Shop Talk from Mark Howard, Mike’s Bikes in Los Gatos

March, April & May have been busy months in the shop, lots of new bikes coming in, but unfortunately still not too many of the road type. We have had some mid range bikes in from Orbea, Giant and Cannondale and while ours have gone out the door quite quickly there are still some models like the Orbea Orca, Giant TCR Advanced and Cannondale Supersix Evo floating around the company. Best thing to do if searching for a bike is check out our website and it should tell you everything available around our 14 stores.

Our Specialized stock is on sale and is slowly running out, so if your a fan of anything Specialized then get in and pick something up before stock is all gone.

As far as service parts go, flat mount disc brake pads are still like gold at the moment, specifically the Shimano L03A Resin pad (or even the Metal version) which is the most difficult brake pad to source from our distributors right now as they are just not available and long ETA’s. It is by far the most common due to a huge number of bikes stocked with that pad. If you find some, buy extra’s. We get some pads in, like we did today, received 10 and 6 are already sold. We do have aftermarket replacements available from MTX, TRP or Jagwire, but stock levels of those are going quickly now too. Chain supplies is getting better but chainrings is still hit and miss, depends what you need. Anything Shimano seems to be hard to get and you may have better luck sourcing online. Always check out our website or give us call if your looking for some service parts.
My mechanical tip, if riding disc, try not to drag your brakes when descending, keep your brake calipers and rotors clean, make sure they are properly aligned and the fluid has been replaced in the past 12months. This will get longer life out of your brakes,

As far as schedule for Tune Ups go, we are currently booking just over a week out, this will likely increase as we approach the warmer weather. Walk In work is about 24-48hrs for small jobs and 48-72 hours turn around for slightly bigger jobs. Anything that might be more than 2hrs of work it will likely be scheduled in. You can now again make appointments by phone also, so just let us know what you need done and we can put you on the schedule, keep in mind though we won’t know what parts are needed until we see the bike or you give us an exact description. If you have a bike you think needs a lot of work then best to still bring it in to us so we can inspect it, see what parts need sourcing and we’ll schedule it in. For something more straight forward then by phone will do.

Keep June 16 free as it will be an in store club meeting and the register will be open for some late night shopping.

See you in the shop
Mark Howard, Mike’s Bikes Los Gatos

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