New (to me) Bike Shop in Montclair

JohnnyWestood

Active Member
Hey ya’ll. On Saturday the nice weather had me wanting to go see some bikes, talk to some shops and maybe get some ideas for my upcoming purchase. I went on the Norco site a month back and they list Diamond Cycles as a dealer. The Diamond website has the bikes listed but says they are unavailable. Thought I’d take a look. No Norco’s. Boo hoo. My second target for the day was a shop called Pedal Montclair. Turns out it is walking distance from Diamond. I walked in and was greeted immediately. Shopkeep talked to me about his offerings, Pivot and Santa Cruz (Scott as well). It was a really nice experience. I am going to demo a Mach 5.5 from them soon. It is quite spendy though. But it should be fun to pretend I can afford it.

Check them out if you are nearby. Wish I got their names ( I took enough of their time...so rude). Really solid peeps.
 

Soundguy

#SenditGuy
Team MTBNJ Halter's
Pedal is amazing. Andrea and Lou run the shop.... I stumbled in there with my wife recently and ended up being there over an hour just chatting about nonsense. I'm told Lou is one of the best mechanics in the area and I'm planning to take my enduro bike there soon for a full overhaul. They are really good people from what I can tell and I know several of the hardcore racers on here trust them with their bikes.

I've had 2 of the worst bike shop experiences of my life at Diamond.... I will never go back there. Maybe I just had a bad experience...twice...but it was enough to lose my business.
 

JohnnyWestood

Active Member
Pedal is amazing. Andrea and Lou run the shop.... I stumbled in there with my wife recently and ended up being there over an hour just chatting about nonsense. I'm told Lou is one of the best mechanics in the area and I'm planning to take my enduro bike there soon for a full overhaul. They are really good people from what I can tell and I know several of the hardcore racers on here trust them with their bikes.

I've had 2 of the worst bike shop experiences of my life at Diamond.... I will never go back there. Maybe I just had a bad experience...twice...but it was enough to lose my business.
Thanks for the names! Lou was telling me about riding with the Syndicate guys out in Santa Cruz ( the town). You have to admire people that are passionate about what they do, and he certainly is. Andrea was so nice and she knew her stuff too. I wish them luck. I’ve been to 3 shops recently that really stood out. Tenafly Bike Workshop, Pedal Montclair, and Sussex Bikes (in Sussex, haven’t been to other location). Wish I could buy a bike from all three of them.
 

JohnnyWestood

Active Member
FWIW, Diamond strikes me as more of a mass market, high volume shop. Which is fine for most. But when you spend hours reading reviews and researching, you want to go to a place that gets it. I shot Diamond an email weeks ago no reply. The 3 shops I mentioned all got back to me same day when I reached out. I could have called, but I usually am at work when I send the emails, so a call isn’t feasible when something is on my mind.
 

MadisonDan

Well-Known Member
Team MTBNJ Halter's
Sounds like you're on the right path. I've never been to Pedal, but have heard nothing but great things. The know their product, and are supportive of the cycling community.
 

Paul H

Fearless OOS Poser
Pedal is a pretty cool shop. I stopped by there couple of times to look at the Pivot Switchblade and Lou was very accommodating to this tire kicker. Just note, their Pivot demos are pretty high end. I think they are mostly Pro/XT builds
 

Ryan.P

Well-Known Member
Team MTBNJ Halter's
this is my local shop and Lou and Andrea are both good people . I always spend at least an hour there and buying more than i need , yay bikes .
 

JohnnyWestood

Active Member
Wow! Good to see my instincts were right about this shop. I am already hyperventilating about the prospects of riding a Pivot and liking it. I started looking at aluminum Giant Trances, and now look at me. Have to keep budgetary discipline here. I do like that the Mach 5.5 is future-proofed for Fox Live because it sounds like that is coming soon. But there will probably be 5 other standards that come and go by then anyway.
 

Soundguy

#SenditGuy
Team MTBNJ Halter's
Wow! Good to see my instincts were right about this shop. I am already hyperventilating about the prospects of riding a Pivot and liking it. I started looking at aluminum Giant Trances, and now look at me. Have to keep budgetary discipline here. I do like that the Mach 5.5 is future-proofed for Fox Live because it sounds like that is coming soon. But there will probably be 5 other standards that come and go by then anyway.
Pivot is definitely on the high side...but in my opinion your best tool is a good mechanic. Buy what you can afford and find a guy that can tune it to perfection...
 
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