San Luis Obispo as bicycle-friendly as they come

Bike shops in San Luis Obispo are plentiful, and that’s good for local cyclists. By Owen Main

“We live where you go on vacation.”

It’s a mantra that seems slightly uppity, stuck-up, and can come off as condescending. But it doesn’t make it any less true. For cyclists, San Luis Obispo County is a wonderland of rolling hills, coastal cruises, and an increasingly bicycle friendly community that will welcome the AMGEN Tour of California’s Stage 5 finish to Avila Beach this Thursday.

For many local riders, including me, the final stretch from San Luis Obispo out to Avila Beach is a carbon copy of a ride that has by-far one of the prettiest finishes in the county. On a hot Summer day, the ocean breeze and sunshine of Avila Beach can be the perfect weekday antidote for a tough day at work. Less than 10 miles away from Avila is downtown San Luis Obispo — home to five full-time, full-service bicycle shops.

When it comes to bike shops, I’m something of a nomad. I bought both of my bikes at Art’s and have had them both serviced at at each of the five shops in town over the years. I’m far from a mechanical expert. From my experience and from talking to a number of cyclists over the past few years, I am basically confident in the quality of service at all of them. I talked to as many as I could to get an idea of the history of each of the shops and what kind of specialty each one might have. If you have comments about any of the shops, I welcome them as well. Whatever your thoughts are on any of the bicycle shops in town, I’ve found that I love having options and we are lucky to have so many good ones in San Luis Obispo.

View San Luis Obispo Bicycle Shops in a larger map

Art’s Cyclery

For many long-time Central Coast cyclists, Art’s Cyclery is where bike shops start and end. Started in 1982 in Los Osos, California, Art’s has grown into probably the most well-known bicycle shop in San Luis Obispo.

After years on Santa Barbara Street, Art’s recently moved to a less prominent location on Suburban Road, but according to Web Content Manager Daniel Slusser, didn’t lose any business.

“We started a joint venture with sports warehouse, so we moved our warehouse from behind our shop to down here. This started off as a showroom for everything we sold online and everything that was in the store only was in the other store,” said Slusser. “But we had all these warehouse parts over here that we sold in both places and it just became such a headache going back and forth, moving parts. We said, ‘This just isn’t working.’ It just wasn’t paying off, and so we moved everything over here and it’s been so much better and our retail business — we haven’t lost any of it. That really speaks volumes about our customer loyalty because we’re, honesty, way out of the way.”

The new location allows Art’s to team up with other warehouses in the same complex including Tennis Warehouse, Running Warehouse, Riding Warehouse, and Tackle Warehouse, among others. What it all means is that Art’s still has the brick and mortar store with a great selection of bikes and gear, while at the same time growing their business and offering a much larger variety online.

“We’ve won the [New Times] Best of San Luis Obispo for bike shops for the past 25 years,” said Slusser. “They have only done the ‘Best Bike Shop’ category for 25 years, so we’ve won it every year.”

Art’s staff always seems friendly and knowledgeable. I’ve often gone in just to pick their brain about a topic and am usually satisfied with the answers I get. I have two Specialized bicycles from there, but they sell many brands both in the store and online.

This one time… I bought both my commuter and road bike at Art’s. The sales people have always been professional and courteous and I got a GREAT deal on a Specialized Roubaix a few years ago. The best Art’s story I can tell is actually with regards to my seat post. When I bought my bike, I got it fit, but still tinkered some. Having a carbon bike with a carbon seat post, I made a rookie mistake, lining up the collar in line with the slit in the frame. The result was a cracked post three days before a long ride. I was bummed.

I went to Art’s and asked them to take a look. They recommended a new post and installed it for me. A short time later, I was back on the road, but noticed that, again, the post was cracking. Whoever had installed the new post had also lined up the collar with the slit, a fatal mistake. Now devastated, I went back in the next day. Instead of hassling me about breaking seat-posts, they apologized, hooked me up with a new post, installed it right, and sold me a torque wrench so I wouldn’t crack my post again. Owning their mistake and made it right is one thing I really respect about Art’s and I know that partially because of how big they are, they won’t hassle me in an unusual situation like with my seat post. I appreciate businesses that stand behind what they do. People are going to make mistakes and, in this case, Art’s made it right.

Cambria Bicycle Outfitters

Like Art’s, Cambria Bicycle Outfitters, or CBO started in a North coast San Luis Obispo County town in the 80’s and eventually moved to San Luis Obispo. CBO, located on Monterey Street between Cal Poly and SLO High School, is one of the closest shops to Cal Poly. Much of their business caters to students — the shop is especially busy at the beginning of Cal Poly’s school year.

“[Cal Poly] is essential to our business,” said Parker Musselman, a manager at CBO. “We’re right here on Monterey, so whenever the kids come down from school, we’re usually one of the first two stops. September 1st, it’s a madhouse getting kids on bikes. Everyone’s got their parents in and we’re selling 10 bikes a day when kids come back to school. It’s really cool to see them move to town, talk to them, get them on bikes, and let them know about all the really cool bike stuff that goes on in the community and then see them three years later doing all kinds of crazy stuff — starting on a hybrid and ending up racing triathlons or something like that.

CBO also has an online branch to their business — running a warehouse out of Paso Robles. While they carry both road and mountain bike brands, CBO has become better known for their mountain bike selection.

“Predominantly, we’re kind of the mountain shop in town,” said . “We’ve always had kind of the best deals on mountain equipment. We do tons of demos. Our biggest thing is just getting people out on bikes. We know that San Luis Obispo has some of the best mountain and road biking in the country and getting more people out there and just helping the community people keep riding [is our goal].

There are also regular mountain bike rides that start at CBO and visit one of the 4-5 trails that are near enough to downtown San Luis Obispo to not require a car to get there.

“There’s a road ride that leaves from CBO on Tuesday evenings and then we do a shop mountain ride on Wednesdays,” said Musselman. Wednesday’s mountain bike rides are often night time rides.

“We might go up to Shooters, Irish Hills, Madonna. I don’t own a car so being able to mountain bike feasibly five days a week is unheard of.”

All three of Fansmanship’s founders went to high school in Cambria, so we have lots of love for upper C-Town. While there isn’t a shop there anymore, CBO’s San Luis Obispo location is generally pretty convenient. I don’t personally own a mountain bike, but from everything that I’ve heard, CBO can give you great tips on both the mountain biking scene and mountain bikes themselves.

“We do mail order and web sales as well,” said Musselman. “All of that is done in our Paso Robles location. We have thousands of items in our Paso location so if you don’t see it here, we can usually get it from our warehouse.”

This one time… As an aside, I did feel a little bit overwhelmed and intimidated at CBO when I took my bike there four or five years ago. This week, the experience was much better. Whether it was because I’m more confident now around a bike shop or because of a change in staff there, this week’s visit was much more comfortable. My feeling is that they’ve made a conscious effort to be friendlier and more welcoming to bike enthusiasts and “sunday riders” alike.

Flanders Bicycles

Flanders has an old-school vibe inside the shop. By Owen Main

Every shop has a place you can stand and watch a bike mechanic do work, but few have the kind of stage that you find at Flanders Bicycle. Approaching the building a stone’s throw (OK, maybe like 5 throws, unless you’re Raul Mondesi or Jeff Francour… but I digress) away from where Art’s used to be, Flanders has an old-school vibe.

“Everyone told us we were pretty crazy to open up a shop, just because of the number of shops that are already in SLO,” said Flanders co-owner Shawn Hafley. “We felt there was such a need for the type of shop that we do.”

So, what type of shop is Flanders?

“To us, our favorite thing is to be the epitome of a local bike shop,” said Hafley. “Be a part of the neighborhood, deal with the neighborhood kids, deal with the people who live around the shop. To us, that’s our favorite description.”

The mechanic area has enough room for two bikes and has a window in the front that makes the work that’s being done almost like a show. It’s not uncommon to find two to three cycling enthusiasts leaning on the window sill, shooting the breeze with any of the mechanics there, including Jon Richert who is one of the owners. At about 6’6”, he’s a hard guy to miss. It’s also easy to guess which of the bicycles around the place are his (try to picture an unimaginable seat height that makes George Hincapie look like… I dunno…. somebody short).

Flanders opened it’s doors almost two years ago, around the time Art’s moved to its warehouse location.

“It’s been successful beyond our wildest dreams so far,” said Hafley. “We’re about two years or more ahead of where we thought we’d be right now.”

Flanders is bigger than the size of its cozy store room suggests — warehouse space in the back of the lot allows for more inventory than you think. That being said, I recommend that anyone who might be shy go hang out there. Customers can watch the mechanics’ area from both sides — there are even stadium seats inside that fold down and are a super-comfortable place to wait. Another nice touch is the cycling videos that are constantly playing on a TV in the corner. There was a BMX movie on the other day, and being a child of the 80’s, I commented.

“This movie is rad,” I said.

“Yes, this movie literally is Rad,” replied the owner.

So is Flanders.

This one time… I got a fitting recently at Flanders and got to spend some time with the owners of the place. It’s not every day that you can get a recommendation from the owner of a bike shop about both technical stuff and where to ride. The fitting was great — I feel significantly faster and more comfortable after the adjustment (it had been a few years and I’m a little stronger rider now). The “bike talk” was even better.

I still consider myself a novice, but I never feel like the guys at Flanders are talking over my head. The idea of a bicycling community is one that is clearly important to them. “Our favorite thing is just helping people from Point A to Point B on a bike, with a smile” said Hafley.

Foothill Cyclery is a friendly place for students and the more hard-core local cycling community alike. By Owen Main

Foothill Cyclery

Foothill Cyclery has existed in one location or another since 1989, serving the local cycling population and the student population at Cal Poly. Being so close, Foothill is the shop of choice for the Cal Poly Wheelmen and many other students and residents of San Luis Obispo.

Owner Josh Cohen has owned the shop since 2002. Cohen is someone who is clearly connected with the local cycling and business scene. He describes the local cycling community as one deserving of respect.

“There is a lot less of the southern California-type community here,” says Cohen, a native of Los Angeles who came here to go to Cal Poly and never left.

“People don’t have a bike just for show. If you sell an expensive bike, the owner is much more likely to actually ride it a lot and it’s likely that I’ll see them on group rides later on. There are riders here who actually ride.”

Cohen is heavily involved in Central Coast Concerned Mountain Bikers and also is involved with practice criterions throughout the year.

“We’ll see 40-60 riders sometimes in mid-winter practice criterions,” said Cohen. “The Community is legitimately fast. Some people from out of town will come and tell us that our practice criterions have more people than their actual races. The cycling community itself here is quite robust.”

This one time… I’ve been by Foothill on multiple occasions looking for bikes. The first time was for my wife when she was looking for a bike to ride on the Bob Jones Trail (and in town, etc…). The folks at Foothill were knowledgeable, but were not a hard sell. They were VERY respectful of her needing to ride other bikes and encouraged us to look around before we made a decision. The decision then was to come back to Foothill to buy the bike my wife really wanted.

A few years later, when I was searching for my road bike, I again went to Foothill. Of all the places I went, they gave me the best information about what to look for when buying a bike. Again, they stressed the importance of finding a bike that I liked, even if it wasn’t the Trek I was trying in their shop. I really appreciated their up-front sales pitch and even though I didn’t buy my bike there, I have had it serviced there many times. One of those services was a tune-up that included a complete washing and degreasing of both cassettes and the chain. For a little more than $100, my bike came out feeling as if I had just bought it. Gearing was just about perfect. The black, greasy scourge that had enveloped my drive train was no longer and I felt almost like I’d bought a new bike.

Wally’s is a place that prides itself on having the latest and greatest in cycling technology. By Owen Main

Wally’s Bicycle Works

Walter Ajanel is a classic. He is the owner of Wally’s Bicycle Works, located in a converted garage across South Higuera Street from Ben Franklin’s Sandwiches. Originally from Guatemala, “Wally” has been the most consistently visible bike shop owner in town, leading rides and wrenching on bikes in his shop for the past seven years. I could write a whole post on Walter’s life and how he got into bicycles, but my recommendation is that if you want to know, just ask him.

Walter is also a technophile. He loves European bikes — especially Italian ones — and he can’t help but to have all the latest gadgets, even if it’s just for the sake of having them. Ask him about the latest cycling gadgetry, watch his eyes light up, and then sit back and get ready to go to school.

“We have a lot of European bikes,” said Ajanel. “We do a lot of everything, but what we’re known for is the really super-duper high-end stuff.”

Wally’s loyal customer base of cycling enthusiasts can always find the latest and greatest when it comes to new bikes or any new cycling technology.  The collection of high-end bikes on display in his shop is pretty impressive.

You can also get custom-colored bikes at Wally’s.

“People want to have a unique bike, and usually uniquness in the end comes down to color, so we do custom colors,” said Ajanel. “So, we have a professional bike painter that we work with. We recently had one that a customer has a yellow Porche 911 and he wanted it to look like a yellow Porche. He had trouble somewhere else getting a yellow bike, so he came to me and said, ‘Hey, I want to buy a bike from you.’ I said, ‘That’s not a problem, come over and let’s sit down and figure it out.’ He got his yellow bike and it’s gorgeous!”

This one time… Two quick stories about Wally’s — First, when I go in there, I always look at the price tag on the bikes in his show rooms. He doesn’t ONLY sell high-end bikes, but when I look at some of them, I get the exact feeling Wayne Campbell did in the first Wayne’s World movie when he looked at the guitar in the window.

The second story is a quick one. I have never seen a human being change a tire faster than Walter. He belongs in NASCAR or something. I also watched him put baby powder on a tube he replaced and have tried to do that with all mine since then. The result — about half as many flats. As I said before, I have no clue about bicycle wrenching, but I’m pretty sure that Walter is a master.