The area that I was visiting is downtown San Francisco, where the main shopping malls are located. From Westfield San Francisco Centre at Market Street, I walked around to visit the 5 bike shops that were within walking distance. Of course, I had to do some research beforehand to locate these bike shops and the most efficient way to visit all of them.
Map of 5 bike shops at downtown San Francisco. I visited them in the order shown above.
1st stop, Pacific Bicycles. Not to be confused with the Taiwanese company Pacific Cycles.
Lots of nice high end Santa Cruz MTB in here, with a great selection.
They also have Scott and Giant bikes, and lots of road bikes too
Very nice Giant Propel aero road bike with Dura-Ace 9000 components
Trek road bike with a lovely Bianchi green colour scheme!
Next, I walked all the way down to Marin Bikes
As the shop name says, they have many different models of Marin Bikes. Did not really see other brands of bikes.
The third bike shop is Mike's Bikes which is nearby
The bike shop is divided into 2 sections, with a retail section and a service section.
In here, they have some of the latest components. Shown here is the Shimano road hydraulic Di2 shifters, ST-R785.
Mike's Bikes is a really big store with multiple levels of racks for all kinds of bicycles
The rear half of the shop has lots of cycling accessories and apparel
Lots and lots of cycling accessories!
There is even a second level to the shop, with some classic bikes and folding bikes displayed here
The 4th shop, Huckleberry Bicycles, is located at a premium location along Market Street.
In here, it has very trendy stuff that will appeal to the fashionable adult riders
In some areas, it looks more like an apparel store than a bike store, which is amazing.
At the back of the shop, there is a well equipped work area with lots of upgrade options displayed along the walls.
SRAM Red road hydraulic shifters also spotted
They also have Bromptons here, which is not surprising, considering that most of the apparel and accessories here would appeal to the Brompton-loving demographic.
The 5th and last bike shop, Warm Planet Bicycles, is also located along Market Street.
This shop specialises in folding bikes, with all kinds of brands such as Dahon, Tern, Bike Friday, and many more.
A rather unusual handlebar setup as seen on a Bike Friday. With this setup, it will look and ride more like a cruiser bike.
In total, I visited 5 bike shops, and took about than 2 hours. On average I lingered at each bike shop for about 10-15 mins. Most amazingly, I did not buy anything from any of the bike shops! One reason is that I already have everything that I need, and secondly, the items in the shops are more expensive than what I can find online.
I am quite impressed at the standard of the bike shops that I visited here. At every one of the shops, the work area is always very well equipped with at least 2 workstands and a whole array of quality bike tools on the wall. Also, from the way the mechanics work on the bikes, I can see that they are well trained and know what they are doing.
If you have a chance to go to San Francisco, and have a few hours to spare, you can check out these bike shops too!
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