Bike Shops in Taipei

Recreation Cycling
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Since getting back into cycling this year I’ve been to almost every bike shop in and around Taipei on more than one occasion. So I thought about doing a quick rundown of some of the shops (the ones I have bought something or had some bike work done at) for any of you needing to find a bike shop in Taipei area.

  1. Giant shop on the corner of Heping East road and Guling street (5 minute walk from the Kuting MRT station exit 8). They have mostly Giant stuff, but also a lot of high-end road (Campagnolo) and MTB bike stuff (Fox). Their prices are very good, and the staff their are made up of four young, but very competent and helpful mechanics. Most of them speak pretty good English there. I highly recommend them.

  2. Seven Park, going on Keelung road heading towards Neihu, turn right on the first street after you pass ChungShiao, you’ll see them a few buildings on the right. They have a huge selection of mid-range to high-end road and MTB bikes (Specialized - BMC), apparel (mostly Assos), and components (mostly Shimano). The owner and mechanic are both very nice and competent guys. Their prices a very reasonable. They speak some English. I would definitely go back to them for bike stuff.

  3. Louis Garnau shop on ChienGuo heading towards Hsinyi road from Heping. Its a small shop, they mostly sell Lg bikes and stuff, shop owner is nice enough guy, and his prices are reasonable. The bikes range from low-end to mid-range road, touring, folding, and MTB bikes. Nothing special about this shop. Their are two to three more bike shops heading up towards to Hsinyi road that are about the same. If you are hunting for a daily commuter, nothing too special than these shops along this section of ChienGuo are a good choice to shop around at. On the opposite side going towards Hsinhai road is another shop, but they offer a higher-end range of bikes and parts. You’ll find a lot of reasonably priced American brand (Kona - Raleigh) MTB and XC bikes their. The owner is an older guy, don’t know about his English abilities, but he seems to be quite nice. It’s worth a visit.

  4. Howard’s Bike, located in lane 23 of Pateh road before GuangFu road. If you are looking for high-end stuff (Cinelli - Colnago) and have really deep pockets then this is the shop for you. The owner is very competent and is a seasoned triathlete. Their shop is very posh, and the area where they work on bikes, looks like it was made for servicing F1 cars. Unless you are looking for a specialty item or bike that you just can’t find anywhere else, I wouldn’t buy anything from them. Their prices are inflated, always triple of what another shop would quote. They are exclusive dealers of some brands such as Cinelli and Ceepo, so they can get away with crazy prices, cause they know if you really need those bikes or components, you can only get it through them. But as I said, if money is not a concern, and there is some Italian bike you really can’t find anywhere else, I’m sure they can get it for you.

  5. Colorful Bicycle, located on the corner of Renai and Linsen Road (right before the Nanhai tunnel). This is a very small and cramped shop, but amazingly it is packed with some hard to find and expensive bikes and parts. They have everything from every major high-end brand (Pinarello Look, Colnago, Cannondale, etc.). I would recommend checking them out if you need to find something that other shops just don’t have in stock. Their prices are okay. I would buy stuff from them but I will never take my bike to them for any kind of work. The owner is a not very helpful, and has the worst attitude;he answers any question with a grunt. I took my bike into change the handlebars, which was supposed to be free of charge if I bought it from him which I did. When I picked up my bike he told me he had to replace the derailleur cable cause it was too short, (it wasn’t, he didn’t measure correctly and cut my original cable too short) so I was charged an extra $500 bucks. No biggie, I ride off and after a few blocks I notice that I couldn’t shift smoothly, I looked down to see that the derailleur cable he had just replace wasn’t fastened tightly and had come loose. Not very professional. So conclusion, worth checking out for specialty items, but avoid for bike servicing.

  6. Velo Boutique, located behind the Agora Garden Hotel near Taipei 101 area. It is a very upscale shop. They mostly carry Klein Trek, and Look bikes, and a whole range of gear and parts. Worth checking out for gear, their prices are okay, but its their wide selection that is the real draw. Feels more like a store, then a bike shop. Not sure about how competent they are, I found the guys their a little unhelpful, they seemed more like salespeople. If you’ll into American brands then they are a good choice.

These are the shops I have personal experience with, there are many more that I just have not visited yet. So please help to add to this list with your own personal experiences.

1 Like
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complete address for Howard’s Bike Shop:
1F, No. 27, Lane 22, Gunagfu South Road
Tel 2579-3357 FAX 2579-2126

They ride Saturdays. Meet at the shop in the 6:30 range and depart about 7.

I must add Sean Huang’s store in Tien Mu, near the start of Zhongzheng Road, and opposite a second outlet of Velo Boutique (and there’s a third Velo Boutique in the Life Mall, Civic Blvd). Sean was a Tawian road race champion, now runs busy stores with mid to high-end bikes in road, XC, downhill, triathlon, and ‘leisure’ catagories. He also runs the successful Columbus Cycling Team. His other store is in Dazhi (?) on Tiding Blvd. Good mechanics, lots of high end gear, concentrates on Giants and Italians. Good English, but very busy Saturday/Sunday so better attention on weekdays (from 12 noon).

The LG store referred to in 3. above was a second Seventh park outlet, but they seem to have split up the business. Good to hear the original 7park form Keelung Rd (opposite the Taipei World Trade Centre, near the Tavern) is still alive further along on Keelung Rd.

The bike store on Jianguo between Heping and Xinhai Roads is Kent cycles, not aligned with any big company, has lots of expensive stuff among the usual mid-range gear, and can get very unusual frames for you. Lots of DH and road frames and gear. Mechanic’s OK, but a bit rough on installation…Has lots of old stock of things like saddles and wheels to find bargains, and second hand forks and suspension if you’re after that. English: marginal to none…

Minquan Rd, 100 m east of Fuxing Rd at the Zhongshan High School stop (terminus), another Giant store, this time run by Lu. More good road bikes and frames, lots of Campagnolo and SRAM stuff, Lu’s mechanic skills are good, but his orders can be slow. Rebuilds wheels, good with tubular tires and wheel sets, sells Vittoria and Fizik, for reasonable prices. Moves lots of Giant XTRs…

Velo boutique will be suffering after the collapse of the Discovery team, and the lost appeal of Trek and Bontrager. Get in for Trek frames and Disco clothes quickly…or other American-branded items. They do much less campy gear, mostly Shimano.

Happy riding…

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I went to Seven Park-thanks for the recommendation.

Anyone know where I can get a beach cruiser?

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What kind of riding do you have in mind with it? :howyoudoin:

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Not sure what a beach cruiser is. If you can post a picture, I’ll try to point you to a shop.
Edit: found one beachbikes.net/

I saw some of them at 2 shops, both on Jianguo, one is the LG shop I mentioned above, and one is Jimmey’s Bike (I think that’s the shops name). It is a small shop right before the you get to the Giant shop on the corner of Jianguo and Xinyi roads. It’s next to a pet shop.

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Jimmy’s has a cool larger cruiser. Bit heavy, but cool. Fatttish tires, can’t remember if they’re white walls…

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That’s the one I saw. That is one cool retro bike.

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Alan’s Bikes…Roosevelt Section 6, just south of Keelung Circle. Alan is well known among the biker set and will get you the best deals in Taiwan.

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Respectfully have to disagree on this. In MY experience (since 1999) I have found Sean’s shop in Tienmu by far the cheapest and he uses current model year parts when he supplies. Jack’s shop is also a great one. Both are also the best for mech and servicing work. Sean is a former TW champion and Jack is just a super cool guy.

Sean’s
#21, Section 1, Zhongzheng Road, Tianmu
886-2-2835-2101

Jack’s
No. 101, Section 2, Chungqing North Rd.
(02) 2550 7321

I have also found it cheaper to buy online from the likes of

www.probikekit.com
www.speedgoat.com
www.dropnzone.com

…and have stuff shipped to TW.

SRAM and FSA stuff MAY be cheaper in TW but Shimano and pretty much everything else is cheaper online. I know one should support their LBS but when price is a factor… well. :laughing:

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Both places speak English? Where is Chongqing Rd?

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Yep both Jack and Sean speak great English

Chung Ching is the road the hiking stores are on… head away from Taipei main station (away from the Pres Palace that is)

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Sean’s english is great. He is not always in the store, though. One of his staff, a young guy called Luke, is pretty good at english too, and very fast. (he’s the one with the smile and the big legs.)

Chung Ching Road? NFI.

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I checked out those online bike store sites posted above, but after comparing part for part from my bike built in Taiwan, I found that the parts are cheaper in Taiwan. I have Campagnolo Record and mostly Italian components on my bike, and none of those sites with the same parts could compare with the prices I bought them for in Taiwan. I think you just need to shop around, and you’ll be surprised at the prices and selection at some of the LBS in Taiwan.

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Fair enough but the one thing you need to be super mindful of in Taiwan is are the parts you buying current year?

Please PM me with the details of where and what you bought Campy wise… I am keen to switch from Durace to Campy… when I bought a full kit it was far cheaper online in the US than TW… I am truly suprised (but happy) to hear you sourced things cheaper. Nice one. :notworthy:

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Best prices online for Campy seem to be from Eurobikeparts.com

He’s fast and reliable, and has some older stock to clear sometimes too. it’s just some guy who sells lots from his garage, so there’s no shop. ships to Taiwan by USpost, so cheaper than FedEx etc by a long way.

very seldom there will be a special at jensonsUSA or probikekit or Lickton’s but they have not got it regularly.

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If you speak Chinese, the 102 Bicycle Giant store on the corner of Jianguo and Xinyi (NE corner of the Da’an Forest Park) is a great place for friendly and knowledgeable help. Extremely friendly and helpful service (they’ve even lent us stuff to use because we didn’t want to buy it at the time) and the owner of course does a lot of biking so he knows his stuff well.

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102 Bicycle store is one of the best of the ‘normal’ Giant stores. nothing too fancy, but knowledgeable and generous. they have even let me borrow tools occasionally, which is too kind. His wife (?) speaks reasonable English, as does one of the younger mechanics.

steer clear of the Giant outlet in the new SOGO, as they basically only stock Giants, they are a bit more pricey and have almost zero capacity for mechanic repairs on hand. On the other hand, they have a good range of all the Giant women-specific design frames and bicycles on display in smaller sizes, and lots of women’s clothing… I prefer a bike store that I can ride into, rather than one tucked inside a dept store.

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Bubba: I found some white wall tires for your new cruiser that would be just perfect for you.

http://www.nirve.com/parts.asp?cid=3007

enjoy!

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Which of these stores is open on Sunday? The two I frequent (the one near Guting and Alan’s) I think are both closed on Sunday.

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Sean’s Giant and BikeVelo (trek, etc) at Tianmu, 102 bike at Xinyi/Jianguo, Giant on Minquan near Fuxing are all open on Sunday, but closed Monday/Tuesday.