Hey cool to see this post. Definitely a lot of riding around Chengdu both mountain and road. Here are a few answers:
–Not really. I mostly do my own wrenching. If you aren’t a very experienced mechanic maybe PM me or something. I wouldn’t trust most shops here with my bikes.
–Kind of same as above, there are some but there spare parts are generally limited (tubes, cables, brake pads are no problem). taobao.com is usually the best bet for other stuff.
–Not that I know of but I am sure there are some. There are enough people riding here that there must be although probably more road oriented than mountain. Or riding mountain bikes on the road, that seems to be most popular.
–There are trails outside the city in the hills and farmland. Usually to ride them it is a whole day out of the city so if I have a day I ride my mountain bike if I only have a morning or afternoon I just do a road ride near the city. If you get to Chengdu and want to ride some trails PM me and we can set up a time to ride.
–Yes and no. The south seems to be better and they are building some out near 3rd ring road in the southeast. It’s usually best to get out of the city and ride countryside roads which is pretty easy to do. Bring heavier wheels/tires, I run old OpenPro rims and 25 hard-case tires.
Hope that helps. Would also like to hear from other people about there experiences.