Anyone from Cambridge, MA? I love seeing all the bikers in this area. I might take a day trip just to bike around Harvard Square & the river. If anyone is out there - do you know any places to shop for cycling clothing? Does Urban Outfitters carry stuff? Anyplace else? Any secret bargain places?

I'm in Cambridge! Just moved here - a great area, and a great area for biking. Lots of bike paths, and everything's pretty close together. There's also lots of nice bike shops around here and in Boston (Allston area has plenty of shops). All my bike clothes came from Goodwill, as do most of my non-bike clothes!

My lease is up soon, so I may have to move though Anyone know of any bike and dog friendly apartments coming available in the next few months? I particularly like Cambridgeport....

Enjoy the area!

I'm not in Cambridge, i'm in Jamaica Plain. But I bike over to Cambridge once or twice a week. Love the bike lanes, tho I wish the cabs/peds/parking cars would stay out of them.

I don't own any cycling specific clothes, so I can't help there. But there are a handful of good bike shops over that area that might have clothing. I don't think i've ever seen cycling-specific clothing at Urban Outfitters tho.

I'd recommend REI or EMS when they're having a sale. There's an EMS in Harvard Sq. but REI has waaaay better selection (plus a great discount area).

REI is the "cats meow". I just loaded up on stuff with my cash back check from them. It was in Row Die' Lin, the Cranston store.

Urban Outfitters is a place to buy bad college-kid fashion. If that's what you want to wear on a bike, go for it.

The Boston area has about a gazillion bike shops. I'm partial to Landry's, but more so to Bikes Not Bombs. Both across the river from you, but hey, you've got a bike so it's no big deal.

There's Cambridge Bicycle and Ata Cycle, both on Mass Ave. The former's close to MIT, the latter closer to Porter Sq. I've never actually been in either of them, but I ride by them all the time.

I worked as the sole mechanic at Bicycle Workshop in Cambridge back in 1979. Then when spring of 1980 rolled in, I gained two cow-orkers. I loved working there. The customers were so varied. Some were serious recreational cyclists. Some were college students. Some were professors. Some rode bikes because it was the most practical.

I used to ride through the streets of Cambridge and see bikes locked to parking meters and say, "I fixed that bike!"

I remember one woman who wore dresses, makeup, pearls, and high heels but only got around by bike. I think she was a professor's wife. She had an old English three-speed with heavy baskets bolted on. She stood up while pedaling. Quite an anomaly! And fun!

I also had a customer who was large-framed, tall man who kept breaking spokes and just about everything on his old three-speed. He refused to believe that his mass had anything to do with it. He was convinced he was unlucky. But he was a good customer anyway.

John S Allen, famous writer of bicycle matters, was an occasional customer of mine. He taught many things to me, such as the history of Sturmey Archer hubs.

Being in Cambridge, you were not considered weird if you were part of bicycle culture!

I also used to ride alone through Harvard Square on those warm summer nights. There were really good street performers there, far better than anything you'd see in Boston.

I saw the cute couples walking, holding hands everywhere, and I longed to have a girlfriend of my own. I had no idea how to court women, so I had my bicycles to keep me happy. I was only 19/20 years old at the time.

Thanks for taking me down memory lane.

^The street performers were far better back in the '80s, as was the scene in Harvard Square generally, but there's more cyclists now than ever. My route through Cambridge is always filled with other commuters except for on the coldest, snowiest of days. Few sights finer than a girl biking in heels.

And for the OP, if you want some snappy Cantabrigian bike clothes for cheap and if you're a guy, go to The Garment District and buy yourself a vintage tweed sport coat. They breath great and stay comfortable over a wide range of temperatures. I ride in a J. Press jacket I paid $15 dollars for, and if I had gone to J. Press for it and not suffocated on the rarefied air, it would have set me back about $500.

Though I think if you dress like that in any other city, you'll get the beat down.

Hmm, maybe. To complete the look, you need patches on the pocket and a pipe in the mouth. Maybe a flat cap on the head, too. I've got the tweed jacket and the cap, but I'm stopping there.

LOL, too funny.

BTW - for those of you who don't know Cambridge, some days it looks like China due to all the bikes

Central is my home area. Good area to get around by bike...I ride to work year-round. I did, however, complain to myself this morning about the newish bike bimbos weaving unpredictably in the bike lanes and leap froging me at the stop lights on my commute. REI in Fenway/above mentioned shops/Broadway Bicycle School/Wheelworks between Davis and Porter are all worth a visit I suppose.

I went to college there. Never had a bike, though. I walked everywhere. :O)

for pure road cycling oriented clothing, I tend to prefer Ace Wheelworks in Somerville, as their selection is fairly broad and includes a good array of commuter jackets and raingear as well as traditional lycra and spandex for roadies. I hit REI if I want stuff to wear off the bike (rock climbing pants tend to do well in double-duty as cycling pants since they have cinchable cuffs and dry quickly in the event of rain)

Harris Cyclery out in Newton has a decent selection of wool, if you're ever out that way.

In addition to the Garment District, I would also advise you to check out the City Sports Basement in downtown Boston, which has some pretty good clearance items.

For people and bike watching, especially now in the summer, you can hang out in Charlie's Kitchen and Beer Garden, as well as Redbones in Davis Square.

A few lifetimes ago I lived in Lexington and commuted into Cambridge and Boston for work.
Belmont Wheelworks is the best bike shop I have ever experienced........give them your business.......

Is that why it's been called "The People's Republic of Cambridge"?

I lived in Cambridgeport for a while. Now I commute to Kendall Sq. everyday by bike from Brookline. Cambridge is very bike friendly. Brookline not so much. For repairs, check out Broadway Bicycle School. For clothing, check out REI in Fenway (Boston, not Cambridge) or Landry's on Comm Ave just west of the BU bridge (an easy ride from Cambridgeport).

Mark

Cambridgeport. My cow-orker called it "the coast."

You know, I've lived in Boston my whole life, and I don't think I've ever heard the name Cambridgeport. I looked it up and sure enough, it's a real part of Cambridge! Weird.

When I worked in Cambridge, Cambridgeport had a lot of folks from the Caribbean, so it seemed fitting to call it "the coast."