LBS experience in Bay Area

[Lost Weekend]

Does anyone have any experience with City Cycle in S.F. or Bici Bike out of San Jose? I'm in the Santa Cruz area and those seem to be about the closest shops around that deal with Serotta.
I bought my first road bike on a whim, and had no idea what I was doing. I went from shop to shop here in Santa Cruz and test road a bunch of em, not even really knowing what size I should be on. Then I came upon a Black and Silver Serotta Colorado, and I just melted into it. I have really enjoyed the hell out of it, but have come to realize it's time to up-grade. I still really have know idea what I'm doing- but that's half the fun,isn't it? :beer:

[Bill Bove]

There used to be a bar in West Palm Beach named Lost Weekend. A nice place, good beer, two pool tables and good tunes on the juke box. It got bought out though, oh well. Back to bikes, check out both shops, don't tell them that you're thinking about a big buy, see how they treat you, get a vibe for both shops. Buy where you are comfortable. If nothing else, you'll get to hang out in a couple of bike shops for a while and do some driving in a cool part of the country.

[Lost Weekend]

Thanks for the advice Bill. I actually got my name from a bar here in my neck of the woods that was called lost weekend- same thing, pool tables and ice cold beer- your standard workin man's bar. It shut down about 15-20 years ago. Oh-oh I'm dating myself.It's been replaced by a wine tasting joint-imagine that, not that I dont enjoy a nice glass of red every now and then, but when you get done humpin up some steep *** hill,all you want, need, crave is a cold brewski!!!!!!!!! :beer:

[sfscott]

:banana:

Bought my Legend there. They are flat out excellent and are, I think, Serotta's second-largest dealer.

People are low key, honest and nice. Clay is the owner, and he, Craig and Ari are the fit gurus.

They have a good demo fleet, including Seven, Calfee and now, BMC.

Given their volume, they are really tight with the folks back at the factory and can get things done and know the art of the possible.

Go fer it.

[chef_jmr]

If you have the time to drive up to SF, definitely give them the time. Craig, Ari, Clay, all the great mechanics will help you out before, during, and long after your purchase (I think I bought my CSi from them in '96-97, still return, make purchases, and get great service; the last minute mechanical help when needed, even when they are backlogged!)

Craig I think fitted the Sierra Nevada team for their Ottrotts, so you know he's is experienced and a good listener for customizing. Be up front, and they'll treat you right!

They have a deal running with the BMC's: you get a pint of someone else's blood with a purchase of the Phonak Team edition SLT-01. Kidding, good luck. :banana: :banana:

jeff

[Lost Weekend]

Thanks for the input. City Cycle sounds like a great place to do buisiness with and would be worth the drive. Now I just have to scrape some $ up- oh wait, I've got a plastic card with no limit- or it seems that way anyway.
Carbon, steel, ti, fiberglass, tin.......... color schemes........ just like a kid in a candy store!! :beer: :beer:

[sevencyclist]

Cupertino Bike Shop also carries Serottas. I had my Kings hubs adjusted there but came loose very quickly, so I am not sure whether they are great at servicing high end components though.

[gasman]

did you check out Calfees' ? They are made right there in Santa Cruz and there must be a shop in town that carries them or just go right to the factory.
Just a thought for comparison to the fine Serotta machines.

[MadRocketSci]

just to give a different pov: city cycles is a great shop....with the downside of being located in the Marina. so if you don't live in the city then you have to deal with:

"driving" down Van Ness to get there....or 19th ave if coming up 280...always a fun experience.

vulturing for 25 minutes to get a parking spot....

paying more for component groups and services (significantly more in many cases) to support the Marina lifestyle/image.

again, great shop, great service (maybe the best), just too much sticker shock for me. getting anything done on the bike for those not living in the city would be an entire afternoon activity. too bad they're not in the mission or sunset or richmond districts....

in addition to the shops mentioned, there's Shaw's cycles in santa clara. they have a web page. if you like hanging out at old school low overhead bike shops where the owner will talk your ear off (some would use prolixic and pedantic here) then this is your place. Though retro-grouchy and opinionated, the owner does know a lot.

good things have been said about cycle sports in oakland, too. I believe the owner manages the healthnet team. probably did their bike fits.

[ericmurphy]

Does anyone have any experience with City Cycle in S.F. or Bici Bike out of San Jose? I'm in the Santa Cruz area and those seem to be about the closest shops around that deal with Serotta.

I was doing a group ride this past Saturday which starts from City Cycle. When I got there, I noticed that my front tire, which I had inflated to 100 PSI less than half an hour ago, was now down to about 70 PSI. The ride we were doing was sixty miles, lotsa hills, and mostly out in the middle of nowhere. And it left at exactly nine o'clock.

I temporized, I dithered.

At three minutes of nine, I rolled the bike into City Cycle, and said to Craig, "Hey man, could you do a lightning-fast tube swap on a front tire?"

Sure, no problem. He did the swap and got it back in my fork in two and a half minutes. If Craig ever decides to get out of biking, he's got a great future with NASCAR.

I also needed to pick up some bar tape I'd special ordered. I told Clay I'd pick up the tape, and settle with the price of the spare tube, when I got back from the ride, since I had to leave, like, NOW. No problem, he said.

When I got back from the ride, I picked up the tape and paid for the tube. I also asked if, at some point in the next week or so, they could put the bike up on the stand and give the derailleur indexing a bit of a tweaking. Matt, one of the mechanics, said, "If you can wait a few minutes, I can give the shifting a look." Twenty minutes later, my bike was back on the road, chain degreased and lubed, shifting freshly re-indexed.

I had purchased my Legend from City Cycle three months previously, but even still, the service I get at City Cycle is the best I've gotten anywhere. And Craig really knows how to fit a bike; my Legend fits me like a glove. And it doesn't just fit, it also handles like a dream.

Sure, City Cycle can be a bit pricy, and they're not that easy to get to, if you don't live in the City. But I've gotten better service out of those guys than any five other bike shops combined. Plus, I got to meet and talk to Ben at their annual customer-appreciation party. Who can complain about that?

[malcolm]

I had a positive experience there although I didn't buy a thing. I was visiting San Francisco this spring and while my wife was in a conference I went wandering around and wound up there. I think Craig was the guy I spoke with and he spent plenty of time with me and offered test rides on serotta, seven and calfee. These guys were so nice I would travel there to buy a new serotta over my local serotta dealer where I'm usually ignored by a high school kid.

[chef_jmr]

just to give a different pov: city cycles is a great shop....with the downside of being located in the Marina. so if you don't live in the city then you have to deal with:

"driving" down Van Ness to get there....or 19th ave if coming up 280...always a fun experience.

vulturing for 25 minutes to get a parking spot....

paying more for component groups and services (significantly more in many cases) to support the Marina lifestyle/image.

again, great shop, great service (maybe the best), just too much sticker shock for me. getting anything done on the bike for those not living in the city would be an entire afternoon activity. too bad they're not in the mission or sunset or richmond districts....


I don't want to sound like the Knight of City Cycles, BUT:

I think the original poster was looking for a high-end bicycle shop to get fitted for a custom bike, or at least as he put it, "an upgrade" from his Serotta. If you're looking for a high-end custom bike, anywhere, the prices won't shock you because you should already have a good idea what a custom bike costs. City Cycle doesn't sell Trek, Giant, KHS, or any other mass produced bikes, don't expect a cheap bike price there.

As for it's location: CC is located in the Cow Hollow area of SF, sandwiched between the Marina and Pacific Heights. Yes, this area has many wealthy people, young and old; the SAME people who can afford these types of bikes. The demographic of the people who live in the other neighborhoods you mentioned (the Mission, Sunset...) does not necessarily include the clientele that can afford their services, or are actually looking for these high-end bikes. I happen to live near the Richmond where there was one bike shop within 12 blocks of my home, the owner was miserable and unhelpful, so I never went back, he has since gone out of business. Roaring Mouse Cycles in the inner Sunset is small but nice, yet they don't carry Serotta, Calfee, Parlee, BMC, etc... Forget about any bike shop on Stanyan save American Cyclery, which sounds more like your style of shop; old-school, everything Campy and serious steel bikes (Gunnar, SOMA, Waterford).

I do shop around for different small articles, especially if the shop I walk into doesn't have what I need NOW, I go find it elsewhere (Sports Basement, Lombardi's Sports, etc). If CC has what I need, I'll pay the extra couple of bucks to help pay for their rent, it is an expensive 'hood. I would be sad to see them close shop as they are too valuable in this community for cycling.

Parking does suck, but growing up in a city has taught me parking patience, and how to write a check made payable to the "Department of Parking and Traffic". That is all.

Full Disclosure Statement:

I am not, nor have been, an employee, investor, supplier, or contracted by City Cycle of SF (other than through making a purchase). Thank you.

[Lost Weekend]

I would like to thank all of you for the great advice. It sounds like a very customer oriented shop that isn't afraid to charge you top $ either. I too have been ignored or told the wrong advice by some highschool kid at a lbs. I'm at a stage in my life were I would rather pay top dollar to get great service, rather then try and get a deal and end up frusrated and bitter.
It does sound like it will be a pain in the *** to get to and find parking however. Something I didn't really think about. Well, I might have to take a day off of work to make this happen- darn.
I know what's going to happen the minute I walk in and see all those beatiful machine's,I will want to own one and I will justify to myself how spending a huge amount of cash for a bike is O.K. So I just have to get my courage up and go for it!!! I mean what else would I spend all that dough on: bills, morgage, food,- na.........beer, hmm wait a minute.
Bottom line is if I'm coughin up top dollar, I want to,and should be treated like a king and City Cycle sounds like they would do just that. :beer:

[MadRocketSci]

Lost weekend:

I'm not trying to talk anybody out of getting their serotta from city cycles. Far from it. Just know that there will be more than one visit to get you dialed into the bike. Cable stretch (100 and 500 mile) adjustments, stem swapping, mechanicals, etc. I can only imagine that driving over 17, 85, 101/280, and city traffic to get a minor adjustment would be irritating. Again, great service, but you will pay for it with $$ and time. Certainly above what other serotta dealers charge.

FWIW, I pretty much use their services a la carte. I've brought my girlfriend to get fit on her airborne by Craig, gone to them for shoe adjustments (charged by time), inquired about buying/installing a reynolds ouzo fork on my atlanta (decided against it when the estimate came in over 600 bucks...). The fitting was definitely worth the effort.

Just my experiences....Clay is always exceedingly nice and has thanked me for coming in every time. If I lived in the city I'd definitely buy from them. But there are quality alternatives. Those who live in the city just don't need to know about them.

-MadRocketSci

[scottcw]

I second Shaw's in San Jose. Extremely knowledgable, great prices, also an authorized Serotta dealer.

[Lost Weekend]

Mad Rocket, You have brought up another good point that I really haven't thought about, all the trips back for adjustments and fine tunings .....
I went to shaws website and that looks like a reputable shop as well. Have you worked with their fitters? It would be a heck of alot more convenient for me, that's for sure. Thanks again!

[sfscott]

There is a city-run garage on Lombard b/w Filmore and Webster. It's a short walk away from City Cycle. Usually pretty easy to find a slot there, except on a sat. morning.

[MadRocketSci]

Shaws is a small two man shop...Terry Shaw and Jerry, a mechanic. They both run the biz and do all the wrenching. Terry does all the fitting. From talking to him it seems he's been in biking his whole life, has raced, and coached.

I used his fitting service to find a good frame geo that would work for me. I then took the numbers and bought an Atlanta off ebay that was very close. Terry's methodology is to talk to you about the type of riding you do, what you want to do, what your job is (trying to discern flexibility issues), what you like about your bike, ie, the usual info gathering session. Though, after all that discussion, he wrote "sport" under my riding style. He then has you ride around the parking lot behind his shop, and tries to get you to crank as hard as you can when you get to a certain spot. Apparently there's more flexibility info to be had through this. He then measures your bike, and adjusts it to the best possible fit (in his opinion). He'll also adjust your cleats and makes recommendations for equipment upgrades (ie, different crank length, stem length, rise, handlebar width). The last thing he does is put you on the size cycle, sets it up to what he thinks works for you, watches you pedal, checks your arm position, knee angles, hip angle, etc. Makes final adjustments and asks how it feels. One thing he does not do is measure your body parts. Some people do and some don't.

That's pretty much what i remember from my fit session. It took over two hours, but a lot of time was just spent chatting (sometimes about non-bike stuff). He's generally a nice guy, however, very opinionated. Some people won't warm up to him because of this!

So far, I've been happy with my bike. I pretty much started from his general ideas and tweaked the fit around myself. Since I didn't buy a full bike from him (I had his shop assemble the bike), I didn't ask him to dial me into the bike; i screwed around with that myself and have been riding centuries like the santa cruz mtn challenge, sequoia, grizzly peak, and auburn without any major problems. Someday I may go and get another fit done just to try out some more tweaks.

You could always get two opinions on your fit; for a fee of about 150 bucks city cycles will provide you with the complete geometry of the bike they would have built for you. you are then free to take it to any builder. or just use it as a check on whomever you decide on ordering your bike from, if not CC.

[chef_jmr]

There is a city-run garage on Lombard b/w Filmore and Webster. It's a short walk away from City Cycle. Usually pretty easy to find a slot there, except on a sat. morning.

…I forgot about that one. Just remember to take your bike OFF the roof rack before entering the garage (on Moulton alley). ;)

[Lost Weekend]

Thanks Mad R.S for all the info. I like your idea of getting a couple different fittings/opinions. Sounds like Shaws and City Cycles are the best around that deal in Serotta.
I will have to check out Calfee's to, since they are right here in santa cruz- thanks Gasman.
Lost Weekend :beer:

[arsegas]

I second the recommendation for Shaw's. Like MadRocketScientist mentioned, Terry's about as opinionated and old-school as they come. I can see him rubbing some people the wrong way with the opinions... But he knows his bikes, has very interesting stories to share, I learned a lot from my fitting experience, and I felt a lot more comfortable on my bike after my fitting. He dedicated 2 1/2 hrs with me on my fitting and although I know not everyone is as price sensitive, his prices are excellent. If you're in the San Jose area, I recommend a visit.

[Lost Weekend]

Well Shaw's it is. I've made an appointment for tuesday. Seems like it will be a pretty in-debth fitting on my trusty old serotta colorado :rolleyes:

[MadRocketSci]

if arsegas is getting more comfortable and fits on his new moots, that means he'll be faster, and riding in front of me, which means....NOOOOOOOO!!!! :butt:

[Kane]

City Cycle is my favorite bike store. It starts with the philosophy of excellence and is followed by the professionalism of the staff. Clay is a bike fit trainer for Serotta. Having said that Craig has always worked with me to solve my fit issues. Craig has worked with me on mountain and road bike fit issues for three bikes. I have worked with four other pro stores in the Bay Area and Craig has done a better job than anyone else.

Clay doesn't seem to have bad days. He hires great people and he sells the nicest bikes on the planet. A++.

Kane