first time visting Box Dog Bikes in SF
 

I heard good things about this shop from the forum and went to check it out since I was visiting SF. The people are very laid back and nice. There is certainly no boutique feel to it. A poor kid walked in with his Miyata road bike...The fork lost one blade...It was hardly attached. I had never seen this in person. Scary!

I went in the used drawer to find a Cinelli stem. They wanted 25$...Too rich for my blood for a used stem that did not have the right washer on the fixing bolt.

It was very refreshing to see a bike shop without carbon crap everywhere. The Vitus road bike in the window priced at 850$ gave me a chuckle...I know it is a hip cool bike...but not that cool.

oh

I always ride past it on my way back from the park, but I never stop there...

so it's small, has a lot of hip stuff marked way above what it's worth but it didn't feel like a boutique?

huh they bought a bike from me on ebay a while back. a centurion. assuming box dog bikes on ebay is the same as the shop

i agree - cool people, nice feel to the shop..but not that reasonable prices. guess that's the going price to pay for cool people and a kickback shop.

They have competitive prices on new equipment comparable to other local shops. That's my story and I'm sticking to it. I also like going down there to use their tool bench.

I've stopped in a handful of times. Seems like they're selling the new stuff at the going rate in San Francisco (cf. American Cyclery, Freewheel, etc...). It's a very small shop, but they've always seemed to have more people working there than customers (being a co-op could explain that). I'm also, hands down an immediate fan of any shop that has a tool rental program (though the setup at The Freewheel Hayes is much better, Box Dog seems to have more floor space dedicated to tires than to tools).

Hard to say for the used stuff; this where they specialize. It's been hit or miss from what I've seen. The first time I went it nothing caught my eye, next time I had to keep myself from picking up a cross frame for $100. Used parts bins are also an excellent idea but I never saw anything that caught my eye.

The shop has a great concept and vibe, it seems like they've got good customer loyalty with the kind of people that regularly buy the kinds of stuff they've got. If I'm ever in the area it's one of the first shops that I think of (note, there's about a dozen shops in the immediate Mission/SOMA area).

I love Box Dog Bikes, it's the only place i'll spend my money locally. They usually have always given me a great price one things I look into.

The only thing was that their wheel build price quote was a little steep.

1) American Cyclery is the most expensive shop in all of SF. They are also *******s. That is not even debatable.

2) If you think $25 is too much for a used Cinelli stem, you're high. Go buy a new one for $80+. If you can find it.

3) An $800 Vitus is not overpriced. I'd say it's "market value" for this city. Did you think it would be $300? It's not Craigslist.

4) San Francisco is an expensive town with sky high real estate prices. For a group of cyclists to come together and open a shop, provide tools, offer inexpensive used parts, affordable repair services, and manage to survive for more than 3 months should be applauded. I have never heard so much belly aching over inconsequential details. Too many tires?? What a bunch of ungrateful, cheap ass, complainers. No wonder you all ride IRO's.

i want some of whatever Sorefeet is smoking

Yes, American is expensive, but they certainly aren't price gouging. There's one guy at American who is consistently a dick, everyone else seems cool.

Yes, they should be applauded. Applause.

If you'd like the reader's digest version of what I said originally:

Box Dog seems pretty cool, plenty of staff, some neat gear, tool rental is a major plus since a lot of shops don't do that - improvements could be made but otherwise they're doing a good job.

IRO sells a decent, cheap frameset, and the 53cm fits me like a glove. Got my frame, headset, bars and wheels built at Avenue. Got my crankset at American, BB at Valencia, brake cable and housing at Box Dog. Got my chainring, hubs, rims, and put it together myself at Freewheel Hayes. It's an awesome bike for commuting and tooling around, and for taking a break from my race bike. Sure, it doesn't have the ride quality of a De Rosa but it gets the job done. So, what's wrong with riding an IRO?

They aren't? You must be joking. American Cyclery is far and away the most expensive shop in the city. Have you looked at their website lately? Let's see here. Ah yes, a 1990's era Campagnolo seatpost for $300? Cinelli Grammo stem for $275? Nitto seatposts for $140? That place is the definition of "price gouging".

Nothing wrong with IRO. It's the cheapskate mentality I have beef with. The "$25 for a Cinelli stem is too rich for my blood" attitude. The $40 cranks and $75 wheelset crowd. Those that would rather buy piece of **** parts new, rather than quality used parts. I was generalizing of course, IRO just seems to be the most common of that ilk.

Why are you so butt hurt? Did anyone even really say anything negative?

Oh, no, you're right - we we're talking about two entirely different things. I meant the typical prices for new gear from regular distributors, for used, NOS, and rare stuff American is definitely the most expensive.

$25 dollars for a cinelli stem with the wrong washer. Sure it says cinelli on it but you're probably better off with that mid priced new one you're so against unless you just care about the name.

$75 wheelset???? where?

Old stuff isn't always good and while you can sometimes find a deal on something of higher quality than what you can get new people often charge way way to much for mediocre brand name stuff. That sounds like what box dogs is doing.

It is not my favorite shop in the city, but i prefer it over some of the other choices. If i recall, their used bikes were way overpriced. They probably bought yellowjeep's bike off ebay and flipped it for 3x the price. If that is their practice, than i am ashamed, utterly...

I love that place, especially after the type of attitude you get from other bike stores in the city (not including Freewheel Hayes). But attitude is pretty typical from any bike store, I used to get it at stores in Los Angeles as well. Nice guys at Box Dog, and I dont like to give my hard earned money to jerks.

Seriously, I worked retail for years, it was a ****ty job, at pretty much the worst and busiest place in the world to work, but I tried my best not to let my attitude affect my customer service. If I had to do it over again, I would have worked in a bike store, not a big chain home improvement store, I would have been a happier person. I have had a couple different bad experiences at a couple shops in the city, especially American, and I don't think its cool. But bike store + San Francisco hipsters = attitude times a billion I guess.

I went into Box Dog a couple times to have my fork race installed, dude did it for free, as well as vacuum my grips on my risers a different time, for free. I bought my Phils there, my Sugino 75 cranks and BB, and had the wheels I built trued there, the truing was like 15 bucks, and one was free cause I had to wait past the time they told me it would be done. I got nothing but compliments on my new bike when I went in there, I'm pretty much sold on the place.

Box Dog is a great community resource in SF. If you don't live here, or haven't been (AKA, you don't know what the fu(k you're talking about) please keep your opinion to yourself. I'm sure you wouldn't like it if someone was trashing your local shop. ;)

/\ /\ Word!

I was just there yesterday getting a headset. One of the owners is a personal friend of mine so I am biased but I still think it's one of the best shops in the area. I like small shops with used part bins and nice peeps.

I won't go to big retail yuppie bike shops that don't give a **** about bikes.

any shop that lets you use tools is good in my book.

Freewheel on Hayes gets my vote. The guys there are great!

if somebody took that 125 dollar bike and made 375 off of if i would be surprised. unless the converted it to FG then being in SF i could see it. kinda

mojo gets my vote http://www.mojobicyclecafe.com/

i mean how could you net like this?

"We always fantasized about a bike shop where you could get your bike worked on, buy some bike gear, a good cup of coffee or just come to hang out. All this without the "bikier-than-thou" attitude that too often seems to permeate shop culture. It's just not that hard to be nice, and have good... mojo"