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--
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--
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.
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!
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!).
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!