Northeast - Long Island Bike Shops

Hey guys. Now that I have a car and live in Queens, I'm considering switching my LBS from Manhattan based to Long Island based. Problem is, I don't know any stores out that way, but I've heard guys recommend them in conversation. I just don't remember what they were.

I'm looking for great mechanic work. I need reliable and trustworthy work done.

Needs to be close to Queens county. I think I recall a shop in Wantagh(?) that was supposed to be good.

I do road, mountain, and SS/fixed. Year round fast fitness rider.

Any suggestions?

Bike junkie, bethpage.

Good shop, nice people.

Brands. Off of Sunrise Highway around Wantagh/Massapequa.

Brands. Off of Sunrise Highway around Wantagh/Massapequa.

+1 I have been going to Brands since I was in high school in the early 1980's and always a good experience. Plus, I have bought two bikes there in the past year, and am still pleased with them.

Brands is good. They get very crowded, but be patient and get a good sales person and you'll be good to go.

Another vote for Brands. The fact its PACKED every weekend all the time should tell you how good and popular they are. Knowledgeable friendly mechanics, good salespeople that know their stuff, friendly advice, and they are always willing to throw me little parts (shims, etc) for free whenever I ask. I go there sometimes just to look at stuff and shoot the **** with a couple of the sales people and I've only really been doing this stuff again since March.

road worx in syosset i block from lirr Will is an owner + the wrenchhttp:///roadworxli.com

Brands is good. They get very crowded, but be patient and get a good sales person and you'll be good to go.

This is key. I went there ready to buy three times with 2 bikes in mind, and all three times my sales person was unhelpful. One of them flat out laughed and scoffed at my questions about the bikes. :notamused:

So I took my business down the road to Sunrise Cyclery in Massapequa...smaller shop with smaller selection, but very helpful and honest with suggestions instead of being yes-men.

If you're further north, try Mineola Bicycle on Jericho Turnpike in Mineola. A friend of mine gets his bike serviced there and he swears by them. If that were closer to where I live, I'd have probably bought from them.

I've browsed around at Bicycle Planet on Jericho Tnpk in Syosset...pretty nice selection of bikes, accessories, and clothing, but I haven't had any experience with the staff or service there.

Another vote for Brand's.

Awesome service. Replaced a spoke for me on the spot last Sunday afternoon, and I've never bought anything from them besides an accessory or two every time I am there.

As I browsed the store while waiting for the repair to be done, at least 6 employees asked me if I needed help with anything.

I highly recommend them.

why don't u stay in queens?
Peck's is in bayside/littleneck.. jerry the owner is very kind.

I've had friends give good reports of Peak Bike Shop in Douglaston. North side of tracks by LIRR station.

I've had friends give good reports of Peak Bike Shop in Douglaston. North side of tracks by LIRR station.

I assume you and the previous poster are referring to the same place?

I've been to several bike shops and mainly concerned with quality of work. After going through a few of them, I finally settled on a shop called "PM Bicycles"

It is located in Queens, in Rego Park. Right on Queens Blvd across the street from PCRichard. Guy does top notch work and is really friendly as well. Not much merchandise, but that's not what I go there for anyway.

Ask him to show you his Look road bike, truly a great piece of eye candy.

Bike junkie, bethpage.

Good shop, nice people.

+1


I don't get all the people recomending Brands. I live very close to them so I have been in there hundreds of times over many years. Everytime I am dissapointed. The only thing they are good for is brand new items you can find yourself on the shelves as they stock a ton of stuff.

I do not like there service or sales people. Everytime I go in there to buy things they have no clue what I am talking about and can't help me. For example I needed the spacer for a 10 speed cassette so I could put it on my wheels. They had no clue what I was talking about. They didn't know what or where they kept headset spacers. I also needed the cable guide for the bottom bracket of my CAAD8. They had no idea what to do. Same goes for tons of other parts I tried to buy. There sales people I have seen are also terrible. They pretty much don't have any clue what they are talking about.

All of these items were purchased from Bike Junkie no problem and I didn't even have to explain everything. They knew what I wanted. Plus the service is top notch. Eveything is always installed and adjusted perfectly and they are much nicer.

I understand your frustration with Brands. I personally find you have three types of sales/service help there:

1. young kids who will probably not be good for advanced/experienced cyclists. But a LOT of Brands' business seems to be Moms and dads buying kids' first bikes, couch potatoes buying their first decent bike, etc, people buying a magazine or basket or energy bars, so no biggie.

2. more knowledgeable people, who I have found will know exactly what I am talking about most of the time, just like at the typical decent bike shop.

3. people who normally fit into category 2, but because the place is a mob scene (ie, weekends), have much shorter tempers and attention spans.

I should point out for those who've never been there that the store is divided in two halves, and all the blingy pro bikes are on one side. A very crowded and busy side but if you are in the market for a Pinarello or Serotta you'll mostly be tripping over guys and gals you'd be racing against.

What's tough is when you want to buy a bike 'in between' - my wife was in the market for a entry level racing bike a few years ago (had about $1500-2000 to spend) and had to stick to the other side of the store and contend with kids on tricycles, seniors on stationary bikes, and sales people who were used to those areas. Not knocking that - it's just irritating when you do all your homework and have a decent number of miles under your belt only to have a salesperson half your age tell you things like "Carbon Fiber is for racing, Aluminum is a good cheap frame material":rolleyes:

Bottom line - Brands has a really good selection and is a nice store to visit, very easy to drive to from Queens (also near the LIRR, I believe). If possible try going during a week day, and try to grab someone who knows what they're talking about (hint: they are usually on the pro bike side)

I understand your frustration with Brands. I personally find you have three types of sales/service help there:

1. young kids who will probably not be good for advanced/experienced cyclists. But a LOT of Brands' business seems to be Moms and dads buying kids' first bikes, couch potatoes buying their first decent bike, etc, people buying a magazine or basket or energy bars, so no biggie.

2. more knowledgeable people, who I have found will know exactly what I am talking about most of the time, just like at the typical decent bike shop.

3. people who normally fit into category 2, but because the place is a mob scene (ie, weekends), have much shorter tempers and attention spans.

I should point out for those who've never been there that the store is divided in two halves, and all the blingy pro bikes are on one side. A very crowded and busy side but if you are in the market for a Pinarello or Serotta you'll mostly be tripping over guys and gals you'd be racing against.

What's tough is when you want to buy a bike 'in between' - my wife was in the market for a entry level racing bike a few years ago (had about $1500-2000 to spend) and had to stick to the other side of the store and contend with kids on tricycles, seniors on stationary bikes, and sales people who were used to those areas. Not knocking that - it's just irritating when you do all your homework and have a decent number of miles under your belt only to have a salesperson half your age tell you things like "Carbon Fiber is for racing, Aluminum is a good cheap frame material":rolleyes:

Bottom line - Brands has a really good selection and is a nice store to visit, very easy to drive to from Queens (also near the LIRR, I believe). If possible try going during a week day, and try to grab someone who knows what they're talking about (hint: they are usually on the pro bike side)


This is a good description. The place is always a mob scene on weekends, and I hate to say it but the job market isn't exactly saturated with knowledgeable bike people, but its the easiest to get to and largest bike shop in the area. They hired all those kids that work weekends to deal with all the customers, many of which just need some saddle bags or a water bottle, but they don't want to lose that business, better to have someone there thats not knowledgeable, than no one at all.

You can see this very well if you go into the repair center, they get a LOT of wal-mart bikes in there, I counted 5 or 6 coming in when I went to get my new cassette installed a month or so ago. Living in this area I know the crowd that goes down there, and the owners are doing whats best for business because the people around here if they don't get someone RIGHT NOW they flip out.

I stopped in brands last Sunday and had a read d-head of a sales person helping me. I wanted to buy 2 specialized cages in solid black or gray. The guy hands me 2 cages in black and red tells me here just take these. I tell him my bike is black and orange and the red just doesn’t go. He then tells me that this is what I really want and besides they work just fine. Not that any of this is a big deal but he had this smug look on his face that made me want to ring his nick.

Bike Junkie in Bethpage is Aone! Doug and Linda, co-owners run the place and are there daily. Doug is the mechanic and Linda is front of house and very knowledgable about fitting, equipment etc. Don't be fooled by the small size of the shop, they can get you any bike you want.

Check out Sunrise too, and Bike Planet is good for clothes. Brands is a big store and while they have good people you are just as likely to have a kid who knows nothing help you.

While I have mentioned Brands here, I can also echo the sentiments of Sunrise Cyclery in Massapequa and their sister store Sunrise Tri-Sports in Babylon. I have gone there for stuff as well and they were very helpful, knowledgeable, and very reasonably priced. And my friend just got an Allez there that they spent a LONG time fitting him perfectly on, they did the whole analyzer and all that on him for free.

When I'm ready for my Argon 18 Mercury, I will be headed there.

Been to sunrise a few times. Very nice people. I've heard nothing but good things about the Tri store

Thanks for all the good advice.

My primary concern is trustworthy mechanical work. I'm the kind of customer who wants to eventually learn all about wrenching my own bike and have begun the process. But I'm a noob and make lots of little mistakes that need fixing. I have high end equipment (for what that's worth). I'm not now in the market for new stuff.

From what I'm getting from you guys, is Brands is a good high end shop, but hit or miss with the personal touch. I may try Sunrise first with a headset/starnut repair that I need done now and see how that goes.

Thanks.

Thanks for all the good advice.

My primary concern is trustworthy mechanical work. I'm the kind of customer who wants to eventually learn all about wrenching my own bike and have begun the process. But I'm a noob and make lots of little mistakes that need fixing. I have high end equipment (for what that's worth). I'm not now in the market for new stuff.

From what I'm getting from you guys, is Brands is a good high end shop, but hit or miss with the personal touch. I may try Sunrise first with a headset/starnut repair that I need done now and see how that goes.

Thanks.

I have never had service done at Sunrise but I have shopped there before so I can't comment on that but for top notch mechanical work Bike Junkie is where to go. Doug is the only one who does all the work and is great. Everything comes back from there perfect.

You may wanna ask whoever you take it to to give you all your old parts (they should anyway - eg, Brands gave me mine without my asking), and look over the worn/broken parts - good way to learn.

Also Park Tool's website has a very nifty repair page with plenty of good pics and advice. Sheldon Brown's site is also invaluable for bike repair, maintenance and everything else. A lot of bike maintenance is pretty straightforward. But no shame in bringing it to a shop if when you don't feel confident enough to tackle a particular job yourself. And know that some special tools may be required but most of these are small, and relatively inexpensive, usually paying for themselves the first time you do the labor yourself.

I recently was hit by a car while on my bike. Brought my bike to brands to have it repaired after getting it looked at by a few other places. I really liked their repair shop. The guy carefully went over my entire bike with a flashlight and a magnifying glass. He also had no problem with me being in the shop watching him work. Whenever I have any questions about anything on my bike I usually just walk into the back and ask one of the repair guys. As per their sales staff, they seem to mostly hire young kids most of which dont know much about bikes and havent been working long enough to know where anything is.

Bike junkie, bethpage.

Good shop, nice people.

I live 30 miles from Bethpage and they quickly became my 'local' shop. Anything I've wanted they've ordered for me w/o question. Can't say enough good things...

Bike Junkie is very good but with only 2 people and 1 wrench things take forever to get done
Only bring bike there for pre season tune up since that took over 2 weeks to do

Brands is ok but recent experience has been disappointing; brought bike there after a crash and they missed many things that would have made my next ride a problem

Used to hate Bicycle Planet but they have gotten much nicer (still too pricey) but close to home so worth it

Bike Junkie is very good but with only 2 people and 1 wrench things take forever to get done
Only bring bike there for pre season tune up since that took over 2 weeks to do

Brands is ok but recent experience has been disappointing; brought bike there after a crash and they missed many things that would have made my next ride a problem

Used to hate Bicycle Planet but they have gotten much nicer (still too pricey) but close to home so worth it

BikeJunkie only takes a long time at the very beginning of the season when all the new riders bring there bike in for a tuneup. Bring it in any other time and they are fairly fast. I don't mind waiting for the quality of service they provide.

is there a specific shop to go to on LI that has used fixed gear/SS? that's really what i'm looking for. i'm home for thanksgiving break from college and would like to pick something up this weekend.

BikeJunkie only takes a long time at the very beginning of the season when all the new riders bring there bike in for a tuneup. Bring it in any other time and they are fairly fast. I don't mind waiting for the quality of service they provide.

+1
At this time of year you should not have long to wait and their service is the bestest. I wanted to take them with me when I left LI -- nothing doing, alas!:rolleyes:

Bike Junkie is top notch! I have know Doug and Linda for many years. Before they opened the shop. They are still my supply for mountain bike stuff if I am ever on the island.

Another vote for Bike Junkie. I have 3 other good bike shops closer to my home, but I still prefer going there. I discovered them while bike shopping (they're one of the few Kona dealers around here), and just really liked the professional service and advice. Linda's always a pleasure. I've only spoken to Doug on the phone, but he's a wealth of knowledge, too.