dr.chill

I'm moving back to oakland after being in chicago for 4 years, and was curious what kind of ratio would be good to use out there and how people do with riding brakeless. Also where is the good bike shop in the east bay?

onetwentyeight 

montanovelo is the best shop that I know of in the east bay. Theres a few threads about gear ratios in the bay area if you search for em. Average seems 70-75.

Spor

montanovelo is the best shop that I know of in the east bay. Theres a few threads about gear ratios in the bay area if you search for em. Average seems 70-75.

Terror_in_pink

i second montano velo.

I lived in oakland for the past three years. It's best city. Lots of small galleries run by friends and warehouses that have great shows, great artists, musicians etc..

i ran 43x15 (78 gear inches) for a while, which is ok because oakland is flat, unless you ride into the hills but the gear is a little too steep for me without a brake so i switched out to 43x16 which is around 73 gear inches and it rules. I rode a brake the first several months when i was pushing 78 gear inches then ditched it and was fine brakeless. As long as you have your skids and skips down and dont ride like a maniac you'll be fine, you won't need to come down any steep hills.

here are some places you should check out that my friends run and or rule:

mamma buzz cafe on telegraph near 23rd
Montano Velo on Piedmont, near 49th
Auto art gallery on Telegraph btwn 33rd and 34th
Biggums silverlion (best dive ever) on telegraph around 49th
Koryo Sushi on Telegraph near 41st (open LATE)


i'm sure there's more i'll remember right after i click post

freebird

Don't forget the Friday Night Fights (fixed) ride from MontanoVelo, Lanesplitters (the new one), second on the Koryo Sushi, oh gee, there's so much. It's makin me homesick. (sniff)

Oh yeah, be prepared to see sick track bikes everywhere. I mean everywhere.

r-dub

montanovelo is the best shop that I know of in the east bay. Theres a few threads about gear ratios in the bay area if you search for em. Average seems 70-75.

onetwentyeight 

*echo* *echo* *echo*

gh-ap

I might be moving to Oakland too- around 32nd and San Pablo.

The problem is, I don't know much about the neighborhood. Anybody live around there?
Rdub? Terror? Fbird?

TacoPropelled

I live on 28th west of San Pablo. There are worse neighborhoods.

breadbox

Like International and 40th, where every other car that rides past you drives slow, music booming, wheels spinning, and a guy leans out the window and says menacingly, "I like your bike...why don't you let me ride it?"

TacoPropelled

When I moved to Oakland I lived on 92nd and A. That was a ****ed up neiborhood.

dr.chill

i'm orginally from across the bay but moved out here to chicago a couple years ago and that's when i got into riding fixed. A friend of me told me that the Temascel area is getting pretty shaddy, but that is where i'm thinking of moving around so i will still be close enough to UC Berkeley for school but not paying the ******** rent.

Thanks for the help!

Terror_in_pink

temescal is safer than the dirty thirties. It's not bad at all. it's actually more expensive than a mile down cause its cleaner and nicer.

32 and san pablo, watch your back, dont leave your bike out, don't walk, ride... and ride fast. look out for gangs of kids that will push you off your bike, hit you, and steal your bike.

lots of folks i know live around there, I did for 3 years, just watch your back and you'll be fine.

Terror_in_pink

east oakland, west oakland, mid oakland (downtown- 40th) and north oakland are all pretty different if you ask me.

pitboss

oh...but San Pablo was soooooo smooooooooooth. They just repaved it!
Aside from that, I got nothing.

Oh, Koryo rules. End argument.

TacoPropelled

If you stay on San Pablo, walking isnt generally that bad. On the surrounding streets its very block by block.
Terror in pink nailed that one. That happened to my buddy on west macarthur. But that happens all over Oakland, same guy had a mountain bike ripped off at lake merrit. It doesnt happen often though.

gh-ap

i'm pretty tough for a tall skinny white dude, and i can get rowdy with some 14 year old thugs-it's their fresh-outta-san quentin "cousins" that i'm worried about.

TacoPropelled

You can also ride faster than they can run. Like I said, though, this doesnt happen very often, at all.

Terror_in_pink

Taco's right, it doesn't happen too often but you can't ride fast enough through them when they pile out into the road and blockade. I've seen it with my own eyes. Gh-ap, you can't fight them when there's 20 of them and one of you. And as of late, there's been a bunch of crap going down on Telegraph btwn 28 and 36th, so much that all my friends on the blocks started a neighborhood watch and are working with the city. Same old crap, gang of kids blockading the road, smashing windows, vandalizing cars with people in them and harassing pedestrians and cyclists. Taco is right though, it is very block to block. For instance, i lived on 34 and telegraph which was much better than MLK and 34th, which was only a block away. Just remember to avoid MLK, it's like a hot spot that's several blocks long. My friend got mugged after she parked her car across the street from a bar and crossed directly across the street to go in for an interview. ridiculous. If these children are behaving this way, imagine what their home life is like.

After we had been harassed on our bikes about a year ago in oakland i wrote this blog entry...

https://fixedfury.blogspot.com/2005/0...ocky-road.html

freebird

Yes, Oaktown can be rough. My first crib there (1991) was the old CornNuts plant off of 98th ave. The Fleishmann's yeast factory stank all the time, and TransTime Inc was right across the street (one of those places where they'll freeze your head for you after you die). It was an interesting introduction to the bay area.
I lived on Tele and 48th for awhile. Nice to have the Silver Lion and Conolley's right there, but you sure had to keep your eyes open. Lotsa kids I know got jumped/roughed up in that neighborhood. I hear it can still be kinda weird-- Don't let the chic restaurants and well heeled groovies fool you-- It's still a good place to get jacked up.
Spent the last 6 years out near High street. Make sure you have a big dog.
Some poor a-hole just paid way too much for my house out there, so I guess the neighborhood might be changing, but I wouldn't count on it.
I just realized how negative I sound.
Oakland is a great town. No, really.

helvetica

I carry pepper spray for punks like that.

Terror_in_pink

ya, always had pepper spray on my belt when i rode around, never really needed it. Then, i lost it a week before the one time i could have used it.

karmical

what about around the lake. hell i read this thread and its all about knowing where you're living, and as long as you're not dumb enough to go trying to score crack or anything else off the street dealers, you're ok... just remember if you here something like "thats my bike" you start to speed up

i love oakland, i just moved back around the lake again, this means i have lived on all sides of the lake now... but now they're really building oakland up all around, love it here, this time next year all kinds of new stuff will be around...

temascel is getting too uppitdy if you ask me wherein downtown its more real...just stay out of west or east, but then its more of where you're at that matters not... and that crack thing...the yay area...thats for real just leave them fools alone and just ride...

ok back to the bottle...

hi tip...

really miss not seeing you along telegraph you know...

Terror_in_pink

awww, hi kendall! I miss you too.. and oakland too. I'm in the burbs of LA right now and it SUX!!!

somebodies

what they said, and riding brakeless is fine too. I'm runnin 48X18, its fine. Also by the lake. Fine, just fine...