The Chainlink

Best cycling/bike shop in chicago (personal opinoin)

So i live in the burbs but ill be heading up this weekend to check out some shops i chitown. So tell me your favorite one, and why.

Thnks

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Permalink Reply by John C. Wilson on April 12, 2013 at 6:42pm

Youngmancycle

$700 is a respectable amount of change. If you were fluent in the ways of CL or ebay you could get a lot of bike for that money. If you prefer the safety of buying from a shop go to RRB in Kenilworth. Ron Boi has NOS made in Taiwan RRB frames in all sizes. Good handmade frames of Tange tubing. He can equip the frames any way you want. For $700 it will end up nice. He was a racer himself and has equipped and coached a lot of racers. Sometimes Ron is slow on the custom  builds. Deal with it. He will never BS a rider. He's been doing this well over 40 years. He started as a teenager. He still coaches teenagers. Good advice from Ron is the best advice you'll ever get and it is basically free. "Fitting" is something he does in his sleep.

youngmancycle said:

OK guys i think i need to clear things up here for discussion..... Im a teenager and i have a decent mountain bike but i want to get into road bikes, ive saved up a couple bucks and im going to head into the city and look for either a cheap road bike or a nice used one, just so i can get into the sport. I dont want an expensive bike, $700 is about my max and i thought i could save a couple bucks heading down to working bikes and getting an old used one for cheap and save the other money so if i really want to get into it. I also was going to check out smart bikes and boulevard just to check out their gear and see if they had any good deals.

Permalink Reply by ilter on April 12, 2013 at 7:01pm

Youngmancycle,

I believe this is very good advice, both regarding CL/ebay & RRB.

John,

Are those frames tig welded?  Do you know if there is "sport touring" frames as well, with room for thicker tires with fenders?


John C. Wilson said:

Youngmancycle

$700 is a respectable amount of change. If you were fluent in the ways of CL or ebay you could get a lot of bike for that money. If you prefer the safety of buying from a shop go to RRB in Kenilworth. Ron Boi has NOS made in Taiwan RRB frames in all sizes. Good handmade frames of Tange tubing. He can equip the frames any way you want. For $700 it will end up nice. He was a racer himself and has equipped and coached a lot of racers. Sometimes Ron is slow on the custom  builds. Deal with it. He will never BS a rider. He's been doing this well over 40 years. He started as a teenager. He still coaches teenagers. Good advice from Ron is the best advice you'll ever get and it is basically free. "Fitting" is something he does in his sleep.

Permalink Reply by John C. Wilson on April 12, 2013 at 7:14pm


They are lugged, brazed frames. From the early 1980s. Clearance varies somewhat with frame size. These were designed as utility all-purpose frames. All-purpose as designed by a racer. 700x28 will fit for sure. More precise than that you should ask Ron.  As stock they are cleared 126mm but you are buying from a framebuilder.
ilter said:

Youngmancycle,

I believe this is very good advice, both regarding CL/ebay & RRB.

John,

Are those frames tig welded?  Do you know if there is "sport touring" frames as well, with room for thicker tires with fenders?


John C. Wilson said:

Youngmancycle

$700 is a respectable amount of change. If you were fluent in the ways of CL or ebay you could get a lot of bike for that money. If you prefer the safety of buying from a shop go to RRB in Kenilworth. Ron Boi has NOS made in Taiwan RRB frames in all sizes. Good handmade frames of Tange tubing. He can equip the frames any way you want. For $700 it will end up nice. He was a racer himself and has equipped and coached a lot of racers. Sometimes Ron is slow on the custom  builds. Deal with it. He will never BS a rider. He's been doing this well over 40 years. He started as a teenager. He still coaches teenagers. Good advice from Ron is the best advice you'll ever get and it is basically free. "Fitting" is something he does in his sleep.

Permalink Reply by Lanterne Rouge on April 12, 2013 at 8:16pm

Just got back from Turin on Damen. What a cool shop/space. The staff is exceptionally friendly, and I'm excited to see what they can do by making their own bikes (well, designing, specifications, etc.). Word from the one dude there is that they'll start carrying some Columbus tubed, lugged bikes. Nice.

John C. Wilson said:

Turin is Turin. If anything what has happened in the most recent transformation is that the outside money is gone and things are back to originality.

If I may dispense some inside dish that is also, IMO. good PR, Lee Katz, who is the man you see at the new, current Turin webpages, still frequently  gets together with originals Gary Page and Dan Joseph early in the a.m. and they all go for a bike ride. Not a lot of other bike rides you can point to that have lasted 48 years. You will not find more originality in the retail world.

Unless perhaps you go to Madison and visit at Yellow Jersey. Andy Muzi runs the place now and he has been right there since the beginning. If you're nice and if you buy something he can tell you all about their days as a commune, a collective, a co-op, a worker's brigade and all of that.

Permalink Reply by Far'arned Retrogrumpalunkus #63 on April 12, 2013 at 9:53pm

It sounds like a trip to the new/old Turin is in order.   

I was just up in Mad town a couple of weeks ago and was too busy to drop by YJ too.  There are a few things I want to pick up the next time I'm there too like those tiny mudguard-mounted old-style (non DOT-approved) reflectors along with a few other things like asking if they have any of the Raleigh light-mounting clips that go on the Heron headset light mounts.   Yellow Jersey is THE place to find stuff like that. 

Permalink Reply by Doug Haynes on April 12, 2013 at 11:04pm

I'm sorry but you are not going to find a decent complete bike for $700 or less anywhere on any frame unless you buy used.  To think so is to live in the past.

John C. Wilson said:

Youngmancycle

$700 is a respectable amount of change. If you were fluent in the ways of CL or ebay you could get a lot of bike for that money. If you prefer the safety of buying from a shop go to RRB in Kenilworth. Ron Boi has NOS made in Taiwan RRB frames in all sizes. Good handmade frames of Tange tubing. He can equip the frames any way you want. For $700 it will end up nice. He was a racer himself and has equipped and coached a lot of racers. Sometimes Ron is slow on the custom  builds. Deal with it. He will never BS a rider. He's been doing this well over 40 years. He started as a teenager. He still coaches teenagers. Good advice from Ron is the best advice you'll ever get and it is basically free. "Fitting" is something he does in his sleep.

youngmancycle said:

OK guys i think i need to clear things up here for discussion..... Im a teenager and i have a decent mountain bike but i want to get into road bikes, ive saved up a couple bucks and im going to head into the city and look for either a cheap road bike or a nice used one, just so i can get into the sport. I dont want an expensive bike, $700 is about my max and i thought i could save a couple bucks heading down to working bikes and getting an old used one for cheap and save the other money so if i really want to get into it. I also was going to check out smart bikes and boulevard just to check out their gear and see if they had any good deals.

Permalink Reply by h' Zerocats on April 12, 2013 at 11:33pm

I bought my first road bike from RRB (a Trek 2300, not one of theirs.)

If you can really get one all built up and ready to roll for $700, I'd say it's going to make young youngman happy, although I'd guess Kenilworth might be a trip for another time.

John C. Wilson said:


They are lugged, brazed frames. From the early 1980s. Clearance varies somewhat with frame size. These were designed as utility all-purpose frames. All-purpose as designed by a racer. 700x28 will fit for sure. More precise than that you should ask Ron.  As stock they are cleared 126mm but you are buying from a framebuilder.
ilter said:

Youngmancycle,

I believe this is very good advice, both regarding CL/ebay & RRB.

John,

Are those frames tig welded?  Do you know if there is "sport touring" frames as well, with room for thicker tires with fenders?


John C. Wilson said:

Youngmancycle

$700 is a respectable amount of change. If you were fluent in the ways of CL or ebay you could get a lot of bike for that money. If you prefer the safety of buying from a shop go to RRB in Kenilworth. Ron Boi has NOS made in Taiwan RRB frames in all sizes. Good handmade frames of Tange tubing. He can equip the frames any way you want. For $700 it will end up nice. He was a racer himself and has equipped and coached a lot of racers. Sometimes Ron is slow on the custom  builds. Deal with it. He will never BS a rider. He's been doing this well over 40 years. He started as a teenager. He still coaches teenagers. Good advice from Ron is the best advice you'll ever get and it is basically free. "Fitting" is something he does in his sleep.

Permalink Reply by h' Zerocats on April 12, 2013 at 11:34pm

I can't resist any more.....

Permalink Reply by Paul Michael Ignacio on April 13, 2013 at 12:16am


I really hate to shill, but the Jamis Satellite Sport sells at $695.  I'd say it qualifies as a more than decent bike.  We've sold a great many of them to people looking for a quality first road bike, and it's performed admirably. 

You can get a good, new, complete road bike -  at that price - with all the warranties and service that a reputable shop provides.  You've just gotta do a little bit of research, walk into some shops, talk to some people, and go on a whole lotta test rides. 

Maybe it seems like an exhaustive process, but the way I see it, if riding a bunch of different brand-new bikes stops being fun then you know you're doing something wrong.

notoriousDUG said:

I'm sorry but you are not going to find a decent complete bike for $700 or less anywhere any frame unless you buy used.  To think so is to live in the past

Permalink Reply by Far'arned Retrogrumpalunkus #63 on April 13, 2013 at 9:56am

That depends entirely on someone's definition of "decent."

Unfortunately the Jamis Satellite isn't really even full Sora-level, with "2300 shifters."  Does anyone have much experience with these?  Are they a trickle-down rework from Shimano of the old 8-speed 3300 Sora Brifters for budget builds?  I have the older 8-speed Sora on my CX bike and it is pretty durable and bomb-proof but you can't upshift the RD from the drops on the rear derailleur because the tiny trigger lever is too far of a reach way up on the side.  I bet the 2300 is very similar to the old 3300 with different plastic colors -using all the old molds, internal parts and machining that Shimano had set up to make the older Sora. 

For a lot of people "decent" doesn't start until the Tiagra or even 105-level components. 

This bike isn't steel (and is billed as a "CX bike" -whatevah) but fits the description of "decent" IMHO with All Sora or better components and is easily upgraded to a vintage steel frame later on with the money saved over that $700 budget -especially if it is done right away and the new alloy frame, and cro-mo fork are sold "as new" on CL to help finance a nicer lugged steel frame from a time before beer can and plastic bottle bike frames took over everything. 

There was a super-great deal on a Panasonic touring bike at the Swap a couple months back for $30 that would have been a smoker killer swapout with the parts from the bikesdirect bike I linked.  That deal at SWAP was a HUGE anomoly but not impossible to find sometimes if one looks hard and long enough.  I see good deals on great old frames in the 200-range all the time, especially if the attached components can be harvested and sold off on CL to help finance the purchase.



Paul Michael Ignacio said:


I really hate to shill, but the Jamis Satellite Sport sells at $695.  I'd say it qualifies as a more than decent bike.  We've sold a great many of them to people looking for a quality first road bike, and it's performed admirably. 

You can get a good, new, complete road bike -  at that price - with all the warranties and service that a reputable shop provides.  You've just gotta do a little bit of research, walk into some shops, talk to some people, and go on a whole lotta test rides. 

Maybe it seems like an exhaustive process, but the way I see it, if riding a bunch of different brand-new bikes stops being fun then you know you're doing something wrong.

notoriousDUG said:

I'm sorry but you are not going to find a decent complete bike for $700 or less anywhere any frame unless you buy used.  To think so is to live in the past

Permalink Reply by John C. Wilson on April 13, 2013 at 11:30am

Yes Ron's nice old bikes exist and $700 bikes exist. He sold 1000s of them. They were paid for 25 years ago. He found a few dozen more in the back of the barn. (Yes, he has a barn.) Same Taiwan frame if made and marketed now would have admen and bloggers and journalists spilling gigabytes of froth and the frame only would be 600-800. Or you can go get a deal. Deals exist. I am glad some commenters here always pay full retail and support the industry.

The bike I'm thinking could have brifters and good enough ones at 700. Why is that necessary for a teenager on his first bike? If you go full Eddy Merckx with dt shifters that will put you at a disadvantage in a race. Sort of. Depending on the race. For all we know youngmancycle is a natural born winner who would crush the field on a Varsity.  Then someone will give him nice brifters soon enough. Or maybe he wants to do centuries and stuff out in the boonies. Where the brifters make no difference at all. He's a kid. Stop putting obstacles in front of him. Encourage him to go ride a bike.

Permalink Reply by Albany Park Al on April 13, 2013 at 11:47am

^ +1

The RRB frame + build sounds awesome for a starter road bike.  It would not be the latest, lightest thing out there but it would be something really special...with the guidance and maybe some advice from an expert.  If my teen son said he wanted to look at racing bikes (his HS does have a team apparently), we'd have to go take a look at RRB, though I would not rule out buying new from a shop, either.   (He rides a vintage Trek, fixed gear, all over the city.)

But we're not really sure what youngman means by road bike...really racing or just a racing/sport style bike for recreational riding?

In any case, the point is for him to look at what's out there, find what seems like it will work best and get riding.

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