Favourite Bike Shops Ever

I've been thinking about this alot especially since I've just been on holiday in Japan and thought the shops there were incredible.

I think I would put my top 5 in no particular order are:
The Bike Station Edinburgh - It's like an alladins cave of donated bikes which you can search through and all in the name of charity. They even have a secret room with all the special parts. Got my first bike here to make into a fixed wheel, cost me 10 quid the frame was 531 and it had a record headset. They have changed premises now and haven't had a proper look there yet but I'm sure it will still be class. Definatly the place for getting parts for conversions.
Can't remember the name of it but this second hand bike shop in Santa Cruz California - Like a Mountain Bike Museum lots of cool AMP full sussers and stuff and nice cruiser BMX's
Carnival Tokyo - Alot already been said on here
Punch Cycles Tokyo - Ditto
W-Base Tokyo - Loved this shop, really like all the old BMX stuff like shimano dx pedals and GT mallet stems also Brooklyn bikes are so nice

Haari Hanan Bikes, Passage Brady, Marrakesh, Morocco (amazing second, third and fourth hand bikes)
Hiipr Hire-a-Bike, Goa, India.
Anchorgae chains and tyres (sells some bike stuff too) Alaska.
El Gringo Veloce, Rio de Janeiro, Argentina some horse tack available also.
Mr Plum's, Ghent, Belgium, I'm going there this weekend.

show off.

If you have any in depth details of the shops in Japan, would be really interested.
I am going out there in April - One of the winners in the Uniqlo Tee Gand Prix.
Is it worth picking up parts out there? Should I start a new thread on this?

My favorite bike shop - was a shop 'we' called Richards, my local shop for BMX stuff in the 80s.
Used to let you use his work shop and did jobs for you if you just dropped in.
This was in my home town of Skipton , N. Yorks on Belmont Bridge. Ah, where are my rose tinted glasses?

Search the forum here for Japan and all the information for shops in Tokyo will come up, this is where I got it all.

Sadly I'm 6ft6 so finding a Keirin frame to fit me is beyond impossible, if your small you will be able to get yourself a really nice frame. I got a few nitto stems that were very cheap but they were used. Cost me 15 quid for the steel chromed one, don't know how much they cost here but they won't be that cheap. Also got some anodised mks pedals that were cheaper than getting them in the states but still fairly pricey. I didn't really ask for prices on anything else as I couldn't be bothered lugging bars about and didn't need hubs or that.

daccordi I've been thinking about this alot especially since I've just been on holiday in Japan and thought the shops there were incredible.

I think I would put my top 5 in no particular order are:
The Bike Station Edinburgh - It's like an alladins cave of donated bikes which you can search through and all in the name of charity. They even have a secret room with all the special parts. Got my first bike here to make into a fixed wheel, cost me 10 quid the frame was 531 and it had a record headset. They have changed premises now and haven't had a proper look there yet but I'm sure it will still be class. Definatly the place for getting parts for conversions.
Can't remember the name of it but this second hand bike shop in Santa Cruz California - Like a Mountain Bike Museum lots of cool AMP full sussers and stuff and nice cruiser BMX's
Carnival Tokyo - Alot already been said on here
Punch Cycles Tokyo - Ditto
W-Base Tokyo - Loved this shop, really like all the old BMX stuff like shimano dx pedals and GT mallet stems also Brooklyn bikes are so nice

Hi mate
do you know where the Bike station is in Edinburgh....will be back up there xmas time and will have a pop in

5'10" so I hope I can find a nice frame... Mind you, it's a long way off yet!!!
Still I can get saving now! Cheers, I'll have a search.

do you know where the Bike station is in Edinburgh....will be back up there xmas time and will have a pop in

250 Causewayside
Edinburgh, EH9 1UU
0131 668 1996

http://www.thebikestation.org.uk

May not be open all the time - when I used to help them out it was Saturday mornings only, but that may have changed with their new location

Croydon Cycle Works, Melbourne, Australia

winston: What's special about Mr. Plum's? Should I bring more than just beer money? :)

hippy

winston: What's special about Mr. Plum's? Should I bring more than just beer money? :)

They used to make bikes like this one

and this one which a friend of mine bought from roberto

jonny and this one which a friend of mine bought from roberto

thats sooo nice!!

dogs, it is truly awesome. i know roberto was selling it but even he said it was one of the nicest frames that's been through his hands. she can't build it up yet cos she has to keep her daily fixed bike outside - this one has to live indoors. we are slowly getting the parts together for it though. the best bit is her surname is Plumridge

As a kid, **Wilton's Cycles **in Pimlico... Got my first bike/Dinky/Corgi/Matchbox/Airfix there, gone now... Sniff...
**Brixton Cycles **I love cuz it's my LBS and the folks in there are righteous peeps...
Gotta say **Trackstar **was much better than I thought it'd be, LOVE that place... Nice folks too, which I was *not *expecting...

winston: What's special about Mr. Plum's? Should I bring more than just beer money? :)

Their caps are ultra-cool on the courier circuit, so much so that most who own them never wear them at work and only keep them for use at underground events....I believe this is a well kept secret, so don't tell anybody, I'll be buying about 10.

v clever winston, i take my hat off to ya

Fairy's muff. Not a cap person me'self (sorry smeear) but if they have some nice frames hanging up it might be worth a visit. Time is precious though and there's beer to find. ;)

shhhhssssss winston, don't tell everybody.

Plum caps are the new campa caps.

What a cute trend

cambridge bikes - boston, ma. and bike works - nyc (never liked trackstar too much, everytime i've gone in they ahven't had much or been particularly nice) and a shop in philly whose name i can't remember for the life of me, nicest people ever, and was such a hole in the wall but they had some beautiful frames in there.

This gnarly one on 125th in Harlem, dude reffered to us as N words and then suggested we go to this one downtown, which resulted in a 100 block downhill street bomb to downtown manhattan, skitching on busses and getting crazy, brakeless, freewheels, some serious footjammin going on

fuck the shops, it's the story that counts.

i like probike in barcelona, if i'm in there it means i'm on holiday.

I like that ponsey place in Berlin

I like Berlin

and beer.

"skitching on busses and getting crazy, brakeless, freewheels, some serious footjammin going on"

Ted Shred was there? :)

I like the slightly surreal experience of Edwardes in Camberwell with a £5k Pinarello Prince sitting on top of the counter by the front door secured only by a cable tie and De Rosa and Cinelli frames mixed in with the grey commuters. Track frames ago-go too; two diff own brand alloys and Cinelli Vigorelli and Giant Omnium etc etc.