Normally if you need a bike store there is only one place in most towns that can help you out. Davis lacks quite a few things, but one thing it has in quantity is bicycle stores, a specific one that fits the consumer, which is you. There are numerous places you can go to learn about each store, and I would suggest the DavisWiki for an intense breakdown, but to take a step away from my usual style, which is to mock, judge, and deride consumer behavior, for this article I will behave as an investigative columnist for once.
Bicycle retailers in Davis are not about pushing product. They are about catering to a cliente niche. Even myself, as a very small time bicycle salesman cater to a very specific niche: my clients are an even mix of hippie, cheap, hipster, and lazy. The shops all know their audience and hope you frequent their shop through out your time in Davis.
Which niche do you belong to? It might be easier to pick out which niche you don't belong to. There's one shop that does it's best to let you know you are not worthy, and that shop is called Wheelworks. Located on x and x, this shop has never made me feel welcome, and I know bicycles inside and out. They sell premium racing bicycles to a very specific group of people, professional and amateur cyclists, and don't need to waste effort on being kind because hospitality is not going to make a difference when someone drops $8,000 on a bicycle (This was my initial take on wheelworks. Several ministers were quick t defend wheelworks, saying that they've got super rare parts there and that their staff is by far the most knowledgeable.
Hmm. Where else don't you belong. My mother wasn't one of those people that told me to say something nice rather than tell the truth. That being said, you don't have to take my word about the Davis Bicycle Exchange, the wiki has numerous reports of shady situations you can read about. Next!
I'll admit to being a bit unfamiliar with the freewheeler. Talking to other ministers, many of them like the freewheeler, and many are quick to point them out as the friendliest staff in Davis. They are owned entirely by one family and support their product lines very well. They might not have all the parts you need, but in terms of buying one bike and having it supported through your time in Davis, Freewheeler was highly recommended.
Blissworks and Apex are two shops that I know come by Bike Forth to get parts. They recommend us when it's appropriate and when they can install a part that we have, we see it as mutualism. In fact, we go out of our way to recommend a shop when it fits one of our patrons (that's what we call them, instead of customers).
Apex is a cycleshop specializing in fixed gear bicycles and high quality bikes for the hip kid. Blissworks sticks out for location and novelty primarily, being new and in the Pole Line world and not the downtown grid. Bliss and Aaron (of Apex) are both nice people as well. All the other shops suffer a bit from their owners and their nuances. Apex supports local bike products, such as Foothold gear, (Which is making custom panniers for me right now!)
B and L... Where to begin? I've heard some negative things, but I tend to enjoy my experiences here. I buy quite a few parts from here, which is saying something because I am Asian, and I could easily purchase them cheaper online. The employees are doing the best they can, they've taken the role of dealing with a consumer base of beginners, which is a challenging line between informing and exploiting. I've made great friends in the store, most recently I learned my favorite employee and friend Roy is moving on the City and beginning married life.
They routinely dealt with the most difficult of requests, as you can imagine me making in my construction of obscure and nice bicycles. They also send people to us, which is cool. I'm not a big fan of the owner, she seems to approach everyone as an annoying task to get off a list, but hey, owning a small business in a town with a Target in it can only be so fun.
The owner of Ken's bike and ski is a touch of the same flavor with a bit of religious flava built it. I would say I buy the one third of things I need there, as I have costumers with some performance demands (and grab a lionshare's of their cardboard from their pile behind the shop for path mulching and composting). Some of my friends don't shop their because their owner gave money to the Yes on prop 8 thing, and I feel that. It must be doubly hard to own a small business and support religion in a town with a Target and a farmer's market in it. Does the money to God, China, or Monsanto?
There's of course our facility. We are not a bike store. The Bike Collective would give you a bicycle for free, if money was an issue. We are into donations, we are into volunteers. We don't hurt local businesses, because we have our niche, which is ____. Honestly someone who started out on a bike that we gave them will eventually make it into one of these bike stores, and we like it that way. We all need each other if we want people to start using their cars less.
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