Bacchusbill

In post #12 the OP does ask for LBS recommendations.

Also, since Jace is an experienced cyclist who has lived here a number of years and has experiences with local bike shops, how does his post reflect poorly on him? Competition is good for the growth of business as well as the benefit to the consumer with lower prices, how is his post counter productive to the growth of cycling in NOLA?

Jethro

Bacchusbill -- I did not see the inquiry in post #12 and stand corrected on the point about the LBS question. We agree that competition is good for the growth of business. However, from my perspective, some less than accurate shots have been made in this thread at a highly reputable and long-standing business. My sense of fair play says that it would be one thing for someone to not conduct business where they were treated poorly or charged excessively but an entirely different thing to post skewed and misleading information about a business with the objective of steering people elsewhere.

I do not know Haywire II or Jace and can only take their (his) comments at face value as posted here. Why draw divisions among us as cyclists in this great city when there are so many other needs that we could be working on together?

Bacchusbill

Not trying to draw any divisions, I assure you, I am with jace and would love to see you out at polo. If only one person was crying foul, i wouldn't have said a word when you made your rebuttal. But when 2 people cry foul, i would tend to believe him/them. I just didn't like the comment about it "being counter productive and reflecting poorly on the poster" and wanted a bit more explanation.

BM isn't really convenient to me so my experience with them is limited. I work in Kenner so East Bank Cycles is best for me. Great shop. As with anywhere, the prices are great after you get to know/ride/race/camp with the guys running it.

jace.

IT wasnt really my intention to bash any of the stores around here, especially BM. I go there all the time(and spend most of my bike related $$$ there) and the guys there are great and they DO go out of there way to help. But seriously..... almost $10 for a ****ing long stemmed road tube is ludicrous!(I guess I should clarify that the $10 tube was not on only one occasion, so it is not just one mishap when checking out, thats what they want to charge me.) Damn near every other LBS in the city charges the same for the longer stemmed tubes, if they even carry the short ones. Ive only had one terrible experience at a LBS here and Im not going to bash them because if I do then THAT would be very counter productive to whats going on down here.


Anyways if you are in NOLA, you cant really go wrong with (almost)any LBS, so get out and ride yo damn bike.


Oh and come play polo,we always need more! EDIT: You too Bill, I still have your wheel cover!

Enthusiast

well well, its a regular NOLA riders get together in here. Hey Jace, Bill, I'm still too wiped from the triathlon to make it out Wednesday but I'll be there Sunday for polo. And when are we gonna have goldsprints in Bill's Garage?

I was on the Jackson/Gretna ferry last fall and there was a messenger coming back from Gretna. He said there were a dozen or so messengers before Katrina but now there are maybe 5 and it's very part time work. They also have to wear company polo shirts on the job, a definite turn off for me!

On a related note, I think there is tons of bike culture down here, especially loosely organized rides and parades. The pedal powered floats built by the black label kids and others for the Eros parade this past Mardi Gras were amazing. The critical masses always end in parties and then there are the midnight and crunkical masses which are nothing but parties. The last ride I went on had 50+ people who ended up in city park watching a bunch of sweet fire jugglers. Everyone is very relaxed, fun, and welcoming.

edit: Concerning LBS's, yeah BM is one of the most expensive in town for some stuff but I like the employees and still support them when I can afford to. Plus, it's tough to put a price on the expertise of some of their mechanics. Tim has answered many of my stupid questions. I'll agree with Jace though, they do charge too much for tubes. A 700% markup is a bit extreme.

haywireII

A month later, I'm back... hey it's New Orleans, we move slow here.

We can't question shady crap because we're in some sort of crisis? Should we stop questioning Nagin? How about city council? You sound like the US government when anyone questions their policies on "terrorism" or the war. Next thing you'll ask me to start thinking about the children before I post.

I'll be more concise: BM is the most expensive bike shop in New Orleans for the layperson... and some of the employees treat customers like jerks, those are facts. Sure, they may charge .20 less for some tchotchke or bricabrac like a c02 cart, valve stem adapter or rim tape than XYZ shop, but on stuff that matters--bikes, helmets, components, labor--they're generally head and shoulders above the rest. Some of the guys who work there are awesome (Tim, John, Chris) once you get to know them.

On a side note and to agree with Jace... I made my way out to Adam's Bicycle World for the first time yesterday and that place is awesome as are the two guys I talked to there. Like mentioned, it's kind of out of the way and since I don't drive I unfortunately won't be patronizing them as much as I'd like to but if you're in NO and you're mobile, check it out.

504-ranger

i live in metaire with not too many places to ride...
east bank cyclery was very nice to me..went for some bar tape and talked with one of the guys there about FG's for 20 minutes....realy nice
where do people ride out in the metro area? i was thinking of riding the levee...but i do that in baton rouge and its kinda boring...

haywireII

There's not "set" place we ride. Some of us like to do longer rides for condition/fitness uptown on the river levee or lakefront by UNO and the airport. Others just ride for their commute to school / work from uptown to downtown or vice versa. There are every a couple heads who ride into town from Metaire almost daily to hang out and polo.

We all play polo on Wednesday nights at about 19.30 and Sundays at maybe 13.00-15.00 (check the website: https://www.nopolo.org) in the parking lots under the interstate @ Barrone / Calliope downtown. That's the best time to meet a good portion of the regular fixed riders in NO and exchange information etc.

hammerdown48/13

If anyone sees a Schwinn Varsity SS conversion with custom "love" (gag!) stickers on the chain stay and some cheap-o alexrims.... steal it. I built it for an ungrateful now ex who never used it anyway. Should have ridden it back home last time i was there... >_< Waste of a solid frame and old parts says I... Put it to good use down there... I kid.

I have visited NOLA at least 4 times since last November and rode everywhere, everyday i was there... Beside the potholes some have mentioned, which can swallow a car, let alone a bike... it was an amazing town to explore by bike. And anyone with a set of eyes should be able to avoid the pits in the road.. no problems here. It was a great change of pace from ridin' in a more urban environment... lookin forward to ridin there again some day!

I found the shop on st. charles to be pretty kind and affordable... at least i think it was on st. charles... perhaps not... the name evades me. There was a pizza joint right down the block... and a coffee shop in an old bank building down the other way.... anywho...

hammerdown48/13

it was on carrollton... not st. charles

toro_indiana

Resurrecting this thread to see how things have changed now many years since Katrina. I'm thinking about moving to NOLA. Currently work as Jimmy John's delivery (biking) and I would like to continue that but no JJ's in NOLA. I would deliver food in the French Quarter, it sounds like a lot of rich tourists = good tips, to me.


Folks talking about pedicabs. Remember that no one will insure something you welded together. Budget $5000 for a pedicab from Main Street pedicabs, find a garage, pay $2000/yr in insurance and then tell me if this sounded like your ideal part time job.

cruiserhead

Bicycle World near the levy path is really good. Reasonable prices, large selection and everyone there was helpful.

I saw a ton of pedicabs all over the usual tourist areas, all times of day and night.
Never saw any messengers though it might be a good side business in the city center, but no one in NOLA is in a rush....

There are some really crap roads but I rode everywhere on my fixed w/ 23c tires and never a problem.

johnnytheboy

you get used to it. i was born in tx in the middle of july '82. lived here all my life....keeps getting hotter.
has nothing to do with "being a badass" as someone mentioned.
i'd rather ride 100mi in 95* heat (which i've actually done several times) than ride 30mi in 30* cold (which i've also done).

hell, this happened less than 2 years ago...
https://www.accuweather.com/en/weathe...for-most/55022