Originally Posted by
jpescatore
Over the years I've found "go to" bike shops that were reliable and knowledgeable and stuck with them for years. Invariably the owners retire and usually the bike shop just shuts down.
For the past 5 years or so Race Pace (several locations in Baltimore/Columbia MD) has been my go to shop. The owner Alex was hands on, did a lot of biking and valued customer service over milking out the last few pennies on everything. Prices weren't cheap, but quality and service was always high.
Alex is retiring and Trek is buying the Race Pace chain. Not necessarily a bad thing - Trek bought one I used occasionally in Northern VA and no degradation in service - and turns out Trek owns something like 1700 independently run bike shops in North America. I guess some financial backing is really a plus in pandemic times.
Over the pandemic, two new bike shops opened even closer to me than Race Pace is - I guess the flip side of the supply chain problems for bikes and bike parts is the vastly increased demand for bikes and services!
Alex is a great guy and was always a pleasure to talk to. I was already working in a bike shop in Baltimore when Alex started his bike business in a little hole-in-the-wall shop in Woodlawn. He once mentioned to me that before he rented that first building, he had come close to starting a business painting lines in parking lots instead. Knowing what I do about how hard it is to make a living in the bike business, I have no doubt that he occasionally regretted that decision.