Road Cycling - Sold out in San Diego

I'm getting back towards commuting.

And I go to the store I've known and trusted. I find that Bikeusa had been bought out by Preformance. I've never been happy with the Preformance stores, and liked the locally owned stores.

Are there any localy owned SD stores out there anymore?

Just north of you in L.A. the opposite is happening. Several performance shops have closed. Only like two remain close to me. I was on their website the other day and noticed they have five or so down in S.D. Talk about saturation.

I generally dislike chains. However, I frequent a Performance Cyclery, in North San Diego county. This store has a dam, straight shooting mechanic that really takes care of his regulars. I have stopped at red lights outside the store and other riders approaching the store said, taking you bike to Mike. An unsolicited comment... I would say Performance could have a greater line up of bikes, but other than that, this store has treated me royally- and I shall continue to use them as my primary LBS. As to locally owned,, you might not always be lucky with the quality of the mechanic? chains might pay more for this position. The mechanic, is this not the main draw of a bike shop?

I don't know about the mechanics much - as I haven't had the need. I think my main concern is the "Starbuckization" and the lack of variety that comes with a standard store. On preformance's good side is the fact that they decided to take on the Cannondale dealership aspect, so I will still have a source for Cannondale stuff. At least there is that.

If you are talking about the Performance in Carlsbad, its top notch. I had to return a couple of things and no questions asked. There is also a supergo a few miles up the 78.

KNIFUN... Its the Supergo I find obnoxious. Sales people seem pushy. Go to Performance anyday... Just do not like the atmosphere there. At least at that particular store.

I lived in the Balboa Park area a few years ago and I remember these:
1 in the Gaslamp Quarter, up the street from Old Spaghetti Factory
1 downton on the trolley line running parallel to Broadway, close to the City College stop.
1 on the outskirts of Seaport Village.
1 in Hilcrest, 1st and University? That's a very rough guess.

The top 3 rent bicycles, mainly, but they were all helpful when I had mechanical problems. The one in Gaslamp especially: the factory crankset on my bike was flawed, they changed it out and gave me a new crankset and only charged me for labor!
goodluck