[QUOTE=nlerner;22099838]California Bikes, Palo Alto, CA, 1986-1989: Small, family-owned shop where I did a bit of everything while I was getting my master’s degree at San Jose State. It’s where I learned to overhaul Sturmey Archer 3-speed hubs and dread when someone would bring in a Firenze for repair. The first year or two we actually patched flatted tubes for $5 while the customer waited. Carried mid-level Nishikis and one or two other brands that I don’t remember. They had just about gone out of business when I left after completing my degree, and the owner, Fred Morse, moved to Napa, where he became a painter/artist.
I worked at the same shop a little more than a decade before you did while I was going to school at Foothill JC. The shop then was run by Fritz' parents, Freddy and Helen, and Fritz and Virginia had just gotten married. I don't claim to have been a competent mechanic, Freddy and Fritz did all the challenging work, I did assembly and fixed a sh**load of flats. In the 70s the shop was a Raleigh dealer and also sold Gitane, Centurion, Nishiki, and the occasional Zeus. With the likes of Cupertino Bike Shop and Sugden & Lynch just minutes away, Freddy largely just avoided the high-end market - Stanford students, faculty and Palo Alto suburbanites were his bread & butter. The entire Morse family was very good to me and for that I am grateful.
I knew the Garner twins when they had the bike shop in South Palo Alto, my wife and three kids all rode bikes that were purchased there, as the shop is just a few blocks from my house. Who knows, we may have met during the time you worked there?