i live in boston but am in nyc every weekend since my chick is in law school there. my question is what is THE best bike shop in the city? i've been to a few but am spoiled i guess by the ones in the boston area.

thanks!

i like gotham , toga,frank's, bikestation.

"my chick"????

you're ridiculous!

no, you are...

nycbikes, hands down.

teehee.

No way dude, R&A.*



*I've actually never had any problems at R&A.

not trackstar, for real

p.s. hate, hate, hate

bikestation is the only bike shop I've ever gone into and not felt like I was being condescended to.

hey were is bikestation located

wheres bike station, location plz

bicycle station: on vanderbilt near bergen. kinda on the way to prospect park in bklyn. its one that i always recommend as well. others: r&a and trackstar cause they actually have things i want. i would have to disagree with 'enlacalle' with nycbikes if he means spokes and strings. that has to be the worst shop.

yeah thats what i thought but they called it "bikestation" ok bicyclestation duh was there yesterday thanks

bikeworks, for everyday stuff.

trackstar, for bling.

why "ridiculous"? she IS my chick. and why you "hate america"?

thanks!

i really like the guys over at NYC Velo.

Bikestation is a great shop, but its way the hell over in Brooklyn. There don't seem to be that many good shops in manhattan--just lots of places selling gucci bikes with overpriced components, or places with shady mechs who make their living selling fuji hybrids and fixing flats for delivery guys. If there are any old packrat shops with good used parts and friendly bike-geek (as opposed to bike-snob) mechanics, I havent found them.

For example--I've been looking for grade 25 loose balls, a mafac racer front brake, cloth bar tape, and a 1" centerpull brake guide for a threadless headset. All to no avail.

Anybody have any recommendations for good uptown bike shops?

did you try Emey's shop on east sixth street. He has the pack rat shop and have old stuff in stock.

a lot of shops ae not like they used to be and some changed their whole format(larry and jeff 's plus) look nothing like they once did years ago.

what shops are you talking about?

S/F,
CEYA!

i like:
nyc velo great guys, really cute female mechanic there (Brooke)..sorry if she has a bf/gf hat posts reads here.

toga bikes fun staff, really nice, have always tried to take care of me.

R&A cycles: Some really nice guys, some very non-knowledgeable staff as well who just like to push bikes on customers, also, not convenient if you live in inwood...like i do...in spit of this, i recently bought a frame from them, a beautiful casati..pics will come when its finished...

shops i have had bad experience with (this is me hating):

rennaisance cycles: overpriced, very pushy salesmen...I went in to get a threadless adapter, guy wouldnt leave me alone trying to sell me a 2003 specialized that was too big, then after telling him i wasnt interested took me 10 mins to get someones attention in order to purchase the part...upon asking i was promptly told "we dont have any of those"...i point at the one under the glass and say, then sell me that one...they did, at $4 more than i was quoted over the phone...no more rennaisance for me

Tread bike shop: a few blocks from my house, staff know close to nothing and ignore customers. i call ask if I can buy a frame box owner says sure come on down tomorrow we have a few in the back...I call the next morning before showing up to see verify box was there...boy on the line says "i don't know, probably not" i tell him the owner told me it would be there in the back, kid says no, i say can you check, he says after a brief pause no, not really. This happens two separate times. Part 2: went in with cash in hand to buy a singlespeed road bike (specialized langster). Salesman looked at me and put me on a 56cm bike, it was way too big (5'7", 31" inseam), when i told him it was too big, he tried to convince me it was perfect, then tried to tell me they could just swap one of the short mtn bike stems to the handlebar...told him they were two different size clamps, salesboy tells me no, they're the same, industry standard now is 33mm...hmmm, huh? That mtn one is 25.4, this road one is 26.0, the oversized stuff is 31.8...don't remember any that are 33....there are several other stories about the shop i can tell you (like charging my roommate $30 plus parts (2X$5) to change two flat tires)....

neutral: shop that says bicycles on west 6th st or thereabouts...apathetic staff, small selection, but nice people and do sell appropriate sized bikes to customers...

yeah, the owner over at NYC Velo is a stand up guy. He was doing a rear wheel build for me and said he was gonna put it together as quick as possible so i could have it for my saturday ride. It ended up that there were some late problems with the hub that stayed at the shop with me for over an hour after he was supposed to leave so i could have the wheel for saturday. I felt really bad when i cracked the rim the next day and had to bring it back to the shop.

I've been using Dixon's forever... great guys, very friendly, but definitely not high-end. I've also been going more recently to Bicycle Station... as everyone above says, it's great.

word. busy bee bikes. emey and jeff are great, super-helpful, friendly, knowledgeable. busy bee doesn't have shelves of high-end parts, but they do know all about track and f/g, and they'll do you a great conversion if that's your cup of tea

I'm definitely gonna throw in for the NYCVelo guys as well. Really nice, helpful, no bull****, and they'll spend the time with you. Not especially track heavy but they can generally get the part you need. Besides, if they don't have it then just head down 3 blocs to trackstar or like 10 to Bikeworks. Both winners as well.

Liberty Bikes. 9th Ave between 56 and 55.
Always cool, always reliable.

bike works.