Hi Piaw, I remember those bicycle shops very vividly, The Wheelsmith, Palo Alto Bike Shop and Bicycle Outfitters in Los Altos back in the early 70's. There were many others that I visited faithfully four or five times a week from MountainView, Los Altos, Palo Alto, Cupertino, when bicycle shops popped up when the "bicycle boom" was nationwide like barista coffee shops in recent years. Those were the days. Life was very good.
I eventually bought my 1973 Cilo Sprintx road bike from Bayshore Bicycle Works for $379.00 replacing my $100.00 Batavus 10 speed bike. I converted the Cilo into a sports touring bicycle. I rode it thousands of miles. I loved all of my every road adventures filled with wonderful memories looking back. I moved up here to Washington state and rode it until 2011, when I retired the bike. After several bikes, I wound up buying a Clem Smith Jr L bicycle as my retirement bicycle. Happy. Kim Hetzel. On Fri, Dec 19, 2025, 8:36 AM Piaw Na <[email protected]> wrote: > Wheelsmith was owned by the same family as Palo Alto Bicycles (who now > also own Bicycle Outfitter). I'm surprised Velotech is fully booked now. > They built my wife's Montebello last month, and when I called around they > were the only shop with availability within the week. You may want to try > Walt's in Sunnyvale, but they were also pretty booked when I checked. My > brother's bike with a 1" steerer tube was built by Fitz, but they're a long > drive. > > On Thursday, December 18, 2025 at 3:20:15 PM UTC-8 Drew Saunders wrote: > >> Long story short: my 1999 match-built (yes, it was lower case "m") >> Rivendell Road needs a new headset. I tried to install one (two actually, >> that's a story of frustration and sunk cost) but I need a few more threads >> on the steerer tube to get this one to tighten down sufficiently, unless I >> want to keep hunting for a headset that has a taller crown race. I also >> need the existing threads chased even if I could find a headset that would >> work with the fork as it is. 1" threaded, of course. >> >> I tried Palo Alto Bikes, and the guy says he may not even know where >> their steerer tube cutting tool is. They have the fork now, but if they >> can't find the tool, then I'm out of luck. >> >> I would have used Wheelsmith in the past, but they're long gone. As is >> Cupertino Bike Shop, George Slough, etc. >> >> If PAB gives up on this job, and since it's not a new $15,000 carpet >> fiber wünder-bike for a Silicon Valley Techbro, I can see why it's low >> priority, I'll have to try someone else. Any suggestions? >> >> Thanks, >> >> Drew >> >> -- > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups > "RBW Owners Bunch" group. > To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an > email to [email protected]. > To view this discussion visit > https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/rbw-owners-bunch/c13dc0c9-e9ad-433d-a962-88ebe511c203n%40googlegroups.com > <https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/rbw-owners-bunch/c13dc0c9-e9ad-433d-a962-88ebe511c203n%40googlegroups.com?utm_medium=email&utm_source=footer> > . > -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "RBW Owners Bunch" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. To view this discussion visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/rbw-owners-bunch/CANRt_xmZp31hHu0Ay-zNG06ovt5TMgFb-dGJFN3da%2BMCdh7Frw%40mail.gmail.com.
