Southwest - Recommended LBS in Tucson?

Inspired by another thread (http://www.bikeforums.net/showthread.php?t=436959), same question for Tucson.

I've wandered into a few, but none of them have jumped out as exceptional in regards to others.

Depending upon what part of town you're in, I can definitely recommend all of Miles Ahead (they're road only), Fair Wheel, Arizona Cyclist, and Arizona Bicycle Experts (mtb only.) I'm sure there are a number of other good ones too.

Based on your definition, I'm north or central or east... I've had people refer to all three when I mention where I am.

Intersection of Swan and Grant isn't too far away. I drive by Miles Ahead on the way home from work, but haven't been in there yet. And given that it's road-only, I don't know if I will (leaning towards a MTB at the moment).

Thanks for the suggestions.

Depending upon what part of town you're in, I can definitely recommend all of Miles Ahead (they're road only), Fair Wheel, Arizona Cyclist, and Arizona Bicycle Experts (mtb only.) I'm sure there are a number of other good ones too.

ABE isn't mtb only.
I've done most of my business with Mac at Sabino Cycles.

I wholeheartedly recommend Tucson Bicycles and Fair Wheel! I may be NE, but these are the folks I visit when I ride there.

I have to agree with Trouble, do yourself a favor and visit Mac over at Sabino Cycles, NW Corner of Tanque Verde & Sabino Canyon.

Do yourself a favor and at least visit Fairwheel. I went in there and told them I was from Wyoming and that I had ordered a seat post from them the previous year. They treated me like long lost cousin. The owner showed me the whole shop. Met the guy who runs thei website and toured their mech area. Spent lots of time drooling over high end stuff. :thumb:

Well I went into Arizona Cyclist last week (Thursday, I think). Seems like it's road-based. I looked at getting a spare set of tubes for my hybrid Trek, but none of the tubes were the right size. I was greeted when I walked in the door, but they were having a Conversation -- I wasn't ever asked if I had any questions.

I went to the Trek store on Fort Lowell, where I got my hybrid. They were quite busy, but took the time to acknowledge my presence. They didn't have the pump I wanted though.

So then I went to the Performance store on Speedway. Found the pump I wanted, found the patch kit I wanted. I have a broken clip to hold my rear fender in place for the trike, so asked the guy at the checkout counter if they had anything like it. Wide eyed, he said that I should ask the mechanics. Stood near the mechanics for five minutes while they completely ignored me. Went back to the checkout counter and waited another five minutes before someone paid enough attention to let me pay for my items. Honestly I was in the process of putting stuff down on the counter so I could leave. There were several people "working" but very few actually working.

All of this was done after work, so I didn't have much time, nor could I remember the locations of places other than these three. I'll definitely have to look up Fairwheel and check them out. And it sounds like Sabino Cycles is another shop I drive by on the way home from work -- Miles Ahead is SW corner of Sabino Canyon road and Tanque Verde, so sounds like Sabino Cycles is across the street.

I did not understand your original question. Fairwheel is definitely a higher end mostly road shop. But still worth the trip if you are interested in the tech side of cycling. And I'd bet that the could address your hybrid questions.

Hi,

I'm a REAL Newbie and I haven't even had a chance to introduce myself in the New Folks Section. I had a few minutes free time before bed and hopped on to lurk a bit when I ran across this Thread.

A month ago while I was researching Recumbent Trikes I did a Google search on Recumbent Trikes in Tucson AZ. AJO Bikes on Ajo popped up.

A few days later a Sun EZ-Rider Trike showed up in our local paper (I live about 75miles SW of Tucson near the Mexican Border).

The lady who was selling it had purchased it at AJO - Where they are Big on Recumbents. She said that when she traveled there to see what they had, they spent nearly 2 hours with her helping her find the right one for her body and the type of riding she likes to do. She said she highly recomends them.

I did buy the Trike from her and absolutely love it. It was the perfect trike for me!

Look Below for the contact info. (I pasted in the MapQuest map, I hope it came thru OK, this is my very 1st post on bikeforums.net

Good Luck!
'keg'

Ajo Bikes (http://www.ajobikes.com/)

www.ajobikes.com

1301 E Ajo Way # 117
Tucson, AZ 85713
(520) 294-1434


http://www.google.com/mapdata?CxXs_uoBHYQAY_kgDwxAjgJIuQFSAnVzkAEDygECZW4 (http://maps.google.com/maps?hl=en&um=1&ie=UTF-8&q=ajo+bikes+tucson+az&fb=1&cid=0,0,8411728605865140497&sa=X&oi=local_result&resnum=1&ct=image)

Depending upon what part of town you're in, I can definitely recommend all of Miles Ahead (they're road only), Fair Wheel, Arizona Cyclist, and Arizona Bicycle Experts (mtb only.) I'm sure there are a number of other good ones too.

+1 on Miles Ahead and ABE. Miles ahead is one of the friendliest and most helpful road shops I've ever been in, and folks at ABE have gone out of their way to help me on several occasions.

Stay away from Sabino Cycles across the street from Miles Ahead, they were really arrogant to my wife and me when we were recently in there. They also wanted to argue with me about whether or not modern canti brakes would work on an old cyclocross frame with 68mm spacing between the studs; they won't, yet they insisted they would, even after I told them that it had been tried by a very competent mechanic and it didn't work. (I had the frame at the workshop of the Lativan National team and the head mechanic tried all sorts of modern cantis, all hit the tire and not the rim. Only older cantis from the mid-1990s worked. I was looking for some NOS replacements.)

For the record, I did actually get my trike at Ajo Bikes. They were friendly enough, but I was hoping for something a bit closer. Given my normal work hours, the only day I can get there is on Saturday.

I did not understand your original question.
To be fair, when I asked my original question I only had the trike. I was as yet undecided on my secondary bicycle, so I didn't really specify whether I was aiming at road bikes or hybrids or MTBs.

You should also really check out Ordinary bike shop on 7th street and fourth avenue. They are really very friendly and want to see more people on bikes, whatever the type. They lean towards bicycle lifestyle (ie useful bikes of various flavors) but will help you out with anythig you wnat to ride.

Great mechanics, staff and products. high marks in my book.

Have lived/ridden in Tucson for 30+ years.
There are really no 'bad' shops in Tucson; some are just more helpful/knowledgeable than others. Ralph, owner of Fairwheel, has been running the same shop since mid-70s.

Another vote for Ordinary here - down home bike riders, not money hungry salesmen. I just stopped by yesterday to buy some seat post binder bolts for my Swift folding bike. $4 here. Nashbar wants 8.

True, I used to love that shop when I lived down there, They would take care of anything, and ordering high end parts through them was never a hassle either...


You should also really check out Ordinary bike shop on 7th street and fourth avenue. They are really very friendly and want to see more people on bikes, whatever the type. They lean towards bicycle lifestyle (ie useful bikes of various flavors) but will help you out with anythig you wnat to ride.

Great mechanics, staff and products. high marks in my book.

you should also really check out ordinary bike shop on 7th street and fourth avenue. They are really very friendly and want to see more people on bikes, whatever the type. They lean towards bicycle lifestyle (ie useful bikes of various flavors) but will help you out with anythig you wnat to ride.

Great mechanics, staff and products. High marks in my book.

+1