Aquarian at Bay Bikes

Brought my 76 year old mother into Bay Bikes for a bike rack. Frank helped us and went above and beyond the call of duty. He was so helpful, informative and generous. I would highly recommend Frank and Bay bikes.

I have never had a bike serviced here. This review is based on customer service. I have a beach cruiser that is rusty and has seen better days. My boyfriend has been telling me I need a better bike for a while now, but I didn’t want to believe him. It was time. We went here to get a feel for something new. We were immediately helped by a lady (totally forget her name; I’m horrible with them) who was very informative. She did not oversell anything. She was very honest, showed me exactly what I was looking for and introduced me to my new obsession: the Specialized Vita. OBSESSED!!! (Side note: we went to several other bike shops in the area and tried other makes). I have to be honest, I ended up getting super lucky and found the bike a few months old on Craigslist, but I would 100% spend money here for accessories and tuneups and future bikes for that matter. This being my first real bike, I was willing to cut corners while I learn what I’m doing. Bottom line– Such a great local shop! Amazing staff and energy!

My boyfriend and I stopped into the Bay Bikes in downtown Monterrey last weekend in between legs of our bike journey. Evan was extremely helpful and open to sharing his knowledge and expertise with us. He educated us on different bike seats, bike shorts, and other gear that would make our ride more comfortable. He also helped fix my handle bar tape, dérailleur, and shoes. We were very impressed by the service and overall experience at the shop!

Horrible dishonest experience with repairs. Skip the reviews from tourists (this is Monterey) Check out the reviews from the locals. HORRIBLE
Last week I bought a brand new Schwinn discovery men hybrid. I had some squeaking at the rear wheel so I took it to the shop for repair. After 15 minutes the guy told me it just needed some tightening but I was convinced. He offered to leave for a couple of days for a 60 $ tune up. I could tell he was already trying to sell me nonsense. He said they will offer me military discount too. I agreed just to be sure the bike will be fine. Today I went to pick it up. I couldn’t tell any difference and the guy gave me a bill for 70 $?? I asked him why is it more and he said they needed to adjust the front breaks!!! I asked him (his name with Daryn) then what the 60 $ tune is for he just kept mumbling crap. When I insisted he went to ask someone called Robin who apparently was the bike builder, he started loudly and rudely to say that the 60 $ don’t include new bikes! He was a total $#@$@. I just wanted to get out of the store so when I agreed to pay I asked for my military discount and the guy told me there is none!!! I just paid to get out of that place with the intention to spread the word out in all of the military base near by.
On my way home and after 2 miles guess what?! Flat torn front tire.
I have been cheated, lied to and scammed in this store. I feel very very infuriated. I’m attaching photos of the tire and the receipt. I will go back tomorrow and let you know what happened. BEWARE!

My made an appointment @ Bay for a maintenance check for my 2008 Felt Café 24 bike for the following Tuesday, but I got a flat tire today. Bay Bikes took my bike in, and not only fixed the flat, but did the maintenance check. Thank you, Robin! Great location, great store!

I purchased a specialized rockhopper-​29er from them. Evan, the salesman was very professional, and product savvy. More importantly he was courteous and patient. Anyways, returned he bike a couple days later, as I heard about their (ambassador) program, and exchanged it for a Crave. The manager (Frank??) not sure what his name was, but he made the process painless. Great team, I will be coming to them for parts, service and maybe a second bike.

I’ve had numerous interactions with Bay Bikes during the two years I lived in Monterey (and a few since I moved away). Unfortunately, most of those interactions have left me feeling ambivalent about the shop, if not displeased.
I’ve been a serious cyclist for the past 8 years and visited scores of bike shops across the country and around the world. I’ve also worked in several shops. Thus, I’m surprised that Bay Bikes offers such consistently poor customer service, considering that Monterey is a world-​class cycling destination.
The only explanation I can think of is that the shop derives the vast majority of its revenue from tourists (i.e. bike rentals) who spend money and leave, so the management feels no need to cultivate relationships with its customers.
Additionally, Monterey is a high-​income area where many residents possess more dollars than sense. Fools and their money are easily parted. In contrast, savvy locals who dare to ask questions are met with a surly reception.
If you call the shop, expect to be put on hold, often repeatedly. If you go in hoping to purchase something minor, like a missing bolt, expect to be over-​charged. If you apply for a job, even if you have prior shop experience, expect never to hear back, unless you are a high-​school student willing to work for minimum wage.
For an affordable, friendlier option, go to Peninsula Bike Works. For serious racers looking for pro quality service, go to Forest Hill Bike Shop.

My wife and I ordered bikes just under a week ago to the tune of about $ 2k. We were told by the sales rep that it would take 2 – 14 days tops, and that if anything changed they would call us. I called to check on the order this afternoon and was told that someone was supposed to call me but never did, because my bike was never in stock at Specialized when I paid for it. The person on the phone told me that someone would call me back shortly about the bikes.
After an hour and a half, I called back myself, only to be told that they had taken my money and then sat on the paperwork long enough that the bike-​originally in stock on the computer-​was sold before they processed my order properly. My wife and I were now looking at «early April» before we’d see our bikes. The person I spoke with the second time seemed completely oblivious as I why this might be viewed as negative on our part as customers.
We decided to get our money back and try REI instead. Then another customer came in, and the rep helping us dropped what he was doing and addressed the other customer first. After that, he tried to convince me to try something different that was available. That was definitely the point of no return. We really like supporting local businesses, but this one doesn’t seem concerned with supporting us as customers.

Super-​duper helpful! Very excited about getting a new bike. With enthusiasm, expert counsel on the sale. It’s good to know buying a bike is not folly here.

Rude!.. Rude!.. Rude… Three sales persons were standing behind the counter doing nothing but staring at us as my friend and I attempted to air up the tires in one of our bikes. It was apparent that we were having difficulty and instead of offering help., they asked us to move out of the door way as we were setting off the sensor !!, we did say we were there to buy a bike lock. Instead of showing us where they were located. They nodded with their head and said.“over there”. I asked if one of them could help with the airing of the tires… It was like crickets…, we ended up not giving them out business !., very poor customer service !!!
I will never step foot in that shop again. And I’m a local !

Awesome customer service and great selection!!!
A knowledgeable tech repaired my bike while I waited.

Everyone was super nice and helpful! I am extremely grateful that they were able to fit me in as a walk-​in. Had I not brought my bike in, I would never have known I had frayed wires and that my front wheel was about to fall off. Thank you so much and I will definitely be back for my future tune-​ups!

Lame Customer Service. We couldn’t even give them $ 1,400 for a bike. Too busy I guess. Won’t go back. Sales commission bye byeo!!!

This is a bit long but I think worth the time for you to read this, if you want to get a sense of their responsive service to my predicament.
I was doing a rather ambitious ride from Santa Cruz to Los Angeles mostly along the PCH in the dead of winter, i.e. limited daylight, on my Giant TCR after having just spent about $ 400 in service and parts at a reputable shop in Palo Alto.
Early afternoon around Marina I lost my right up shifter and so was stuck in the rear granny cog — something I explicitly mentioned had been a problem to the Palo Alto shop, yet occurred again essentially on the ride immediately after getting all this work done.
I rode spinning my wheels and making poor progress to a bike shop on Del Monte (will go unnamed), which diagnosed that it was not recoverable and would need the right shifter replaced. Furthermore they may need to order the part, but even if they had it would take until just before closing, i.e. after dark. I rode on to the next shop which was Bay Bikes.
I immediately spoke with Rob behind the bar-​like counter in the open service area, which is pretty to cool to see them work in plain sight. Though he mentioned this was a bad day for walk-​ins, he saw my expression and started to take a look at the shifter. Within half an hour he was able to recover it partially, but the up shifting was not reliable and may fail again — not a good prospect heading into Big Sur. He showed me some plastic shavings from inside the Dura Ace shifter which may indicative of fraying of an internal part and was probably responsible for the initial failure.
He concluded like the previous shop that the shifter should be replaced but employed the resourcefulness to look around the shop for a 9-​speed shifter (somewhat rare these days) and extracted a Sora from a floor bike to put onto mine. He tuned it back up, and for the rest of the ride it shifted beautifully.
I appreciated his effort especially since I got the sense he was getting backed up on his workload — another fellow even walked in to check on his bike and Rob explained that I’m on a tour and had this problem that he’s fixing, and the guy was cool with it.
As for the price, though they had me over a barrel, Rob charged for 1 ½ hrs for labor which is at least how long he worked on it, and the replacement cost for the right shifter — both very reasonable. I even bought lights since I ended up riding about 3 hrs in pitch dark through Big Sur to reach my prepaid hotel reservation.
I’ll refrain from writing less than positive reviews of my experience with the other two aforementioned shops but instead shed light on a very positive experience at Bay Bikes and with Rob who exhibited a can-​do attitude and timely responsiveness to a very needy situation.

Could’ve been the fact that I showed up first thing in the morning they were not overly friendly kind of quiet I tried to talk with them converse a little but would get very simple one-​liner responses.

I have done a purchase and rental at this location and while the do have friendly and helpful staff and a decent selection, their prices are a bit high and much of their stock is at the (flagship?) bike store in Carmel. It seemed like most everything we wanted was available at their other store. which they invited us to drive over to or said they would order it and have it the next day. that gets frustrating when it is the 3^rd or 4^th time you ask for something. or they suggest something, but don’t actually have it to look at or buy. I saw many items (such as the combo cable lock and lighting) were overpriced. exact same lock was $ 22 here and $ 17 at WalMart. Their prices were on-​par or just a bit above those I found at REI,
One thing that ticked me off, when looking at the purchase receipt. they charged us $ 10 for the kickstand that was ON the bike. It is pretty CS to charge me $ 10 for a ~$ 5 (their cost) kickstand. why not charge me for the seat, handlebars, grips, brakes… tires? It was displayed as-​is and had a price tag hanging on it. charging for installed parts, is BS in my book. Charging me $ 10 for a basic kickstand that (exact same) sells for $ 7 at REI, its REALLY B.S.
As for my rental experience. meh. I tried to book a rental online and it would not take my date («Invalid Date» error). It did NOT say anywhere that their system won’t allow online bookings within 24 hours. which would have been quite informative and helpful. I called their Cannery Row rental shop (during business hours) to enquire and no one would answer. so I left a VM message requesting a call back and DID NOT GET A CALL BACK (ever). Very shoddy.
I ended up doing a walk-​in rental at this location and the bike was nice (a 1 year old Electra Townie 21 spd. cruiser). It was well maintained and the rental paperwork went quickly and smoothly. They include a convenient handlebar pouch with their (HEY! I’m a) BAY BIKES (renter!) logo on it. They also offered a decent combo cable lock for free. My only gripe about the bike is, the kickstand was VERY stiff and quite difficult to put up. A small gripe and better than the alternative (one that does not stay down), I guess.
I would go here again for purchase, rental and for any needed service. Their service area is right up front (which I like, vs. being hidden in a dark area in back) and looks to be well equipped and staffed with competent professionals.

My friend was visiting from out of town and brought in his bike to ride the bike path. Anyway, he was experiencing problems with his bike so we took it into Aquarian at Bay Bikes. Fast Frank was working and willing to help us out short notice. He gave us great service and was very helpful. In the past I purchased a Specialized Roubaix Elite from this store as well. Aquarian at Bay Bikes has always been very good to me. Thank you!

Great shop, even better service.
Friendly staff.
Fast Frank is the man!

They currently have a cycling shoes sale. Got $ 150 shoes at 45% off for $ 88.

We rented bikes for an afternoon of riding around the coast in Monterey County. I think this is the best way to see the coast… you can stop whenever you want, you get fresh sea air, and it’s fun!
A full day rental will run you over $ 30…a little pricey, especially for just a cruiser bike, but considering the Aquarium costs more than that, I guess it’s worth it. If you’re looking for something with more power (a more damage to your wallet), head on over to their shop on Cannery Row for mountain bikes, tandems, and Surreys!
We were provided with a lock big enough for two bikes, and a hand pump and extra tire tube just in case (didn’t need the tube, but took advantage of the pump.)
My boyfriends bike chain fell off a couple times, but it was easily fixed.
They’ll give you a couple suggested routes if you ask, but be sure they don’t include a lot of hills since those cruisers make it a bit tough…
Overall, a terrific use of the day!