I can’t think of another week this big for Seattle bike shops. Back Alley Bike Repair opened yesterday in Pioneer Square, Recycled Cycles opens it’s Fremont location today and Fremont’s Cascade Bicycle Studio is transitions to regular retail open hours tomorrow. Meanwhile, Bike Works is undergoing a major renovation to their shop, which should provide more elbow room for shoppers in their cozy Columbia City space.
Back Alley Bike Repair
(open Monday-Friday: 9 – 6)
Yesterday, Back Alley Bike Repair in Pioneer Square opened its doors. Out of the ashes of the once-great Bike Port/JRA partnership comes a Nord Alley bike shop run by the charismatic and excited Ben Rainbow.
Posted to the Back Alley Facebook page:
Recycled Cycles Fremont
(open Monday – Friday: 10-7, Saturday and Sunday 10-6)
Recycled Cycles opened the doors of its Fremont location today at 10 a.m. The new shop is attached to their longtime warehouse and is slightly smaller than their University District location.
Cascade Bicycle Studio
(open Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday: 11am to 7pm, Saturday: 10am to 5pm)
Fremont’s high-end custom bike builders Cascade Bicycle Studio is stepping things up by holding open hours starting Thursday. To celebrate, CBS is holding an all-day party tomorrow complete with a raffle.
From CBS:
We are pleased to announce our transition to open retail hours starting Thursday, February 16th. Our Studio hours will be:
Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday: 11am to 7pm
Saturday: 10am to 5pm
Come join us for an opening party this Thursday, all day! We’ll be doing a raffle on the hour, every hour from 11 am to 9 pm that day.
Is Fremont now the center of Seattle’s bike universe?
This means in just one week, Fremont has emerged as the clear bike shop center of Seattle with five bike shops (Wright Bros, Free Range, CBS, Recycled and Speedy Reedy) in just a 15-block stretch, all within a few blocks of the Burke-Gilman Trail. Mad Fiber makes its world-famous high-end carbon wheels in the old Essential Baking factory, and the Google team that lead the Google Maps bike directions project is based in the company’s Fremont offices. And, of course, there’s Fremont’s iconic Solstice naked bike ride (maybe NSFW).
Meanwhile, Fremont Brewing has emerged as a favorite bicycle destination (it’s bike rack is nearly always full) and Fremont Coffee has had a big bicycling clientele for years. And let’s not forget Theo Chocolate’s awesome Bicycle Benefits. You can begin to see the power of the bicycle economy. When people feel safe biking somewhere, local businesses start making efforts to encourage biking, then more people bike, and on and on…
Comments
12 responses to “Seattle’s bicycle economy is booming: Back Alley, Recycled Cycles and Cascade Bicycle Studio open doors”
I’d focus on the Burke-Gilman trail being the bike-shop corridor of Seattle: In addition to the shops above you’ll find Electric Vehicles NW, Bikesport, Dutch Bike Company, Second Ascent, Rosebud Bicycle Builds, Counterbalance bicycles, Bob’s Bike & Board, Bicycle Center, and probably several that I don’t recall… (Montlake Bike shop is close too although not directly on the Burke-Gilman. I regularly catch a bus from Bellevue and get dropped off at the UW where I ride to shops along this corridor.
Bob’s Bike and Board moved recently!! His shop is now on University Way NE and 52nd, just a short side pedal from Ravenna if that’s a part of your commute. Visited Bob the other day after learning this, and I like his new location. The shop is smaller than his old store off 45/Sand Point, which gives it a much more traditional shop atmosphere. Bob had a number of ideas for the place; like an outside repair stand for those who wanted to work on their bikes themselves, a stronger focus on repair with faster turn-around times than any of his competitors, not to mention lower cost repair services, and he can still order me anything I want. That was good news to me.
I enjoyed my few minutes at the new shop, and watching people come through the door one after the other. Glad to see his devoted customers followed him to the new store, I did.
Very friendly, knowledgeable and gives you the time of day. Bobs is one of the best bike shops I’ve done business with, my first choice in town.
Yes! I stopped in the other day. Great little shop. Those couple blocks of Roosevelt have three bike shops, which probably makes it bike shop center #2 in the city. It’s also vegan row. Seems like the vegan restaurants and the bike shops should pool their money and brand the blocks as such. If you knew nothing about the shops or restaurants on the block, you might go right past everything and not even notice how unique that little district actually is…
My wife and I call it “Little Vega”. I think that should definitely catch on.
Many congratulations to the respective shops on opening up! Maybe Fremont is the new center, I vote for Wright Bros. being the hub! The rest can be spokes in the wheel…just kidding, always had great service from Charles and co. there so I had to give them a big shout out.
Three bike shops now on Stone Way: Speedy Reedy for the zoom bike crowd, Recycled Cycles Part Two for urban cruising, and Big Tree Bikes at the top of the hill, appropriately, for mountain biking.
Coming Soon, a new Bike tour for Fremont and expanding from Denny Park to Ballard.
This project will install 25- 11” X 17” Stainless Steel plaques through the greater Fremontneighborhood along with supporting online web based information in a self-guided Walking/Bike tour. This project will extend and connect existing plaques in the South Lake Union and Ballard neighborhoods. This missing link, in Fremont, will create an almost 10 mile tour of historic plaques.
Any questions [email protected]
Coming Soon, a new Bike tour for Fremont and expanding from Denny Park to Ballard.
This project will install 25- 11” X 17” Stainless Steel plaques through the greater Fremontneighborhood along with supporting online web based information in a self-guided Walking/Bike tour. This project will extend and connect existing plaques in the South Lake Union and Ballard neighborhoods. This missing link, in Fremont, will create an almost 10 mile tour of historic plaques.
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