New "family" bike shop opening nearby!

[wobblymusic.livejournal.com]

Looks like that long-empty storefront on the corner of Beacon & Oxford streets is going to be filled with a bike shop that will specialize in family bikes & accessories. Very exciting!

http://bikinginheels-cycler.blogspot.com/2013/05/riding-in-new-direction.html

Comments

[samcoren.livejournal.com]

It is exciting because I've walked by this empty store front every day for years and I'm glad to see something happening with it. However, it's a niche market of cyclists, people willing to spend $700+ on a daily city commuter bike, that she's mostly catering to - she mentions Workcycles and Paper bikes. Personally I would never spend that much on city bike that I lock outside every day - I'm sure others would...but enough to keep the shop afloat? There are also a bunch of other bike shops (wheelworks and the bicycle exchange are both in easy walking distance) in the area that cast a wider net to stay afloat. I hope she can make it work though; seems like she's risking quite a lot in this venture.

[wobblymusic.livejournal.com]

I agree with everything you say, although my cutoff would be higher than $700. ;)

[samcoren.livejournal.com]

$700 seems to be the very low end of what she's selling looks like $900-$1,000+ would likely be the average (she's getting these from Scotland and Europe...the exchange rate is not very kind to us right now). I'm sure they're worth it if you want a handmade bike with quality parts....I'm just paranoid about those parts getting stolen. U-Lock's don't protect everything unfortunately. But really - I'd like to be proven wrong on this in that there's enough of a demand to keep her going long-term, she seems like a sweet lady who's following her passion.

[elements.livejournal.com]

There is a strong core of dedicated daily commuters, including cargo cyclists and people cycling with kids. There's a Boston-area email list I'm on where we constantly lament the lack of places to try this type of equipment, and the difficulty of finding a shop where you can buy it (especially if you want to have a bought bike shipped to a shop to be assembled). This is filling a specific niche not just for Somerville but the whole Boston area.

None of the other bike shops near here have the capacity to cater to the cargo and kids end of things. They won't stock cargo bikes cos they're too big and are not the big draws to their shops, and so their employees also tend not to know as much about those types of bikes, and in some cases aren't even willing to work on them for repairs.

I think it has a shot. I'm personally thinking about upgrading from my $500 cargo trike to a $2500-ish bakfiets style bike and if I do, it would be amazing to be able to do it with a store here. I know people who have shlepped to New York City and farther just to be able to test their bikes before they bought them.