PTC) and he is doing fittings in my shop space. If that's a service you need, I can help put you together.

I am comfortable in working with riders from pretty much every discipline, road, tri, cx, gravel, mtb, you name it. I also love vintage projects, Im not just about today's bleeding edge technology.

As a rider myself I hit the pavement for fitness and fun, and compete in gravel and mtb races. As a personal challenge I did the entire Grasshopper series on the same bike (an older Ibis hardtail) reconfigured a bunch of different ways, just because I realized I could. I ended up in 4th or 5th place in my age group for the series. Kinda proud of that, gunning for a podium step someday. I think I got 29th in the All Mountain at Downieville. Expert class pack fodder, haha. Once in a blue moon Ill hit podium at an XC race.

My website is incomplete, and for that I apologize, I hope to make time to return to that project later this winter. If you'd like to check out my work and get an idea of what I'm about, feel free to browse through my shop instagram @ http://www.instagram.com/oaklandservicecourse/, and don't hesitate to reach out with any questions or inquiries.

Hope to work with you soon,

All the best,

Adam

[2000m2]

A quick thank you to those who posted here. I just needed a straightforward tune up on a bike I bought used. I ended up at VeloTech in Palo Alto and very happy with the service & results. Unlike a few other shops I called, I didn’t have to wait 3-4 months (not exaggerating) to get on their schedule. They had me taken care of in about a week, pretty good pricing too.

[pdmtong]

A quick thank you to those who posted here. I just needed a straightforward tune up on a bike I bought used. I ended up at VeloTech in Palo Alto and very happy with the service & results. Unlike a few other shops I called, I didn’t have to wait 3-4 months (not exaggerating) to get on their schedule. They had me taken care of in about a week, pretty good pricing too.

tom is the guy Campanolo NA sends to Italy to give field feedback. He's forgotten more about the three major groups than probably all the other wrenches in a 25 mile radius know.

and, guess what? he's a better person than he is a mechanic/shop owner.

[joosttx]

Peter Lucas of Marin Service Course in Fairfax. Pro mechanic and the best.

[sethjs]

Just noticed Oakland Service Course has closed up shop. Sad.


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[ronlau]

+++Tom @ VeloTech as well.

Tom knows Campagnolo inside and out and a great guy.



tom is the guy Campanolo NA sends to Italy to give field feedback. He's forgotten more about the three major groups than probably all the other wrenches in a 25 mile radius know.

and, guess what? he's a better person than he is a mechanic/shop owner.

[oldpotatoe]

A Bicycle Odyssey, and Roaring Mouse have been good to me in the past.

Anyone have any experience with the crew at Above Category?

Seconded Tony Tom at Bicycle Odyssey.
I know the owner of AC..his crew is very good also..but pricey.

[roguedog]

Another ++ for Tom at Velotech.

Had been to many shops around the peninsula and south bay before I found Tom. And yes, he's an awesome guy.

Was sad to see Adam had closed up but wish him the best as he searches for his next phase.

[crankles]

Maestro Tim Parker is still wrenching @ Cyclesports in Oakland. Just sayin'.

[EB]

Peter Lucas of Marin Service Course in Fairfax. Pro mechanic and the best.

+1 to this. Can't go wrong with Peter, for mountain, gravel, road, ebikes, etc. He's also hired Laird Grant part time, who is also good.

Heck, they even had a Rivendell in there the other day. :)