Yeah, I live near Bicycle Revolutions and they have a great selection of single speeds. They have some awesome ones that make me drool, and I don't even ride SS. They have the Surly Steamroller, some Jamis', something REALLY cool called a "Lager" from SE bikes, about $500 . .

http://www.sebmx.com/2007/bike-detail.asp?id=20

Check it out!!! The owner seems like a good guy, too.

i saw a lager bike locked up the other day, and as i walked towards it i was like "ooooooo yuengling bottle colored bike" and to my surprise it even said lager on it. i thought it was a custom decal or something. pure awesomeness. i want one.

they are terrible bikes.

SE used to be a top notch BMX company in the 80s and early 90s. they went under fuji bought them and now they make really cheap ss/fg with one piece cranks and cheap components. not really worth it.

also revolutions sells scratch and dent jamis bikes they really arent brand new, they are stock that was damaged in shipping.

Via Bicycles is a fantastic museum.

an expensive one.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but from what I understand, Bryan at Revolutions is one of the best wheelbuilders around (I think he signs the inside of your rims and puts a little "Fuzzy Built" sticker on the outside). Long story short, what I'm saying is that wheels built by him may come at a premium.

eric up at trophy bike garage builds amazing wheels too. i would def go to him as well.

Actually, you would be right about the SE Draft, but not the Lager. The Lager has 3pc cranks and formulas laced to alex rims and a richie headset. it's by no means top notch, but for five bills, you could do far worse.

if the owner from mike's bikes likes you you get pretty good deals there.

and no matter what your riding experience is he's going to yell at you to take your front brake off.

Everytime I walk into trophy I feel like it's a car lot.

"You should buy...."

To me, Via is mostly a used shop. When I goto a used shop looking for new items, i expect to pay a higher premium. You wouldn't walk onto a used car lot and say "sell me a new car". Cause I mean the man will, he has to try to make a sale, but I can bet you 9 times out of 10 you'd find it cheaper at the dealer. You can't blame a man for trying to make a living, otherwise he'd a been out of buisness long ago and truely missed a shot at what he loves to do.

Of all the people that are trying to preserve bike culture around here, you think someone would shake his hand for not selling rarities to every dope with money that walks off of south street, flashes some cash, and says "i want that". I know for a fact that he makes sure that all of those parts are in the right hands.

Not attacking you personally GBD. I get that vibe a lot from people, and I feel like sometimes it's because people just misunderstand his store. Being right off of south, rent must be insane, plus dealing with every flake that wants a basket or a tire changed on their huffy 12 speed must be madness. It's something a lot of shops won't do (or charge enough to scare them away) and he goes above and beyond with.

Do you?

I like Trophy and have dumped a lot of money there but have had my rear wheel on my Surly trued/retensioned multiple times there and the same issue keeps coming back. Maybe I'm just ignorant here but if I keep dropping money to have a wheel fixed, I don't expect to have multiple spokes so loose you can turn them with your fingers a couple weeks later after light and easy riding, each time.

There's also Breakaway Bikes on Chestnut by 20th.

And Bicycle Revolutions is a great little shop. I want a few of those art pieces they have on their walls.

bryans wheel builds are excellent. he laced up some phils to velocity's for me. more expensive than if i ordered them online, but the wheels are stiff, look great, and i don't mind at all supporting a great local shop

if your wheel sucks no amount of truing will make it good again. i am sure they'd even tell you that after you keep brining it back.

now if they built the wheel and THEN that happens you got a legitimate beef.

my bet is you got a machine built wheel and the robot was having a bad day. then you rode said wheel making the uneven spoke tensions whack the whole rim/wheel outta true. after that there is not much that can be done sadly. :(

don't worry i ruined my share of cheapo wheels just like this. now i only buy my rear wheels handbuilt from guys i know. since then what is happening to you has never happened to me. before that it happened all the time.

Yeah, I understand the whole "support your local" thing.

But when you get a price quote for the build, the rims that would cost $100 for the pair and your "local" says, "well, that'll be $70 each rim" and so on, I have to be loyal to my wallet etc.

I know more or less how much the items I want cost. To me, it's the same as when people "pay more for the name". If it cost $5 each more than in the "other place", it would not bother me so much... but $40? Let's get real!

If a person is exceptional at a skill, he should charge for his skill, not jack up the price of the components! That's just my take.

So everybody, who builds your wheels?

I do.

pm me.

ditto.

I actually like trophy a lot and the owner has always been cool to me. I am more of a tourer though so he carries a lot more of the stuff I am interested in. I will have to put in a vote for Jay's Pedal Power though. I got one of my touring bikes there for a steal and everyone there is terrific to ask for help from. I would recommend Jay's to anyone.

go to trophy.

My vote is fo theraphy......Lee and the crew are great

or the garage.

a shop that sells used bikes is always kind of bucking for a thunderbolt, in terms of how everyone is likely to hate them for various and sundry reasons. moreover, there's got to be times when a nasty hooligan walks into the shop, points at a random bike, and swears that it's his, recently stolen. christ, i would, if i was even a tiny bit less scrupulous. but, that being said, the malicious bro running via is liable to scare off any such wrongdoers.

only problem is, i bet that via has more'n its fair share of stolen bicycles in there. further, stolen or not, the majority of the stuff i have seen there is very jenky, and ridiculously overpriced.

if you're a savvy cyclist who knows yer way around bikes and retail environments, by all means, go to via. you can find some elusive stuff there, etc. but, if you're new to riding, or even to shopping, stay the f### out of there, for your own good. it's unlikely any good'll befall a rookie in a sheisty den like VIA.

just my $.02
-rob

Trophy is close to me and they have always been consistent with their work, quick with ordering parts, and super nice.

Despite Via being expensive for NOS parts/bikes/whatever, I needed a fork re-brazed (it was so big that they couldn't find a replacement) and they charged me $25. The one guy said that it should have been way more, but since he gave me a ballpark figure of $25 he would stick to it. They also painted it to match the rest of the fork.

Only shop I had a bad experience with was Wolf Cycle. Total junk.