Bicycle Shops in Taipei

[RoelC]

Any shops in northern taiwan that are DH/FR oriented?
Or at least able to service forks/shocks in a proper way.
Also in need of a complete overhaul of my Santa Cruz Nomad (replace bearings etc.). Any suggestions?

[nazmikarakoc]

Let me know what bearings you need, i can help. I am in Neihu area

[wolfgang1320]

Greetings to you all from Germany!
I'll be visiting Taiwan the whole month of November and at least 10 days staying in Taipei.
I could use some up to date tips concerning bike wear.
Esp. I'd like to know whether it is worthwhile buying ASSOS gear in Taipei. For example the Assos T FI.13 S5 is in Germany 219 EUROS which is currently in Taiwanese Dollars around 9.066,17.
How much would this be in Taipei? Which shop would have ASSOS?
Another question I have is:
I'd love to get around by bike at least in town.
I' ve heard of the possibilty to rent a bike along a bike path. I' ll be staying at a hostel near main station. Is it advisable to take the bike into town to ride there as well or is it better to take the MRT instead?
Also I'm into photography and very much interested in architecture and beautiful landscapes.
Do you have any other suggestions or tips for my visit?
I'm looking forward to my trip!

[nazmikarakoc]

Hi, as for your gear I would suggest getting it in Europe. It is much more expensive here unless it is Made in Taiwan.

For renting a bike, plus taking MRT is possible so you can travel into mountains as well and get past the city traffic quickly. Main station should have cart with Bike compartment.

Enjoy cycling

[wolfgang1320]

Hi, as for your gear I would suggest getting it in Europe. It is much more expensive here unless it is Made in Taiwan.

For renting a bike, plus taking MRT is possible so you can travel into mountains as well and get past the city traffic quickly. Main station should have cart with Bike compartment.

Enjoy cycling

Hi nazmikarakoc!
Thank you!
So it is possible to rent a bike directly at the main station, right?
Wolfgang

[pilam99]

Hi, as for your gear I would suggest getting it in Europe. It is much more expensive here unless it is Made in Taiwan.

For renting a bike, plus taking MRT is possible so you can travel into mountains as well and get past the city traffic quickly. Main station should have cart with Bike compartment.

Enjoy cycling

Hi nazmikarakoc!
Thank you!
So it is possible to rent a bike directly at the main station, right?
Wolfgang

I thought bikes at main station were a no-go? Once going west they made me board near Ximen. Coming from the east they made me get out near Xinyi. The new MRT maps show which stations allow bicycles and which don't but I can't find one online with bicylce markings. I know Jiantan and Danshui are no-go, Shilin and the one just south of Danshui are OK. Also, you need to buy a bike ticket for MRT, forget how much.

This is all assuming you just want to walk the bike on and not take it apart and bag it.

[landshark]

I was having a very hard time finding a shop that had any fixed gear wheels. After talking to several shop owners and having them tell me that it is very had to get in Taiwan I found BreakBrake 17 http:BreakBrake17.com/v1 I ended up spending about 15,000nt building my frame up. They were very nice and helpful and had a lot of selection for fixie parts and clothes.

I just want to say something to the other lazy shop owners I talked to before I found BreakBrake 17 "I have 6 nice (high end) bikes that I have bought in TW. You don't want to lose me as a customer just because you don't want to get off your lazy ass and call around to help a loyal (maybe not so much anymore) customer! You just lost 15,000nt, next bike could have been 350,000nt. It's your loss!"

Sorry about the rant I just get very sick of people here just saying "No can't get it" instead of saying "Let me check or Oh, you can try this shop". That leads to a happy customer. This sorry I don't care about you Mr./Mrs. customer drives me nuts!

This rant has ended.

Thank you helpful people at BreakBrake 17

[Tony the Tiger]

Just wanted to add in my experience bike-buying. Most posts seem to be for people who know what they're looking for in a bike, and are intending on using it for touring. I just wanted a bike to get me around town, but didn't want a second hand bike for safety reasons. Also, I'm very tall so needed a bigger than the average frame.

In the end, I bought my bike from the bicycle repair place inside Tai-Da (National Taiwan University, NTU). They said that at that time they didn't have any second hand bikes for sale (the old bikes outside were all ones they were repairing for students), but their new bikes seemed to be pretty much all in the NTD 1000-4000 range (most around 2000-2500). Obviously, they cater to a poorer student market. The other bicycle stores I've seen around the place selling new bikes seem to cater to selling much more expensive name brand bikes for more serious bikers.

I ended up buying one of their most expensive bikes (still under NTD 9,000) because I needed their largest frame and decided in the end to get a model with a bit more going for it than an average ride-around (I am strangely attracted to all things shiny). They subbed out the saddle for one more suited to a bigger bum, reinforced the seat stem bar thingee with a metal thingeemabob inside for a riders of a heavier weight, and appeared (I have no expertise) to make suitable adustments to the bike for my height and give the bike a good safety check and test before letting me ride off into the sunset with it. Service was good

This could be a good place to go if you just want a basic get around town bike (you know, the league of bike which has a basket on the front) like the ones you see everywhere, but not pre-used.

I don't know whether they spoke english as I used Mandarin, and if you want to find the place there's a good map here (look for the bicycle store symbol) http://homepage.ntu.edu.tw/~fss/coconet ... us-Map.png.

Hope this helps someone! Cycling in Taipei is as it turns out (excuse the poor grammar) awesome funness so I totally recommend those hanging around for a while pick one up, if only to sail along the river paths

Is this place still around?

[DesertSpider]

Is there a Trek store / shop here ?

Not that it matters which flag they fly....... just looking for a good mtn. bike shop that can do good tune-ups, work on hydraulic brakes, advanced accessories, etc.

DS

[DesertSpider]

The section of RuiGuang Road (Neihu district) near the flower market and just up the hill towards MinQuan has a whole slew of bikeshops that have opened within the last year. Specialized, RST, Orbea, Giant, and Merida flagship store. Good engrish spoken in the merida store.

Cross street or google map location for this ???
DS