I grew up out in Victoria, the “cycling capital of Canada”. I just read about a new bike shop that has opened in their downtown – Capital City Cycles. There was an article in Momentum magazine about the shop.
They have a blog here, which shows some of the gorgeous bikes they sell – custom fixed gears, Felt bikes, as well as the Euro line of Asama bikes – which are low-priced dutch-style bikes from Vancouver.
They also seem to have a coffee shop in their bike shop, as they invite you to come in for a coffee, not just to check out the bikes (speaking of coffee, I also found out that Felt makes a coffee cup holder for your handlebars). They are also arranging a bunch of races: sprints, alleycats, a 200 lap relay, and a couple “monster drags” around downtown. Their goal with the races: “to get everyone out on bikes, as often as possible, and to really get a solid scene going on”.
Wouldn’t it be great if we had a downtown bike shop? Currently anyone living downtown has to head to Sandwich – which isn’t an easy task if you’ve got a bike that needs repairs. Wouldn’t it be great if that downtown bike shop also included a coffee shop as well, so cyclists could interact (rather than just a wave as you pass each other)? Wouldn’t it be great if we had someone organizing races to build a scene in Windsor?
That’s always been a dream of mine, but I would have to win the lottery or know someone who owns the shop and work for them. I keep hoping that more and more bike lanes will be created. Also that more bike parking will be provided. That parents will buy their children bicycles and go riding with them. So far it feels like there’s some sort of disconnect in this city with bicycles and the youth.
The shop that used to be downtown Tri-Sport moved out some years ago, relocating to next to Devonshire Mall. Always seemed a poor move and they are no longer there. I found them expensive and overly “race” oriented. But that’s most likely just me.
Time for OGEC to move back closer to the river?
Great Idea, but the square footage price dowtown is expensive, a small repair oriented satellite shop at around 1000SQ FT shop would interet me, and coffee oh yeah,I will learn to make all those little swirls on top,lol. I am interested, any got ideas for a location.let me know.
jason