R&A Cycles is a high end retailer with wholesale quantities. Tricked out Litespeeds and Specialized’s in the front windows hardly betray the vast quantity of high end frames and equipment within the three tiered shop.
With consistently negative feedback from online reviewers, service is often called snobby and rude. Many will look past this to the undeniably vast quantities of high end frames and equipment.
The mid-section of the shop is full of thick-tubed tri-bikes, including Quintana Roo’s new Lucero. Near the back, late model Looks, Colnagos, and De Rosa’s lead to a lower end section with Giants, Bianchis, LeMonds, and more.
R&A is one of the few shops around that has Sidi’s special edition holagraphic print available, next to Shimano, Northwave, DMT, and others. A Tri Section holds Quintana Roos and other models with huge downtubes and blue shifter cables weaving in and out of the frames.
Many will choose to take their bikes in for service elsewhere where an individual bike might get a little more attention, but for buying a new bike or special equipment for a current one, few shops come close to R&A.
Children’s bikes and entry level models seem misplaced within the shop but R&A has a decent section for both. Clothing runs the gamut from low end tri-gear to Assos’s three layered glove system and finer offerings from Giordana.
If you’re looking for ceramic bearings as smooth as a euro pedal stroke – R&A has it – but take a search for basic commuting gear elsewhere. R&A Cycles is New York City’s ‘finest’ retailer of only the finest bikes, but some ask if reliable service is sacrificed for image and speed.
For the winter of 2008 R&A will be open 7 days a week, from 10-7 PM and 10-6PM on Saturdays.
5th Ave @ Baltic Street, Brooklyn, NY
Litespeed, De Rosa, Pinarello, Colnago, Look, Time, Bianchi, LeMond, Giant, Quintana Roo, Kuota, Eddy Merckx, Cervelo, Trek.
DMT, Laser, Specialized, Sidi, Shimano, Assos, Giordana, Campagnalo, SRAM equipment.
This shop leaves a lot to be desired with customer service. Understatment?
they’re just retail schmucks working for a few bucks an hour, they need to get over themselves.
Bike shop ever
They are overpriced and unhelpful
High End shop with low end talent,have only surface knowlege of sport and equipment,main concern is the sale
My Bro puchased his Cervelo with all the trimmings,Zipps, Zipp crank, Ergomo power meter etc.
Only problem was the Crank squeaked. Well he kept taking it back and they kept fixing it.
Well since he calls them the best pro shop in the country he beleived they fixed it . NOT. A square tappered bottom bracket is not compatible with the ERgomo or the Zipp crank. A basic wrench knows that. Well the crank fell off on a ride in PA. Stripped, van had to pick us up. What if this had happened on a descent? One dead dude. Went to see R & A and the son of the owner said they do this set up all the time.
Well I called Zipp , they said the Ergomo at the time was not going to work with that crank. Ergomo said use a Campy record crank. Well thats what they did after I relayed the instructions to my bro.
He still thinks they are GODS. Oh, and they put him on a size 54 and he is 5`11. Bad fit too. All this for about 12 grand.
A fool and his money
I totally agree with every comment on this board. Generally, R&A sucks.
However, I recently needed an unusual OEM low-priced wheel and they were the ONLY bike shop in NYC that could get it for me. I live in Park Slope and R&A is the closest shop to my house. That said, they are the last shop I would go to unless I had a virtually unlimited budget — and patience.
Unfortunately, they have a very nice stock of clothing
I once went in to look at a bike (<$10,000) and the owner's son would not let the salesperson take it out and let me sit on it. I've spoken with many other shop owners and they all agree with the comments here. The mail order business keeps R&A in the black. If you go, try your best to deal exclusively with Felix. I'm a newbie and he has been patient and helpful to me. NOTE: examine your reciept. They charge tax on clothing less than $125, which is illegal in NYC.
People do not go to R&A for customer service. If they do they are either new to cycling or totally clueless. People go to R&A to get the brand new pinarello prince in Spanish national champ colors size 57 with Zipps and Campy 11 that day. No waiting no questions asked. Its a mill for jerkoffs and tri-geeks that need the best bike that day – to then ride to the spoon or CP. real racers would never go to this shop. It is good at what it does – selling to Europe and clueless rich guys.
i resantly went to r&a cycles and the first person to greet me was a drunk smelly person. then i walked two the other side of the store and bumt with this guy, i sweer there was oozs camin out of his arms. i would be careful to perchise a frame because they have repainted used frames that are being sold as new ones.
hum, so R&A buys “everything” and has “it all” in all stock at “all times” when you want and need it. After going to R&A and seeing for yourself the assortment and presentation, you will be forever underwhelmed by the amount of bullshit crappy shops out there. Suit yourself, you can go shop at a place that “proudly offers” 2 kinds of mediocre Bontrager gloves and 3 kinds of gel? ….but the mechanic is good”. Blow me.
89% of the shops in the NY area are retarded and suck, you know it.
I brought in a Campy Shamal rear wheel that had 3 broken spokes. They informed me that I could not take those spokes off because of how the wheel was made. The rim was also out of true. I went onto the campy website, for 25 dollars I ordered 6 spokes, i removed the spokes myself and put the new ones on. I then trued the wheel at another bike store, 4 months later, the wheel is good as new. Because of those lying bastards I had to go to green mountain with one Campy Shamal and one CXP… Also, when buying the ASSOS chamy, they charge 6$ for a small tube, if you look under the price tag it says “this is a sample, cannot be sold for”
I’m an experienced racer and I’ve been going to R&A for years. They’re not perfect, but they are one of the few shops I trust.
Avoid this place like the plague!
Obnoxious “fitter”, rude owners, mechanics that don’t speak English, expensive, and don’t even look where they keep your bike when you bring it for a tune up.
Wonderful.
A few weeks ago I called ahead to see if they had some frames in stock that I was considering. They did not but they had some that were the next step up so I decided to take a trip down to the shop and see what all the fuss was about. I had read lots of negative reviews but I always go in and make my own decisions about a place and how they treat me.
The apathetic girl on the phone happened to be the first person to ask if I needed assistance. She summoned Felix. I told him my price range and what I had been looking at and have rode so far. My two prospectives were the Pinarello FP2 and the Kuota Kharma. Both caught my eye at Competitive Cyclist and I wanted to maybe see on in person. They had some FP3s that were outta my range. Felix thought neither frame would be a good fit for me. He fumbled with an iPad to try and “educate” me about head tube height and how those frames wouldn’t fit me well. While I appreciated that he took the time to try and fit me to a frame the way he thought best, he never did once ask me what type of riding I would be doing. Instead, he just assumed it would be hardcore, short-distance racing. I was looking for something slightly relaxed so I could do centuries as well and he never bothered to ask.
The big kicker was when he got out his coach’s license to prove he knew what he was talking about. Totally unnecessary. Another thing that bothered me was that they wouldn’t entertain auditions in any sense of the word. No sitting, no riding around the block. Nada. He said you should be able to get a sense of what the bike was about by reading about it online which I agree with in part but to get any sense of the ‘soul’ of the bike, one must ride it. I understand them not letting someone test ride a Dogma with Di2 but in the sub-$4K range, it’s pretty much customary everywhere else.
I talked to the owner for a second. What a crochety, nasty old man. Being behind the counter clearly is not the place he wants to be. I don’t care if they have all this high end stuff. If they don’t have the right attitude I’ll gladly take my business elsewhere (which I did).
R&A hasn’t cared about a live customer since about 1987. The main business goes out the back door, via on-line ordering. Who do you think buys the idiotic Mondrian Look TT bike?
I’m still pissed at the way R&A treated me back in 1993 when I was looking for a simple little saddle bag.
“No bag for you!”
Bastards!
I’ve always heard the terrible reviews about R&A. Yet, one day I decided to take a trip out there since I needed a saddle for a bike fit the next day and they were the only ones that had it in stock. Needless to say, they were rude and obnoxious. And they made a point of telling me that a saddle could not be returned or exchanged if it had been mounted on a seatpost. Even if for 15 minutes during a bike fit. I chose to overnight the saddle from an online store and take my business elsewhere.
No, thank you. R&A can go to hell for all I care.
R&A will tell YOU you can go to hell and you will like it.
R&A make tons of money outfitting pro teams as well as selling $12,000 bikes to wealthy people who dabble in cycling. Other than Aldo, they don’t care much about their reputation in the community. If it affected their business they’d be nicer, but it doesn’t, so….
they are dumb. early in and could have owned the local retail market and mail order
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