Bike shop in Kashgar?

Hi Peter,
Yes, I was told of a Giant bicycle shop in Kashgar. It's on the road that runs south of Dong Lake in the southeast part of town .

I wouldn't count on presta tubes as they are rare in China, however I did get some in Chengdu at the Che Buru Zixing bike shop (the owner speaks English); see http://bikechina.com/cdbikeshopmap.html</a> for contact details. I also got better-than-average Chinese tires and cables there. You might be able to arrange for the shop to mail the parts to you in Kashgar. If you can afford the costs and need top-end gear, then having the stuff sent from home will be best. I had two parcels sent to me in China without any customs fee. In Kashgar, I arranged by e-mail for a travel agent to let me use his address for receiving a parcel.

Happy trails, --Bill

There are now two bike shops carrying better parts/components. There is the Giant shop noted in the post above and a Merida Shop not far from the Giant shop. Both are near Dong Hu (East Lake). I'd have to check at the Giant shop for presta-valved tubes (1.75 or 2.1 inch?). Cables and housing should be a no-brainer there, but I haven't had a need since I returned here. If you send me a "needs" list, I will check for you. Been meaning to go by the Giant shop and take another look. I've only been in there once in the last couple of months, but they appeared to be pretty well stocked up on spare parts.

Many thanks. My tyres are 26x 2.00 - any 26 inch presta tube is generally fine. One problem however is that my rims raise up in the centre and require long valves - about 2 inches - some presta valves are only about 1 inch or 1.5 inch, which makes it very hard to get the pump sufficiently over to put air in. If there is a Giant or Merida shop, they should have decent enough tyres to last through to Europe. Good info to know, thanks, Peter

I was in the Kashgar Giant shop last week. They are well stocked with Shimano parts (including XT, XTR level). They'll have your presta and cables for sure.
I'm helping them set up an account with Schwalbe so they can carry Marathon XR's. It should happen by the end of May.

That's great news, particularly about the Marathon XRs - i'll be in Kashgar in June. I did hear of a tourer picking up some XRs in Kashgar before, but said they were copies, so i hope these are the originals?

They'll be the real deal. I'll post here when the deal goes through.

Get valve extenders. That way you'll be able to use any presta tube no matter how short the valve. Or do what I've done on my tourer and drill the rims to take Schraeder valves.

Valve extenders? Never heard about them. Considering I can't get presta valves here in India it seems unlikely that I'd be able to get extenders for them.

How about good 26" rims? I would be looking for 32-spoke double-butted ones (Exal SP19, Alesa Explorer, Rigida Sputnik or even Chinese of same construction) . Any chances to find something like that in Kashgar?