Loving the Local Bike Shop

Cycling Tips ran a piece recently on ten very cool bike shops. Yep, they’re pretty cool, but debate rages in the comments about the inclusion of two Melbourne shops and no Sydney places (or anywhere else in Australia for that matter). With that topic floating around in my mind I toddled off to my local cool bike shop – Atelier De Velo in Sydney’s CBD.

AdV is a very nice space indeed. Spacious and airy, with a coffee counter at the back looking out onto a little courtyard area (ex-London folk like me would call it a mews, actually), an unsegregated workshop space overlooked by a fantastic mural, plenty of vintage and modern kit to drool over, a wall so full of trick bikes that they spill out into two tiers and what’s more, downstairs is a whiskey bar (The Baxter) for when the bike shop closes and you need a little something extra. OK, so The Baxter isn’t actually part of the same business, but let’s face it, it shares a pretty cool space with Atelier. What’s more, the service is first rate. And an example of that came by during my visit today.

My mission, today, was to acquire a bit of energy food for this weekend’s Convict 100. While I was there, I figured I’d pick the brains of the guys about hydration and nutrition. I’m trying to move away from carrying a Camelbak in endurance races, having been spoiled by lap racing in the Shimano MTB GP series. It’s just nicer to ride unburdened, and that’s easy in lap races. But long marathons are a different matter.

The problem I of course have is that I currently ride a dual-suspension BMC Speedfox SF29 and as a result only have one bottle cage. Most 100km races I’ve done have three aid stations, meaning I’d have to make a single bottle stretch to 25+km – a big ask if riding hard – or find a way to carry a second bidon along with the other essentials of a long MTB race (toolkit, food, water, electrolyte tabs). That’s some full jersey pockets, and full jersey pockets are worse than the camelbak.

A triathlon-style rail-mount is too likely to lose bottles over rough ground, but Chris knew what I was looking for, even if I didn’t.

“Go down the road to the [redacted] dealer and see if they have a pair of [brand] seatpost mount rings. I’ve got a pair and they rock”, said he. “They should fit your seatpin, which is what, 31.8?”

Yep, the LBS sent me to a competitor because they knew exactly what I needed. Customer needs came first and I applauded inwardly (and called back in for another coffee later) when the dealer in question came up with the goods. And, of course, put some money over the counter at AdV for the rest of my gear. And decided it was worth writing about.

Anyway, that’s one of the reasons my LBS is awesome, and why you should be buying at your local whenever you can, instead of running off to the internet every time you need a piece of kit. Internet retailers definitely have their place, but how many of them will send you down the digital road to the competition just because you need a particular thing that they don’t have on the shelf? How many of them can whip out an allen key and fix a niggling bike problem on the spot, just because you’ve mentioned it offhand? How many of them serve brilliant coffee?

And how can browsing bikeporn on the internet compare with browsing it in-the-flesh over a cup of espresso and some avocado on toast?

It can’t. It just can’t.