mustang1

I'm visiting NY in a few weeks, staying not too far from Times Square. Can anyone recommend a bike shop to:

a. buy bike-related stuff
b. rent a bike
c. possibly look into buying a bike for export

EDIT:
I've returned from NY now. I emailed a couple of bike shops. One doesn't do rentals and the other didn't respond. Anyway, it was so damned cold and I wasn't geared up for that kind of weather to ride a bike. (I had no idea it would be that cold).

An observation: those NY drivers really wanna make it hard for cyclists to get passed huh? And I've never seen so man y cyclists go down the wrong way of a 1-way road (I think they're food-delivery guys) and no one seems to use lights. Crazy!

botto 

a. toga/gotham/conrads/r&a/sheepshead/bicycle renaissance/paragon sports/etc

b. metro

c. toga/gotham/conrads/r&a/sheepshead/bicycle renaissance/etc

michaelmc

Are you rich? Getting a great exchange rate? Cadence.

Yoshi

Go to Bike Works. It's a tiny hole-in-the-wall shop with really amazing employees. The owner is a former racer who has some great stories (like the time Greg Lemond passed him in a time trial).

Pablo.

If you're in NYC, go to Cadence for fun. It's like a friggin museum in there.

djbowen1

best place for buying stuff for export has to be R&A, cadence has a very small stock of stuff with very limited range of brands.

botto 

But according to you, R&A is not in New York.

michaelmc

Oh SNAP!

BillyD

You can't hide.

SpeedyTSO

Has anyone else besides myself had a bad experience with R&A? Just recently, I was in the store browsing and no one came up to me to see if I needed assistance.

jyossarian

I went to R&A on a rainy day and one of the sales guys was gonna let me test ride a bike I had no intention of buying. I said no thanks cuz I didn't feel like riding in the rain.

patentcad

Toga recently opened a shop in Nyack. Mostly so they'd have more warehouse and assembly space for their NY City shops (NY is only 20-30 mins. south of there) from what I'm told.

That's like the friggin Orcs from Mordor setting up camp in The Shire.



But I do like their cycling caps.

geist

Signature on 64th and NYC Velo in the LES.

unbelievably

Since when did this become a bad thing???

botto 

exactly.

i hate going to a shop, and getting pestered the moment i enter.

SpeedyTSO

You break, you buy?

EGreen

d. master bike (225 w 77 st btw broadway and amsterdam)

Bob Ross

I think the more germane question is, has anyone every had a good experience at R&A? You are definitely not alone.

djbowen1

"master bike (225 w 77 st btw broadway and amsterdam" ??

The shop is 10'x10', you dont go in there to buy anything. It's really just a repair shop, the mechanic/owner is supposed to be the best though, or one of them

And the thread title is NEW YORK not NYC

botto 

I've had nothing but good experiences there. Guess I'm not as overly sensitive as others.

Yoshi

I've had mixed experiences. One time I came in with a broken wheel and they told me I should come back tomorrow because they were too busy. But other times they helped me out immediately.

I don't really go there anymore since they are really out of the way for me and I have several friends who own shops (Bike Works, Trackstar, City Bikes, Continuum) and so I generally go to those.

virgin-rider

I bought my first bike from R&A this time last year. Picked the bike and size i liked on the website, phoned them up twice with queries, spoke to the same guy who was very helpful and they shipped to Scotland and did it so i didn't have to pay Import Tax....Job done, Superb

Looking at their site just now, some sweet deals but can i justify upgrading after just 1 year???? Me thinks so

mustang1

Scotland as in Scotland UK right? What bike did you get from them and how was you sure of size/fitting?

botto 

if you're going to be in NY, then get it there. make sure that Felix is the one who fits you.

zacster

My R&A experience was good. I went in at least 4 times looking at my options, each time they were explained. They also set me up on a test ride of one of them. The only problem is that they couldn't set me up with a test ride on what I ultimately bought because it was custom.

Felix did the fitting on me and I haven't touched it since.

Just don't go in there on a spring Saturday and expect them to spend an hour answering questions on a $5 part. February is a good month to go.