Road Cycling - Palo Alto area bike shops

This is a local question. I'm going to be in the Woodside-Palo Alto-Mountain View area on Saturday, Feb. 8. Since I'm going to be there for shopping, I'd like to have a look at the best of the LBS. I don't get up that way often, so what do you locals rate as the best shops for selection of road bikes, accessories, and clothing?

Thanks,
Rich

Rich --

I wasn't thinking P.A. when I sent you the PM earlier. Two shops worth looking at there are: Palo Alto Bicycles on University and Mike's Bikes on El Camino a few blocks north of Page Mill Rd.

SteveE

I like Chain Reaction, Foothill Expressway and Homestead in Los Altos. They have taken good care of me to date.

www.chainreaction.com (http://www.chainreaction.com)

I don't know if this is the 'best' in the area, but at least they have a cool website and seem to be knowledgable about road cycling. "Chain Reaction Bicycles" mostly stock Trek (and Trek brands like Lemond, Gary Fisher, etc.), but it is obvious from their website that the owners are road bike enthusiasts.

Try visiting "Chain Reaction Bicycles" at their website www.chainreaction.com. They have two locations one is Los Altos and the other in Redwood City. The Los Altos location is closer to Palo Alto just off of I-280 (map on their website).

Since I live in the North Bay, I don't really qualify as a local as I rarely go to south LBSs. However, I did have a chance to visit the store in Los Altos. Good selection of bikes and clothing for a small shop. Tool selection is so so... I remember they still have a selection of 2002 Lemonds they're trying to get rid of a couple of weeks ago.

By the way, check out the "killer squirrel" section on their website. It's pretty funny.

I would avoid Performace Bike (Redwood City, Fremont, San Jose). They do have large selection of bikes, but I tend to get annoyed with them because they rarely have anything in their local inventory that appears in their catalog (that I want), especially clothing. The only thing I can be sure of is tubes and tires... everything else is a crap shoot. Worth a look if you are passing by... just don't get too hopeful on that item in the catalog you want to get.

Thanks, everyone, for all the information, especially the clear directions. I live south of Santa Cruz and don't get up that way very often. I can use some perspective from shops in a different area.

Rich

I've been to both Chain Reaction stores, and liked them. The Redwood City store is on El Camino Real north of Woodside Rd on the right side.