I'm going to be in the Big Apple in a week, and I was hoping someone could give me a lead on

1) A store that carries Onitsuka Tigers so I can try a pair and see how they compare to my Chuck Taylors,
2) A good LBS for fixie stuff; in particular I'd like to try the different sizes of MKS clips to see which fits me best.

Something in lower Manhattan would be easiest for me, but Brooklyn near the N-train would work too (I'll be stopping by L&B's before I leave). Thanks!

Hey,

I'm new to the area as well and can't say enough good things about NYCBikes. They're not exactly by the N train, but are super close to the W'sburg bridge, which I've discovered is a really great ride.

I stopped by their warehouse sale yesterday and found a ton of great stuff, and am getting really excited about starting to build up a fixed gear.

Steph

shoes-dqm 3rd st between 2nd ave n bowery.
bikes- trackstar 1st st between 1st ave n 2nd ave.

Thanks

Avoid NYCBikesat all costs. for reasons why, search the forums. These are the worst guys in the business. They are literally a block away from my house and i'd sooner ride to ****ing long island than give them my business. They're snooty, pretentious little ****tards that openly berate their customers. i've seen it happen on several occasions, most recently (and the very last time i went in there) to a hispanic delivery guy who's basket broke. the guy just needed help fixing the basket so he could do his job and pay his bills, he was willing to pay, and they're telling him how his bike is a piece of **** and how he should come back in a week and trying to pressure him into getting his headset overhauled. it I had a cog put on my beater there once because i didn't have a lockring wrench handy and I needed the work done that day. the ******* that did it neglected to tell me that the stress of removing the old cog was the last straw in stripping my old hub. i left and rode down the street, i went to skid at the bottom of the hill (literally 50yrds from the shop) due to a red light and my whole drive train went slack 30 feet from a live intersection. my brake saved my ass and when i went back up there to say what the ****, his answer was "yeah, i noticed it was kind of stripped." also, they sell ****ty, heavy asian frames with subpar parts for insane markups to people who don't know any better.

anyway, for pretty much the mecca of new york track bike shops go to trackstar. its on e 1st street between 1st and 2nd aves. Right around the corner on 2nd ave between 3rd and 4th e is NYC Velo. Not fixed only, but nice enough guys and the owner/manager at least knows his **** about fixies. on the lower east side, there's a place called bike works on ridge st. I like these guys a lot as well, and their prices are pretty reasonable. bicycle habitat on lafayette has a few track bikes and some people really like them, but i think their prices are a bit steep and most of their employees would rather sell you a carbon fiber roadie or a cruiser to go ride central park. Out in williamsburg, where i live, and just a short walk from nycbikes is king kog, more of a boutiquey kind of place. its on marcey ave and hope st. haven't dealt with them (though the shop is 40 yards from my apt and i i walk by twice a day), but i see their guys around at the track and the alleycats and they seem like good enough guys. you can get there by the L train or the jmz. there's also bicycle doctor on grand st a 5 minute walk away. i think between berry and wythe maybe? he's very track bike friendly. some think he's a little blunt, but i like that he gives it to you straight.

anyway pretty much all of these places have websites (except bicycle dr. that i know of) so just google them

i have to say i was hesitant of nycbikes after people on here bashed them so much but being that they're 2 blocks from my apt. i have grabbed a few things from there and they've always been super nice. i know they have a bad rep but they're always super helpful even with stuff that's on like super clearance sale, i mean i'm sure they earned their reputation but maybe they're trying to be a better shop. don't shop where you're not comfortable, i'm just saying i've never had anything but a good experience.

based on my personal experience i would suggest bikeworks down on ridge st. i have found dave, erin, and rob to be real friendly and knowledgable. they've been focusing on track specific stuff longer than just about any shop that i personally know of here in manhattan. they're the kind place where you could probably go in without knowing some secret handshake and literally compare the difference between a 14 & 15 tooth cog by actually trying it on your bike. the best part is that they're totally unpretentious. dave was a professional rider who grew up and rode with people like greg lemond. and erin has won female rider of the year for past two years at kissena's twilight series. meanwhile their there happy to help you with their greasy hands most days out of the week whether you ride a nagasawa brake or no brake or your a chinese food deliverer with huffy mountain bike stuck together with scotch tape.
https://www.bikecult.com/works/index.html

-cheers

********* urban outfiters has Tigers and several stores downtown.

bitpartinyrlife-

Your problem is we identified the potential product liability lawsuit in the bike ridden in by the delivery guy, but failed to point it out to one so knowing as you?

Your point doesn't seem to be that we f'ed up your cog, but that we failed to tell you your hub was f'ed up. And I'm sure if we told you that you had a screwed up hub you wouldn't have come on the forum the next day to say that we had tried to tell you your hub was f'ed up in order to sell you one of our crappy asian ones. That's the joy of running a bike shop. As for pedaling asian sh#t, you racist a*s. I suppose all your components are american made for purity? Oh that's right, you couldn't build a bike with all american parts, and american manufacturers don't care to make parts (at least ones that most americans can afford).

Thanks to all who came out to our warehouse sale, we had a lot of fun, and it was a pleasure to meet more people. For those who wish to challenge, or question, or give us a try beyond the occasional reverb of this forum my email is will@nycbikes.com. I get a bit of email, but I try to respond to all in time. For those who wish to ask questions about how to convert to ss or fg, or who wonder what we do, I'd love to hear from you. I did something as objectionable as design a frame and have it built, rather than branding an asian manufacturers design. If i could get it built here I would, but like most of the large brands I had my design built at a price american consumers would bear.

There's nothing wrong with trying to build a bike on the down low, pulling parts from here and there, getting a bike you can afford to build, and afford to lose to that NYC thief that elsewheres can't imagine. That's how I started building bikes, that's behind my parts sourcing, and that's what makes something like this warehouse sale as fun for me as it was for those who came by this weekend. There is something questionable, however, about imagining it is your right, and complaining that someone isn't handing it to you.

And Evan Dando deserves more than you as a tribute.

so the product liability lawsuit required you to say "we can't turn **** into gold" about the guy's bike and generally be rude? And it also required high pressure sales techniques, which you guys are notorious for, on the headset? As for asian parts, how does knocking quality of the cheap **** you peddle make me a racist? that's quite a stretch and pretty offensive, especially considering my girlfriend is asian. my complaint, if you read correctly, is that you're selling cheap **** for premium prices. $800 for your city fixed? wtf? any one of many off the shelf track bikes have far higher quality for $200 to $300 less. Anyone can tell you a stock pista will run circles around that bike and comes with much better parts. same with a base iro mark v or angus. and to actually get either of those bikes built up with nice stuff you're still looking at $100 less. same goes for a pake, base spicer, rush hour, etc. hell, the bike i'm building now will top out only a 100 or two more with hand-built deep v's on formulas, sugino 75 crank, zen messenger ring, deda pista drops, selle italia flite, etc, etc. and fyi, i don't think anything is my "right," i've been riding my old pos ross for over a year, first as a ten speed, then as a low budget ss/fix conversion and saved my ass off to buy my new bike.

And yes, my point IS that no one told me my hub was stripped. Without brakes, i would have been ****ing dead or seriously injured. I missed a sliding into a car by about 3 feet and only because i happen to run a brake. this isn't some "oops i forgot to oil your chain" kind of silly thing, the drive train of a fixed gear bike is ****ing life and death and your guys' incompetence could have cost me mine if i wasn't running a brake. i think that's a pretty valid complaint.

anyway, as for your high and mighty bike on the low ****, i came in with my ten speed months ago wanting to convert it and "pull parts from here and there" and your guys told me that "as a shop, we have decided not to deal with old bikes anymore. its just too much hassle." so yeah, you're really keepin' it real man...

p.s. if you want to attack every guy that talks **** about your shop, you're gonna be pretty busy. type your name in the search field when you have the time, you'll see...

Guess what guys?

Grow the **** up.

Noted, BAB, noted.

I'm just p'o'd when people sling disinformation. Our $800 build has a profile carbon fork, a cane creek sealed cartridge bearing headset, an isis splined pipe spindle bb, a true cold forged track crank with a thick alloy track ring. our hubs are sealed cartridge bearing formula, like those on your dream build Bitpart (BTW, every part you mentioned besides the rims are sourced from asia, in spite of some of their european names and corporate hq's) and our rims are Sun Swifts, a deep-v profile rim with the added benefit of eyelets at the nipples. And I'd say that build kicks butt compared to the other builds you mentioned, in addition to being quite a few pounds lighter (ours is 19lbs). And it comes with a front brake so you're safe, legal, and considerate of others when you're on the street. You also get to choose colors, saddle, handlebars, brake lever, gearing...

We also have a new straight blade cro-mo track fork so we can build you a complete bike for $599.

But haters keep on hating - swarm all posts by those who love our stuff with your rethreads. And yes, we won't work on a bike without brakes, and yes if the shop has a few people in we ask you to keep your bike in our rack, it gets kinda crowded. My apologies to the tone of my previous reply. After a long week and a couple of beers it gets a little grating to hear from the entitled.

Bitpart, I am sorry and shocked that my mechanic did not point out your worn threads, but honestly, how would you have reacted if he did?

the appropriate way to handle customer complaints is not to lash out at the customers but to listen to what they are complaining about and try to fix it, which it doesn't really seem like you do too much since the problems persist. IRO has frames manufactured in the same way that you do, and you don't see countless people complaining about them so where your frames are manufactured isn't really the issue. it's your customer service. i understand that frustration leads to you coming on here and bickering with unhappy customers, but it doesn't really accomplish anything.

now, i would never buy a bike from you just cause i don't want what you're selling, but i'd perhaps come by to buy various and sundry items had i not been largely ignored, treated snottily, and over charged ($12 for two rolls of velox rim tape) the one time i shopped at your shop. things like this can and should easily be fixed and then you might see less bashing of NYCBikes on the internet.

To be perfectly honest, I would have understood. Not to say I wouldn't be bummed I had to put more money in the bike when i'm saving for my new one, but while I don't know a lot, I know enough to know that cheap junk hubs strip sometimes. I completely understand what you're getting at, my dad's in the car business and people come in for an oil change, his mechanics point out a serious problem, and the customer thinks they're trying to run up the bill. But they tell them anyway, and let them make the call on their own safety. Dropping my lockring was one of the scariest things that's ever happened to me and it could have been prevented, so I think you can probably understand why i'm so gung ho. anyway I don't want to argue, so thanks for the apology, I appreciate it.

well played, sir, well played.

lawl.

Not to point fingers but you are on Long Island. Oh, you're sort of whiney too.

Sorry Eva but rim tape is $5.00 a roll everywhere plus tax. I just bought some at Performance for 4.99 on sale for $3.99 add to that tax and shipping? Maybe NYCbikes should offer free rim tape to make up for your being charged market price...

humble - with a bit of research you'd find out that most places sell it for $3 a roll, so NYCBikes is selling it for double market price. everywhere i've bought it but NYCBikes has been $3, and if ya just do a quick little google search almost all of the results on the first page are $3 a roll. keep being clueless and working up a bad name for NYCBikes. yet again you've provided a perfect example of what i'm talking about, getting pissy and defensive rather than solving the problem.

I'm glad i don't fix bikes for a living , too much of a hassle dealing with people.

Rim tape is 2$CDN at pretty much every store in Toronto....maybe 5$CDN for super high-end or something.

shut up stud

Haha, what?

choose the response that best suits you:
1: performancebikes.com sells velox for 4.99, 3.99 on sale. I chose to buy it from them should I trash them because they priced it at what they chose to and not what I feel it should be? Is this not a free market economy?
2: you sir have besmirched your underpants.While you are googling "besmirched" may I suggest you look up the meaning of "loss leader". Let me know if you can't find the definitions and I'll let you know the meaning.
3: Is it time for Little Prince's nappy change and then beddy bye? "There, there, brave little soldier, hush now and rest, tomorrow will be a new day and those evil doers at NYCBikes will haunt you no more.
4: Keep crying about it Eva while I'm out riding. You Troll.