workingbike

Yes, they're gone, the lease went up and couldn't make it work. Which was a shame for me as it happened just when I started commuting regularly and they were pretty much on the way. They seemed not bad but then, I didn't have much to do with them before they were gone. They seemed a little less than enthusiastic but they were in the process of closing.

On a separate subject, does anyone know of an LBS in Calgary that *stocks* Schwalbe tires? I want to try Big Apples on my MTB, Bike Shop will order them if I can't find a stockist.

bman321

Mountain Bike City on 17th very good place..Bow Cycle (of course) the bike shop downtown, b&p cycle in the northwest i believe is also good. tuxedo is also pretty good place to go.

P.S. can someone message me and tell me how to post threads?

PsySal

I wanted to add, lately I've been going to Tuxedo and find them actually pretty good. I've been mostly just buying parts from them though, but they seem to have everything, particularly good parts for older road bikes (e.g., good road 6spd freewheels in stock, etc.) I find the techs to be really friendly and accomodating, especially since I really mainly just buy bearings from them.

Tequila Joe

Hey PsySal,

Across the street and north a couple blocks is VitaSport Cycle. They specialize in older road bikes & parts. I get all my parts for the Campione and Falcon from them. Ed, the owner, has been in business before the beginning of time. He built my first wheel set when I was 14. (I'm currently 42 )

T.J.

ATSCalgary

I was just in Campione and they're in the middle of redoing the store. It looks like the owner is in from Vancouver and I felt omfortable talking to someone there for the first time in years.

Jack's ABC

Bike shops in Calgary are damn weird. Having spent a lot of time in UK and France, I'm used to high end bike shops being full of frames and components to build up, here its virtually just complete bikes only.

For service I always go to Lifesport in Kensington, they know their stuff and pay attention. You get the same level of attention if you are buying a $25 chain ring for your hack or a new bike. Stock is a bit limited, they will order and do ring you when the parts have arrived. If I was to pick one shop this would be it.

Vitasport - if you are a Campy addict this is the place, a shimano free heaven.

Tuxedo - They try and mean well.

Calagry Cycle - Mixed, some nice road stuff but Free riding is the staffs thing.

Ridley - The most arrogant shop in Calgary, wanted a spare part for my bike, was told that no such thing existed and I must be mad, were not impressed when I showed them the part on my bike.

Bike Shop - had some great service and bought some good stuff also had some of the exact opposit, very much depends on who's serving you and if they are busy.

Bow cycle - Went in to buy a 44 cm drop handle bar, they did not have anything in stock! terrible service that day. Went in recently on the off chance for a disk brake spare and got a 2nd hand unit for spares for $10 and great service!

Those are my thougths and experiences.

Brycycle

went here for my last bike purchase and had FANTASTIC service on the purchase of a Time frame which they swapped the components of my old bike on to. took the time to fit it up, let me borrow a FD while i waited for the braze on Record to come in, etc. A+

i used to like Campione, but had a couple issues with the last build they did for me - though they did remedy the problems in the end.

tswg

Campione Cycle on 12th had awesome mechanics, but a couple of months ago, the owner came to town from Vancouver. He didn't like the way the shop was being run, so he fired everyone. I'm not sure what his plans are for re-staffing the place, but he's pretty knowledgeable and good to talk to if you want to build a custom bike. Most of the bike-couriers seem to be in there all the time. They stock some pretty interesting bikes, ie. Salsa, Bianchi, Surly,....

Sheik_Yerbouti

I agree. I've been to many bike shops in Calgary, I have a long list of great shops, and a short list of places where I no longer shop because of I'm clearly not hard core enough to deserve their time. But lately I feel that Lifesport has gone above and beyond in terms of service.

Giuseppe C

Hi,
I'm Giuseppe Cramerotti, ownwer of Campione Cycles Calgary. I opened this store in 1999 because there weren't any good bicycle stores in this city devoted to road bikes only. When I was finally able to travel again I checked progress in Calgary; The store has changed. It no longer offered the good inventory selection, good service and best prices I had intended.
So I personally uprooted and came to Calgary to rebuild according to my vision. Now I can say in all honesty that Calgary finally has a real pro road only store: the "new" Campione Cycles. I'll remain here in Calgary until I'm sure that Campione Cycles will continue to be the best road store, not only by Canadian standards but by European standards as well.
I have used my 47 years of personal experience and "third generation" connections to create Campione Cycles, a store to be run more as a matter of pride. The store may be small but the inventory ia amazing, and combined with Campione Cycles Vancouver, it is the biggest "road only" concept in Canada.
Come and see for yourself. If you're not totally impressed with the store I may need your advice for further improvements.
Thank you for your attention.
Best Regards,
Giuseppe
www.campionecycles.com

Giuseppe C

Do you miss the European bicycle stores? Come to Campione Cycles and you'll feel at home.

Giuseppe

Cowtown Cumuter

What about USED bike shops? Any Suggestions? Most people only have a couple of hundred to spend max.

Buglady

For used bikes I would recommend garage sales, thrift shops etc, then take it to either Tuxedo Sports (north) or Cyclepath (south) to be fixed up if needed. I've taken vintage bikes to both of those shops and been treated very well. Might have helped that in the former case the bike still had the original Tuxedo Sports sticker on it from 1984

SportSwap on 12th Avenue downtown has lots of used bikes on consignment (don't know about other locations), and all of those have been checked over and tuned as far as I know.

Hope that helps!

Abneycat

Singletrack cycle, great employees. I don't find a lot in their bike selection that appeals to me personally, but they've got tools, basic accessories, and *customer service*. These guys fix problems and give good advice. I don't even think about where to go when I need service anymore, this shop is great.

Bike Shop. Dismal, utterly so. This shop will forever stick in my mind as the *worst* service and treatment i've ever recieved, will not even go in there anymore.

Edit: Okay, so I actually ended up going back to this place the other week, and it was like a complete turnaround. I guess they've changed some staff, because the service was much improved!

Calgary Cycle, they were helpful, brought in what I wanted when noone else seemed to be able to find it, and were overall good. I'd shop here more often if they weren't all the way across the city.

ryker

I'm building a Surly Cross-check but I want pro help with my headset and bottom bracket including frame prep and installation. Since I live in Hillhurst-Sunnyside I'd like to choose between Ridley's and Lifesport. Any recent experience (positive or negative) with the mechanics at either? Lifesport has the edge in this thread. I wasn't super impressed by their sales side but admittedly I'm not looking for sales help here.

Peace.

ryker

To reply to my own query for the files: both places wanted about the same $$$ for the job. I just got a better vibe at Ridley's so I got the work done there and it appears well done.

Does anyone know of a LBS in Calgary that stocks Framesaver for treating the interior of steel frame tubing?

coldfeet

Get some Boesheild T9 from Lee Valley Tools on 11 st SE.
Get the spray can for use as a frame saver (comes with spray tube)
and the little one for use as a chain lube. You can use the spray can
on the chain but its cleaner to use the little drip bottle, takes longer
of course, but it lasts a good while.

midtoad

If you're looking for used bikes in Calgary, check out Good Life bikes in the Eau Claire market (right by the SE entrance). They are a co-op shop where you can volunteer to earn credits toward a bike. You can also work on your own bike there.

Another option is The Hub bike shop in the back end of the parking lot at the Drop-In Centre (a.k.a. the homeless shelter) just off the south end of the Langevin Bridge (i.e. at 4th Ave and 4 St SE). Paul Woloshansky, the manager, has set up a program whereby you earn credit for every hour you volunteer at the shop helping to repair or disassemble used bikes which are donated to homeless people. A good way to save some money AND help the community as well.

And if you just want to discuss bike and getting around in Calgary by bike, visit BikeCalgary.org.

Godwin

There's a second co-op in town now, the Bike Root which is located at the university of calgary behind murray fraser hall. You can work on your bike, build a new one, or take one out of our bike library. We're always looking for more volunteers.

frymaster

is bikeroot the same as ccbi?

Godwin

Basically. Campus bike initiative was a campus club but we have a shop, bikes and parts now. The website is still campusbike.ca but we'll have bikeroot.ca up by our official grand opening in March.

Saddle Up

Reading through this thread makes me laugh. It's full of half truths and complete lies. Have you not noticed that the only people that ***** about local bike shops are are the whiners that that think they should be treated like delicate flowers? They can't find good service no matter where they go. They have to travel out of town to find it because their needs are so different than anyone elses. Actually I think it come dowm more to them just being needy people. No one is ever good enough for them. Guess what?, it's a mirror reflection. The two biggest shops in town, Bow Cycle does over $10 million in annual sales, The Bike Shop over $5 million annually have literally thousands of happy and satisfied customers all over Calgary too busy out enjoying their bikes to be bothered to be petty and come on line and put down people that are just trying to make a living surrounding themselves with something they are passionatte about namely bicycles. It's the same for all of the shops in town.

Every shop in town is full of good people that simply love bikes. Customers and staff.

How about starting a thread about the good experiences you've had at a bike shop? What you focus on expands so stop taking your negativity around with you wherever you go. Actually maybe shopping out of town is a good idea for these folks.

Flower

I am a native of Calgary, and an experienced (Female) road cyclist; so I have made my way through the many ‘great’ shops Calgary has to offer. My favorite has got to be the Cyclepath at 9176 Macleod Trail South; they have a real down to earth feel, always make sure that I get what I want, and have the ability to tell me what I need! For example, I went in 3 weeks ago and talked to an employee named Dan; Dan asked me a few questions then seemed to be able to read my mind about where exactly I rode and what I needed from a new bike. I used the internet and talked to all my racer friends to follow up on and test Dan's advice, but what he recommended has turned out to be the perfect setup for me. Really, I’ve checked out countless bike review sites and have been to all the other shops since, and each shop (no offence) seemed to recommend either too much or too little bike for me. Dan nailed it, and he’s really hot! I’m definitely going back to talk to him and order that Madone, but not until I get a manicure and some tanning minutes in…

smpickett

This is a pretty old thread now, but a new Calgary area online store just opened up: Zero Tread Cycling Store (www.zerotread.ca)

Buglady

Also, don't forget MEC now has bikes and a full service bike shop. Well, it'll be back to full service once we catch up from the renovations backlog. Also, I work there now