Shop Tour - Pedalspot (USJ 10/Taipan)

Located in Taipan, the Pedalspot bicycle store carries a wide range of bicycles to cater for the beginner cyclist all the way up to a full-blown pro, provided you have the money to match. They have a branch in Petaling Jaya as well as 2 more branches in Kuala Lumpur. However, the one I visited was the Taipan branch.

One can't be blamed if one has driven around Taipan and missed the store before as Taipan is essentially 50% traffic, 40% signboards and 10% shops. But with a little focus and concentration, the store shouldn't be too hard to find. Here's a link to their Facebook page, Instagram, website and here's a link to their location via Google Maps. 

Upon entering the store, a sense of professionalism can be felt as the bikes and accessories are very neatly displayed for customers to see.

A beautiful Cipollini sits on a shelf to your right while a stunning row of Merida Reactos sit on the floor not too far away.

On the left, a bike purist will appreciate the stunning Colnago C60 frames, made via their tried and true lugs and tubes design. Despite being a fan of more aerodynamically advantageous bikes, the C60 is definitely an exceptional dream bike of mine.

Folding bike enthusiasts out there will be familiar with the Brompton brand and their reputation when it comes to these portable ponies. Personally, I'd get one myself if finances allowed it. when combined with the convenience of the LRT or monorail, who'd ever need a car anymore?

As you go deeper into the store, you'll come across some colourful Cipollini frames sitting above the main counter along with other accessories. 

Behind the counter, you'll find all the gear, tools and accessories any cyclist will ever need. from mini pumps and saddle bags to cycling computers and gloves. The store is about as complete as can be.

Most bike stores I've been to generally carry Shimano groupsets, so its nice to see a store with something different once in awhile. This store is one of the few official distributors of SRAM in the country. I personally have never riden a bike, both road and mountain, with a groupset other than Shimano.

As I mentioned at the start, this store is more than capable of catering to amateur professionals with the cash to spare. Hence it's no surprise to find the range topping SRAM eTAP groupset on sale.

 Apart from that, you'll find other tiers of SRAM groupsets along with some Ceramic Speed products and a power meter or two within the glass counter, all signs pointing to this store being anything other than a small fry.

Ceramic Speed Jockey wheels for those marginal gains

Quarq powermeter

Moving onto bikes, the store is an authorised distributor of Merida, Colnago, Bianchi and a couple of other major bike brands to name a few, with their most extensive line being Meridas. From Merida 100s to top of the range team-edition Reactos, a bike to suit every level of rider. They even have a handful of mountain bikes, mainly Merida too of course.

An interesting bike that caught my eye while I was strolling through the store was this Speed X Leopard bike. For those of you who don't know, Speed X is a company out of China and turned heads when their pioneer bikes, the Speed X Leopard and Leopard Pro broke records on Kickstarter for a bike-related project, ranking in the top 50 Kickstarter campaigns of all time.

Dubbed a 'smart' bike, the bikes feature composite frames with full internal cable routing, full Shimano drivetrains, carbon wheels, and a variation of the SpeedForce stem, called ‘Smart Control’. Pricing for the 105-equipped Leopard and Ultegra Di2-equiped Leopard Pro was US$1,499 and US$2,499 respectively. You'd be commended for pulling the trigger on these bikes for their prices alone. But what really sets them apart is their integrated cycling computer which measures everything short of power.

Moving on, as I mentioned before, the store does sell Colnagos but unfortunately I am no expert on the brand. So, apart from their flagship C60 and their beautiful Concept below, I don't know of any other models by them. If you're interested in a particular model, perhaps give them a ring? I saw a couple of Colnago cyclocross bikes too.

The Ferrari of bicycles

Campag of course, what else would you want to put on such an Italian bike?

Ernesto Colnago

 

Beautiful one piece bar-and-stem, carbon fiber of course

Simpler Colnagos, for us mere mortals

All the way at the rear of the store is their work area, a little cluttered but what's that saying about brilliant minds? 

They also have a variety of MET and Mavic products for sale, that includes Mavic wheels, shoes and helmets.

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Keeping to the theme of pro-level gear, we'll zipp (hehe) on over to aero wheels. Most aero heads will be familiar with the Zipp brand and their rather effective marketing strategy. whether you buy into the whole 'aero is everything' craze or not, you can't deny their success as far as reach goes. they're probably one of the first brands people think of us far as aero wheels are concerned. in the store, you'll find some 303s, 404s, even the wallet-hurting Zipp 808.

At the time of writing this post, the new sawtooth style 454s have been released but when I visited the store in September, they had yet to be announced so I couldn't ask the store attendants whether or not they'll be bringing a pair in. however, looking at how extensive their range of products is, I wouldn't be surprised to see a set or two sometime next year on display.

Apart from wheels, you'll find some Zipp handlebars too.

Apart from Merida and Colnago, they carry a good range of Wilier bikes too.

Roads and folders aside, they've got a few mountain bikes as well as mountain bike-related equipment for sale too but they're definitely overshadowed by their more tarmac-oriented brethren.

That's about it. A rather short post on the store. It's not the biggest bike store I've been to, but it's no less professional than some of the best. To be honest, this was the second ever store I visited to do an overview on so I was still quite inexperienced at the time as far as questions to ask and what to look out for, which is why this post might not be as extensive as the posts in the Treknology 3 or Specialized PJ stores. I'd highly recommend stopping by if you're in the market for a Merida or Wilier or anything else I've mentioned before, they drive very competitive prices. 

That's about it for now, thanks for reading! As always, feel free to leave any and all comments or questions in the comment section down below and I'll try my best to get back to you.