Fitting recommendations in the Bay Area for newbie

[KnottedYet]

Are you anywhere near San Leandro?

There is a shop there, Robinson Wheel Works. Small, independent, and the guy who owns it (Chris) is VERY good to women cyclists whether they bought their bike from him or not.

Several TE'ers go to Chris. I live in Seattle, but I've visited his shop several times. (I also went to a couple shops in Berkeley, and had a very hard time being taken seriously. Hellooo!) I've watched Chris treat a department store bike and its rider with just as much respect as he treats a Seven and its rider.

If you are open to suggestions and not too far from Chris, maybe go in sometime when it's not busy (and it gets pretty busy in there, he's popular, so maybe call and ask when is a good time) and talk to him about Rivendell and Surly and Salsa bikes.

I don't know if he carries Cannondale.

Edit: here's his address and such http://www.robinsonww.com/ Off the top of my head I can think of 4 TE'ers who go there, Trek420, Roguedog, Spazzdog, BikerZ

[Trek420]

Are you anywhere near San Leandro?

There is a shop there, Robinson Wheel Works. Small, independent, and the talk to him about Rivendell and Surly and Salsa bikes.

I don't know if he carries Cannondale.

He doesn't, in road bikes he has Surly, Salsa, Mondonico , Torelli, Habanero. I don't know what MTB's he has, Santa Cruz for one.

I see him there on his day off doing fittings. I think you can arrange that.

Nobody goes to a shop they don't like (I hope ) everyone likes their shop so everyone will chime in with their Bay Area favorites.

Other shops in the East Bay I think are worth taking a look are Eden Cycles in Castro Valley, and Left Coast Cycles in Oakland (near the Claremont hotel).

Where else do we like? 8-)

I don't know shops in the rest of the bay area well; South, Peninsula, even San Francisco.

I avoid the chains; REI. Performance etc for this kind of thing. They might be good for a glove liner or when you need a new spoke, or you know exactly what bike you need but not for a fitting.

Welcome to TE and when you get a chance, surf on over to the "getting to know you" thread 8-)

[fuzzysparkles]

I'm over in Oakland so I don't mind going to San Leandro or Castro Valley. But in looking at these places, none of them carry Cannondale...are they too "high-end" for the mainstream brands? I'm not looking to spend more than $1200 and some of these bikes are 5X that price! Yikes.

Except I saw that Left Coast carries Trek and Bianchi. And I guess Eden also does Bianchi and Giant. I hadn't considered Bianchi. How is Bianchi? I looked at their Castro Valley and Volpe model which seems to get good reviews from owners. I could always swap out low bars for the flat bars.

A friend of mine who is very knowledgable about bikes also recommended the Kona line, with the Dr. Dew or Dew Deluxe as an option. What do you think of Kona? Unfortunately, they don't have many distributors in the Bay Area near me. There is one in Oakland on College called Hank & Frank...any news on them?

Thanks again for your help!
V

[rapid cycler]

I don't live in the Bay Area, so I certainly make no claims on expertise. That being said, Chain Reaction, in Redwood City and Los Altos, maintains an informative Web site with articles to help first-time riders buy bikes. Here's their test-ride FAQ page, with links to more detailed articles:

http://www.chainreactionbicycles.com...etestrides.htm

I've been to both stores and found the staff in each knowledgeable and friendly. And the "Mike" who authored most of the articles on the site can be found in the flesh at the Redwood City shop—super nice guy! They also have deeper stock of built-up bikes than most independent shops. Good luck!

Edit: I just reread your original post and realized that you probably aren't in the market for a road bike. The FAQ I cited is specifically about testing road bikes, so you might not find it totally useful, though I think excellent points are made about buying bikes in general. CR does carry hybrids as well.

[KnottedYet]

I had a Kona Dew, which I really loved. Did a triathlon with it, too. Last month I traded it in for a Surly Cross Check. (the price tag on the Cross Check was $930)



I have it set up as my commuter, with flat pedals, fenders, rack, pannier, and my beloved Brooks saddle. I have drop bars because with a taller stem I find them easier on my hands/neck/shoulders than flat bars. Love the steel frame, and my 32mm tires smooth out the bumps a treat!

Earlier this week I saw a Surly Cross Check someone had put flat bars on.

[Trek420]

I've been to both stores and found the staff in each knowledgeable and friendly. And the "Mike" who authored most of the articles on the site can be found in the flesh at the Redwood City shop—super nice guy! They also have deeper stock of built-up bikes than most independent shops. Good luck!

I got my first road bike at CR, it was years ago but I think they did a good job. Even then when nobody did this, they had a good stock of womens clothes.

You mentioned Hank and Frank, not one of my faves.

[fuzzysparkles]

Thanks for the recommendations. I'll definitely be checking out the LBS mentioned here. I'll let you know what I end up with.

This is a great forum!

Cheers!

[Trek420]

Thanks for the recommendations. I'll definitely be checking out the LBS mentioned here. I'll let you know what I end up with.

This is a great forum!

Cheers!

Yeah, we kinda are TE is great. Pictures, we want pictures of the bike and test ride reports.