Berkeley Bikes & Skateboards

Winston is a great mechanic. He is extremely knowledgable and is fluent in working on a wide variety of bikes, old and new. He helped me fix up an old bike of mine that needed years of back maintenance — hub, bottom bracket, and headset overhauls, wheel truing, and some custom frame work to install a rear rack on my bike’s unusual mounting points.
He was happy to discuss options and explain exactly what he personally thought needed fixing, taking care to be up front about cost at every turn.

So good. So glad I came here. Winston is so solid and cool, and he really works hard to keep the price down, while giving great recommendations for whatever you need. I’ve been off my bike for half a year due to an injury, and am ready to start commuting by bike again. I’m no racer, and ride a bike more like the way people do in most of the rest of the world, casually and for utility, yet still with a great regard for having fun and a some regard for safety. I’m wearing jeans and a work shirt, not spandex, but I have a reflected strap to keep my pants leg from flapping into my chain. You know, the semi-​casual of bicycling.
My bike is 14 years old, and was nice at the time. Never changed the tires, just patched a tube or two. My shifter was the first thing that I couldn’t fix with a curse, a kick, some lube, and maybe banging a wrench on something. Getting a new shifter was really a bit too far into bike repair land for me and my wrench bang curse lubing repair skills, so I shopped Unilocal to find a good local bike repair place. I’m not sure why this doesn’t show up under ‘Bike Maintenance,’ but that’s what I’m getting.
I asked Winston what else I could do for my bike given my situation. He looked at the tires and said, «that one’s damaged, and about to blow.» I knew it, and asked about replacing them. He checked out the front tire, exactly as old as the back, and said that it still had some life in it! He was trying to save me money instead of upselling. I went all out, bought two tires anyway, some new lights, and asked for the whole package regarding a tune up. My bike is going to be like new! Half of it’s original parts are still perfect, like the frame and gears and cranks. Some parts are pretty good — like my brakes. And some were about ready for an update. I’m gonna have a new chain, new lights, new tires, my wheels will be true, they’ll last another decade and a half. I’m so excited!

I haven’t reviewed this place before? I’m ashamed of myself! Today was not the first time I’ve had a bike tweaked here, and it won’t be the last.
I think his name is Winston, he is a sweet soul, super helpful, he’ll fix your bike up. What more can you ask?
Give him a tip, help his growing small business, support local.

Winston has helped me a ton. I’ve been upgrading my road bike with better equipment over the years and he’s done a beautiful job, at a rate I can afford! He’s always figuring out ways to make things run smoother and never minds when I come back for minor adjustments. He’s great to talk to as well!

Great service, excellent work and very good price. We took our bike inner tube to be replaced and had immediate service and had the job done quickly. We will go back and highly recommend Berkeley Bikes and Skateboards.

This is my go to spot. Winston is super friendly and personable. As many others have said, he does a great job of explaining bike issues to you — even if you are clueless. They do HIGH quality repair work with great attention to detail, too. Highly recommended.

My back brakes locked up on me in my way to work, found this shop on Unilocal and Winston was great. He had my bike road ready within the hour. I’ll definitely will be back.

I usually only Unilocal eateries, but have to give a special shout out to Berkeley bikes and Skates. Visited Berkeley a couple of weeks ago, and popped a spoke on my 70’s Schwinn Suburban. Winston: kept the shop open late to get me rollin; tracked down spokes he didn’t have, and gave me a few extra spokes on my way out as spares. No wonder it’s a Five Star spot. Businesses, take note. It’s called Customer Service! I’ll be back in the fall to visit, and make a purchase.

Winston is awesome, I have been getting my bike tuned up here annually since it opened. I have gone to several different different bike shops for tune ups over the last 20 years. Although I have not had problems with the other shops, Winston’s works stands out. It’s the closest shop to my house, but that is not why I go here. His work is great. He has great advice, explains everything, offers options but never up-​sells. Tiny shop, high quality service. He cut his teeth at a major bike manufacturer, he knows what he is doing. He is also very accommodating for last minute emergency fixes.

I’m just going to pile on here and agree with everyone else… Winston is Terrific! I brought in my bike that had been sitting out for an entire rainy and snowy season on the east coast. With the locked up brakes and rust everywhere, my husband was sure this bike was a goner. I took this heap to Winston and he did magic! The bike was in for a tune up… he mentioned that he would take his time checking it over and he recommended some fixes. In the end it was less than $ 150 (which was what he quoted me before the work), and the topper is that the bike rides even better than when I bought it new! Highly recommend for superb service!

You guys. I joined Unilocal just so I could leave this review — this shop is THAT good.
I’m a TOTAL bike newbie, and Winston was extremely nice to me, and went above and beyond anything I could expect (yes, even beyond my expectations after reading all the other awesome reviews). He was patient, and had no problem explaining really dumb stuff to me, with no condescension whatsoever.
Look no further, this is your bike shop in Albany.

My goto bike shop. Winston is always helpful and very reasonable. It’s pretty much catty corner to REI, and while I like the REI bike shop, I can just show up here and Winston will take care of me without an appointment. Winston has done numerous tune ups and repairs for me and I’ve never been disappointed.

Winston sold me a bike a couple of months ago that I’m extremely happy with. I very nearly bought a Public bike at one of their warehouse sales, but ended up wanting something less expensive and more low profile. I should mention that I’m the newest bike rider ever, and know next to nothing about owning and caring for a bike.
Winston had exactly what I was looking for, at the super cheap price that I wanted. But what really won me over is that a week or so later, when the chain came off my bike and I took it in thinking it was seriously broken, he reset the chain for free, gave me some great tips for how NOT to have the chain fall off again, and then patiently showed me how to work the quick releases on my bike until we were both confident that I could do it myself. My whole visit took somewhere around 45 minutes and he refused to charge me anything.
It’s obvious to me that Winston really cares about customer service, is passionate about bikes, and loves what he does each day. I can’t recommend this place enough.

This is such a great small repair stop … Winston could not be more interested in bikes and people and life, it’s such a fine ambling shop, if you are in a hurry go to Mikes Bikes, this is a great slow find…

Awesome shop. Awesome owner.
I dropped my bike off yesterday (he wasn’t even open but let me come by) and picked it up today. I got a tune-​up, new tires and he even replaced some brake cables that had seen better days.
Now my bike is riding perfectly smooth and I couldn’t be happier.
¹⁰⁄₁₀ I will most def be comin back here. ^_^

Gotta give it to Winston… the Buddha of Bikes. He did a fantastic job tuning up my bike and I always use his shop to rent when friends come to visit.

Winston is extremely helpful and knowledgeable! I highly recommend their work.

We came into town to see family and decided to rent some bikes. This little bike shop is somewhat hidden but worth the effort to find. The very likeable owner clearly has tremendous expertise and experience. He took great care to provide excellent service to everyone who entered his shop. A great find!

Winston is an awesome guy and deserves every one of the great reviews he has here. He may not have the huge flashy shop some other places have, but you might be surprised at what he has in stock. Winston is honest and nice, and usually is able to get things done very quickly. SUPPORT YOUR LOCAL BUSINESSES!

People LOVE him on Unilocal!And I can see why. Took my bike for a much needed tune-​up a week ago, and it came back better than new. Price was reasonable too.
Thanks Winston! I woud have written this review a week ago, but I have been busy riding my bike!