Hi guys,

I'm looking for a good Cannondale LBS in Mountain View. My girlfriend just moved there for her internship and she's looking to buy a CAAD. She has zero knowledge about bike repair though, so a decent shop is important. Any recommendation?

Thanks a lot!

I presume that you mean Mountain View, CA and have already entered such at http://www.cannondale.com/dealer-locator/ and got the list of 7 dealers within 25 miles? I was in that area many years ago and still visit on occasion, though am not familiar with all the shops listed, but looking at it, I suspect that they're not all "top notch", how can I say diplomatically. The real question is are ANY of them any good, and I don't know.

My suggestion is that unless your girlfriend really has her heart set on a Cannondale, but feels she needs a decent shop rather than being a doing it herselfer, then she would be better served by restricting consideration to the best shops (even if she buys the least expensive bike there) in the area, and choosing from what's available there.

She could start by checking out Bicycle Outfitter http://bicycleoutfitter.com/ in Los Altos. It used to be really good, then was bought by Palo Alto Bicycles, so I'm not sure it's as good as it used to be, but may not be too bad though.

I've never been there or done business with them, but Véloro Bicycles http://www.veloro.com/ in Redwood City seems to have a good reputation - try PM'ing jmillron memberlist.php?mode=viewprofile&u=16566 .

Palo Alto Bicycles http://www.paloaltobicycles.com/ in Palo Alto always used to maintain a dynamic equilibrium split between competent and incompetent salespeople and mechanics - I'm not sure if that's true nowadays, but if so, that could possibly extend to Bicycle Outfitter as well, due to their common ownership.

Is she's willing to try something "a little different", not sure if it's a one man operation or he has some help, she could check out Slough's http://www.yelp.com/biz/sloughs-bike-shoppe-san-jose in San Jose. He actually used to sponsor racers/race team - not sure if he still does - I think he's an old fashioned guy who'd poo poo much of the modern equipment people drool over on WW. If it is still run by the original, now not so young, guy, which I suspect it is, she probably won't be steered wrong, even though the guy might tell her she'd be better off elsewhere if he thought so.

There was a similar (to Slough's) place, Shaw's Lightweight Cycles in Santa Clara, run by an oldtimer, and I was there in 2006 and bought some old out of production equipment at excellent prices - I think he charged what the listed prices from 20+ years prior were, I didn't negotiate, that was just the price on the items, and the prices were probably marked and never changed from when he got them those many years earlier - that guy sure wasn't into the modern WW equipment - heck, I'm not even sure if he had bought any new stock of anything in the preceding 10 years!!

She could also check Chain Reaction Bicycles http://www.chainreaction.com/ with locations on Redwood City and Loas Altos, perhaps not too high end a shop, but I recall the Redwood City location as being passable back in the '80s, but not the best shop if you were into high end stuff but maybe good if you only want intermediate grade products. I don't know if it's any good now.

My favorite shop from the olden days was Wheelsmith (owned by Eric Hjertberg, now of MadFIber fame) in Palo Alto, but that was sold many years ago to Mike's Bikes, and I gotta tell you Mike's Bikes ain't no Wheeelsmith - thumbs down on Mikes' Bikes.

If she's willing to travel further toward San Francisco, there are some additional possibilities. It's probably worth PM'ing djconnel memberlist.php?mode=viewprofile&u=7514 .

Good Luck. Good place to be if you like climbing ... and descending. Or you can stick to flat roads if that is your pleasure.

Perhaps I'm headed back there for good shortly, and away from the Washington D.C. area which rustychain and boysa both know I'm not too thrilled with. And the riding is one of the main attractions for me to move there.

Mike's Bikes in Palo Alto sells Cannondale. However, I know of too many people, myself included, who've had bad experience there. Not every Mike's is the same, so I don't comment on all of them.

They're also sold by Sports Basement in Sunnyvale. The store is a general sports supply place. The bike shop in the San Francisco Bryant Ave store is surprisingly good. But the one in Sunnyvale... I'm not sure.

Specialized and Trek seem to have gobbled up the most highly regarded bike shops on the peninsula.

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Wheel Away in Campbell. A "mom and pop" type locally owned shop that's been in business for nearly 50 years. I almost got a Caad9 from there a couple years ago. They sell Specialized as well as Cannondale. They are very friendly and knowledgeable.

Chain Reaction is a Trek shop. They're a really good one, and are happy to deal with other brands, build wheels, etc. But for new bikes, they sell Treks.

Yeah, I was thinking about buying a Trek 760 from them in 1983. Wound up buying it from Bicycle Outfitter, as it was a higher end shop with good reputation for service department, had every stem, cog and chainring size, etc. in stock, at least at that time (but I don't think they still do, unfortunately).

Bought my Evo at Mike's in Palo Alto. Not too many Cannondale dealers around. However, all the upgrades I've done (And they are many!) and all the wrench work was done at Veloro in Redwood City. Gebhard is a great guy and Dimitrios is a great mechanic. Mike's was fine, but everything after has been done at and by Veloro. If they carried Cannondale I would have bought from Veloro, maybe I'll get a Zero 7 from them...
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