CHAIN REACTION BICYCLES
BLOGS TO KEEP YOU UPDATED ON SALES & EVENTS!
1451 El Camino Real, Redwood City
650 366-7130
  2310 Homestead (Foothill Crossing), Los Altos
408 735-8735
THE WORLD GOES BY AT JUST THE RIGHT SPEED ON A BIKE!

Current News for

Please note- THIS IS THE OLD SITE, and you should have been redirected HERE. Soon it will come up automatically.
Most of the technical content and stories are not there yet, just the bike & accessories catalogs. Working on that daily. I expect this process to finish approximately the beginning of March 2014. The blog site with the almost-daily diary will remain at ChainReactionBlogs.com/diary. --Mike--
This website has over 2,000 photos, most taken from various rides we've done & reviewed.  But I keep coming back to this one as my all-time favorite.

It shows perhaps the most important things that we, as cyclists, can do.  Passing the torch to a new generation, showing others that cycling is a timeless, wonderful thing.

Ultimately, I hope it's what Chain Reaction will be known for.  --Mike--
 

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Remember your first time up Old LaHonda? October 9th 2006 we decided to throw something pretty tough at Kevin- Old LaHonda Road. Probably the prettiest and least-traveled (by cars) route to the top of the Skyline (above Woodside), a twisty, tree-covered 3.75-mile climb of around 1100ft or so. (More)
  Why Buy Your Next Bike from Chain Reaction?
We thought you'd never ask! From our expertise in helping you select the right bike, get it properly fit, a dedication to your bike that goes on for years... a whole lot of things.

Cruising this website will give you a good idea of what we're about and how we treat our customers, but better yet, come into one of our stores, talk with our staff and maybe take a bike or two out for a test ride.

One thing's certain. You'll discover that we really like bikes!

09/17/07- SHE FINALLY DID IT. Maybe 3 or 4 years after threatening to ride up Old LaHonda, my daughter Becky, whom some of you have met in our Redwood City store, made it up the hill with her friend (and fellow co-worker) Emily. It might not have been the fastest trip up the hill, and certainly not the easiest, but they got there. I told Becky to plan on two hours for the ride (hot-shot cyclists can do it in just over 15 minutes) and to stop every half-mile or so, the idea being to make it manageable. And 2 hours is just about how long it did take them, after which they did the lunch-at-Alice's ritual that I used to do with Kevin (Becky's younger brother).

Some credit goes to Emily (on the left in the photo), her very good friend who was encouraging her all the way. Emily's been a bit more active in outdoor activities than Becky, but perhaps that's about to change. I don't expect to see Becky climbing Haleakala any time soon, but hey, it's a great start!

10/7/12-Fast-forward a few years- Becky's got a new Project One Domane, and she revisited Old LaHonda in style. Easy? No. Worth the effort? Yes!

  You!

Your TREK Project One Madone, first on the beach in Maui, and later that same day at 10,023' atop Haleakala. Every ride is an adventure with a TREK Madone!

Several years later, I still have great memories of that ride.

Read all about climbing Haleakala (and how not to make a wrong turn and add an extra 1700', ouch!).


Road Bike Rides!
  This website is known for them, from our extremely challenging Sonora Pass ride to the easy-going Bicycle Sundays on Canada Road.  Check here for an overview of the many road rides on our website!

Mountain Bike & Family Rides! 
We've got Arastradero Preserve and Waterdog Lake, both offering beginning to intermediate challenges, and Bayfront Park, Waddell Creek and Bicycle Sundays for great family outings!

What Chain Reaction is known for-

Apparel- We offer a tremendous selection of apparel for men & women. Pearl Izumi, Craft, Bontrager, TREK,  & more. Great prices, too!   Accessories- One-stop shopping is a reality at Chain Reaction. We have a larger selection of locks, pumps, tools, lubes, cassettes, tires & wheels than just about anyplace else.   Service- Our expert staff knows what's what, and won't try and bluff their way through if they don't. It's easy enough with an experienced staff like ours to find an answer to just about any question!

Road bikes-  [Editors note- this piece was first written in 1996, before road bikes became "popular." A bit of a joke to us, since they always were big at Chain Reaction!] Yes, road bikes. While most other shops have very few, 50%+ of the bikes Chain Reaction sells are road bikes. This puts us in very elite company, which, to us, seems very strange. We live in an exceptional area for road bikes! No matter where you live in the bay area, chances are high that a 20-minute bike ride will get you away from the city and into the country. Unfortunately, one of the things that's always held back road bikes has been a snobbish attitude among employees at those shops that do sell road bikes. This is really unfortunate. We've gone to great lengths to make road bikes as accessible as possible, and fit each and every one to the individual using the New England Cycling Academy's Fit-Kit. People who never believed they could be comfortable on a road bike are frequently amazed at how easily they can survive that first metric century!
 
Prices- There's no reason to go anyplace other than Chain Reaction! We work hard to try and ensure the best pricing possible for our customers, as well as keeping things in stock. One of the big inside jokes in the bike industry is that it's easy to advertise a really low price on something if you never have it in stock; we won't do that. In fact, we sell merchandise to the employees of a national chain just down the street (but we won't name names!).
 
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OUR WEBSITE AT A GLANCE

Interesting stories 
Common questions 
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Tech Stuff 
Rides & Maps 

 
Directions & Hours We're Open
1451 El Camino Redwood City, CA 94063 (650) 366-7130
2310 Homestead (Foothill Crossing), Los Altos, CA 94024 (408) 735-8735

www.ChainReaction.com & www.ChainReactionBicycles.com

Email to Mike in Redwood City or Steve in Los Altos
Content, including text & images, may not be republished without permission
Web Author: Mike Jacoubowsky, Chain Reaction Bicycles
Not responsible for typos etc, but please let us know about them!

Chain Reaction sells bicycles & accessories from Trek, Gary Fisher, BikeFriday,Shimano, Pearl Izumi, Continental, Descente,
Sidi, Giro, Blackburn, Speedplay, Oakley, Saris, NiteRider, Bontrager, Torelli, Look, DeFeet, Rock N Roll, Hammer, Cytomax,
Powerbar, Fox, Clif Bar, CamelBak, Chris King, Profile Design, Craft, X-Lab and many more!