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Singlespeed & Fixed Gear "I still feel that variable gears are only for people over forty-five. Isn't it better to triumph by the strength of your muscles than by the artifice of a derailer? We are getting soft...As for me, give me a fixed gear!"-- Henri Desgrange (31 January 1865 - 16 August 1940)

Philly people need advice

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Old 05-14-10 | 05:52 PM
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Philly people need advice

So i live in philly and just bought my first fixed gear, looking to upgrade parts and buy all my supplies,tired,tubes,handle bars, new pedles ect. The only shop im familar with is Guys bikes in feasteville and the place is horribly overpriced. Was wondering where all you philly guys buy your stuff from. Let me know the shops name and the area its in. Thanks
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Old 05-14-10 | 05:59 PM
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Bell's Bike Shop is in Philly and those guys are awesome. Maybe adriano can chime in and point you to some others.

Is your bike assembled yet? Go post pics!
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Old 05-14-10 | 07:08 PM
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ha funny you say that I was gonna take my bike to bells to get it assembled, but took it to ****ty guys instead because its closer. Ill definately be buying my stuff from bells thanks, and pics coming soon
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Old 05-14-10 | 07:14 PM
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I've bought a lot of stuff from Bell's and they've always been really great to me. They'll treat you right.
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Old 05-14-10 | 09:41 PM
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Bicycle Revolutions (4th & Monroe) has lots of really nice stuff, and caters mostly to fixed bikes. For tubes and tires and such I usually go to Breakaway because they're right around the corner from my workplace and I get dealz. Good mechanics at both shops.
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Old 05-14-10 | 10:54 PM
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I recently just used Bells for the kilo i just built. Called them up and everything I listed they had and were real cool guys.
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Old 05-14-10 | 11:22 PM
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Bicycle Revolutions. Bell's bikes is the worst.
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Old 05-14-10 | 11:41 PM
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Originally Posted by guerillaidiom
Bicycle Revolutions. Bell's bikes is the worst.
That may just be your opinion.
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Old 05-15-10 | 12:01 AM
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Originally Posted by Scrodzilla
That may just be your opinion.
I live here dude. I've also lived in Boston. I've worked at shops in both cities. Bell's is more of an ebay store than a personable, full-service bike shop.
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Old 05-15-10 | 07:00 AM
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I wasn't trying to start a fight. Where did you work in Boston? Most of the shops in the city are staffed with blowhard a-holes.
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Old 05-15-10 | 07:49 AM
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In before.......
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Old 05-15-10 | 08:07 AM
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Nah, I wasn't calling anyone here names. Just commenting on the attitude found in a lot (but not all) of the shops in the City of Beans.
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Old 05-15-10 | 01:49 PM
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From: My response would have been something along the lines of: "Does your bike have computer controlled suspension? Then shut your piehole, this baby is from the future!"

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Yeah, Bell's bikes may have great online services but they had a bunch of a-holes working there when I went, that was then though, I havn't visited them since my second bad expierience. Maybe they have a new staff?
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Old 05-15-10 | 01:54 PM
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From: My response would have been something along the lines of: "Does your bike have computer controlled suspension? Then shut your piehole, this baby is from the future!"

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Originally Posted by Philasteve
So i live in philly and just bought my first fixed gear, looking to upgrade parts and buy all my supplies,tired,tubes,handle bars, new pedles ect. The only shop im familar with is Guys bikes in feasteville and the place is horribly overpriced. Was wondering where all you philly guys buy your stuff from. Let me know the shops name and the area its in. Thanks
Forgot to ask, did you just move into Philly? If so the first thing you should buy is the best bike lock on the market, then look into a bike and/or bike shop. If you lived here all your life or for at least 5 years please carry on. ;0)
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You see, their morals, their code...it's a bad joke, dropped at the first sign of trouble. They're only as good as the world allows them to be. I'll show you. When the chips are down, these...These "civilized" people...they'll eat each other. See, I'm not a monster. I'm just ahead of the curve
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Old 05-15-10 | 02:57 PM
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No, Ive been here my whole life I kinda live on the outskirts far northeast phila. But im going to be doing a lot of city riding. So im investing in 2 krypto U locks. The reason i was asking for shop recomens is because im kinda new to the bike scene and have hated the shop by my house since i was a kid.
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Old 05-15-10 | 05:11 PM
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another vote for bell's bike shop for me...
i've ordered online as well as picked up stuff from within the shop...
customer service was on point
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Old 05-15-10 | 06:12 PM
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From: My response would have been something along the lines of: "Does your bike have computer controlled suspension? Then shut your piehole, this baby is from the future!"

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I'm going to hve to check out Bells again as they seem to have made some changes, I'll swing by some time soon and give an updated opinion.
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You see, their morals, their code...it's a bad joke, dropped at the first sign of trouble. They're only as good as the world allows them to be. I'll show you. When the chips are down, these...These "civilized" people...they'll eat each other. See, I'm not a monster. I'm just ahead of the curve
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Old 05-15-10 | 09:31 PM
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You need a comma or something in the title. I thought you were going to start ranting at people from Philly
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Old 05-15-10 | 09:41 PM
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Originally Posted by ilikebikes
I'm going to hve to check out Bells again as they seem to have made some changes, I'll swing by some time soon and give an updated opinion.
When I was in Philly while on tour last summer, I stopped in at Bell's for a visit and the place seemed pretty damn ok to me.
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Old 05-16-10 | 07:02 AM
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Originally Posted by Scrodzilla
When I was in Philly while on tour last summer, I stopped in at Bell's for a visit and the place seemed pretty damn ok to me.
Last time I was there the staff wouln't take their eyes off my, treated me like I was going to steal something, and when I asked about a MTB I liked this is the reply I got,"Haha! I don't think you can afford that bike!" So yeah, I'll have to go back and check them out before I change my opinion of them.
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You see, their morals, their code...it's a bad joke, dropped at the first sign of trouble. They're only as good as the world allows them to be. I'll show you. When the chips are down, these...These "civilized" people...they'll eat each other. See, I'm not a monster. I'm just ahead of the curve
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Old 05-16-10 | 08:21 AM
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Originally Posted by jjmadaj
(a girl builds the wheels at bells, good or bad you pick).
Why do you think that's important enough to even mention? If I made a list of the traits I thought were important in a wheelbuilder, gender wouldn't be on it.
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Old 05-16-10 | 08:25 AM
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Yeah, that is pretty dumb. My wife would punch you in the eye for saying a thing like that.

I had the set of wheels on my Madison custom built by Bell's. If the girl who builds wheels is the one responsible for mine, she did a damn good job.
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Old 05-16-10 | 09:19 AM
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Originally Posted by seau grateau
Bicycle Revolutions (4th & Monroe) has lots of really nice stuff, and caters mostly to fixed bikes. For tubes and tires and such I usually go to Breakaway because they're right around the corner from my workplace and I get dealz. Good mechanics at both shops.
That's the place to go. Prices on parts and components is Great!
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Old 05-16-10 | 11:23 AM
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there's some shop on walnut street, don't even know what it's called but i've passed it like 30000000 times. never went it so idk if its any good
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Old 05-16-10 | 11:29 AM
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I honesty find the smaller shops with older staff (read late 40+ looking just greying at the temples types) are the most well mannered and helpful. I've not gone to all the shops in the city and did have good experiences at Bicycle Revolutions but some others seem to have a sense of elitism/indifference/*******ry/conceit about them especially if a regular fellow dares to commit the sin of bringing a cheapo target type bike or looks to make a bicycle purchase under $500, or otherwise is plainly ignorant of biking in general.

Again I certainly havent been to them all and I'm a suburbanite so dont singularly focus on the city but the shops I have had stellar 10 out of 10 service from are 'Abington Wheel Wright, Evolution Pro bike and ski out in Buckingham PA (upper bucks co..beautiful locale), Keswick is great, no complaints but not as "come into my house, sit down, heres some hot cocoa" kinda feeling like the other really small shops. Again, Bicycle Revolutions was good, young knowledgeable crew, drippin with hipsters tho, but look at it's location, makes sense and the shop cant be faulted.

The big bike shops (Bikeline etc) I find has maybe one knowledgeable staff member and the rest are clueless, just regular retail folk slinging the companies wares.

What I've found with all shops I've been to is that I find little to no compelling reason to give up using the web as a source to find parts, understandable as they only have so much square footage but anything I've needed has never been in stock or they just dont carry it. I think I'll always call them first as I like to support the LBS that I like but more than not I'll go to amazon alas.
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