Winter is For Bike Maintenance!

Bring your bike in for a tune up or overhaul!

Ok, now the shilling is out of the way.

There are lots of changes going on at Covered Bridge Cyclery right now. After trying to work around the "coffee shop" theme since June, work started a few weeks ago to turn the space into an actual bike shop. That huge counter that dominated the space is gone. If you liked it; sorry. It rendered 25% of the floorspace unusable. In its place is a whole wall that will be dedicated to road bikes. Not just any road bikes... sexy, lust-worthy road bikes. In the midst of all of this dust, lumber, and construction, CBC has signed up with TIME, Wilier, and Cyfac. Added to our current lines from De Rosa, Jamis, Raleigh, and Schwinn/GT, CBC will soon have, or have access to, almost anything you could ever want.

In response to informal customer surveys (ie: me talking to you), CBC will be carrying triathlon-specific items as well. More on that as vendors and brands are finalized.

I should tease you with details about the shop's new look and make you com

e in and see for yourselves. I suppose a shrewd businessman would do that. I'm not especially shrewd. I just like selling and working on bikes. So here are some pictures of the shop's new look.

Winter is Coming...

It's that time of year; the time when the bike shop goes to shorter hours and the temperature drops. It's also time for you to bring in your bikes for off-season tune-ups. Why wait until the Spring rush to get your bike tuned? Don't waste any riding time; get it tuned now!

It has been an interesting first year. I think I have learned what will sell, what won't sell, and what I wish I could sell. Several of you want carbon road bikes, so we'll be stocking those next year. Of course, you can always come in and order one before then. Roadies currently outnumber Mountain Bikers about 10 to 1. However, I have heard from a few MTB'rs that want better mountain bikes in the store. I'll have to think about that over the winter. In my experience, higher-end MTBs just don't sell. They get played with and looked at, but then the duplicate bike that comes into the shop later was purchased online. I can't afford to stock museum pieces or floor models for web sites. We'll see how it goes, though.

CBC sold out of road bikes this year. We also sold out of hybrids. Those seem to be our primary lines, and are where our main focus will be for 2011. Steel road bikes are my passion, so we'll have some of those. We get cycle tourists coming through, so panniers, racks, and various bits and pieces that they require will be stocked.

Anyway, it's been an interesting year, and I'm looking forward to the next one. Stop in for coffee over the winter or just come in to hang out. It gets lonely in a bike shop in Indiana in the winter. Of course, we'll also be having "Trainer Days" when you can come in and ride on trainers while watching cool videos on the big screen. Make sure you try that, too.

Back To School

Today has been the day for used bikes. If you're looking for one, you'd better come in soon... we've sold 3 so far today. The Used Bike Room is looking a little bare.

We're down to just 3 2010 Scotts now, so you'd better get in here to buy one of those (on sale!) as well.

CBC is now a Chocolate #9 seller. If you aren't familiar with the brand, they make an energy gel that has a low glycemic index, which is good for diabetics, and sponsors team Type 1.

Hilly is coming up soon... better get those bikes in for tune-ups!

Bikes With A/C In Stock Now!

Well, not really... However, the faster you ride, the greater the air velocity, so it has to be better than sitting still, right?

It's hot. Disgustingly hot, actually. What do you do when it's too hot to ride comfortably? If you're smart, you check CBC's listing on Google Maps, find the discount coupon and bring your bike in for a tune-up. Maybe you even decide that it's time to upgrade those old worn out/heavy components for a shiny new drivetrain. Have you been wanting a SRAM Rival drivetrain? Maybe a Campy Athena setup? Now is a good time to do it. It's hot, you can probably get by without your bike for a day or two, and there will still be time to get used to the new system before the Hilly Hundred in October. Don't assume that bike shop prices are a lot higher than online... CBC competes with online prices, within reason. Plus, we can install your components and perform adjustments as everything gets broken in; something no online retailer can do.

CBC is getting better and better every day. If you haven't stopped by in a few days, then it has been too long. We continue to get new 'stuff' in the store and make improvements every day.

Stop in for a cup of coffee or just to babble about bikes/rides for a while.

End of July

Well, here it is almost July 31st. Thanks to our customers, we've had an amazing month. Moving to our new location was definitely a worthwhile move. Now that people can find us, we're starting to get out of the hole we were in. True, it was a small hole - as far as businesses go - but I don't like any kind of debt at all. We're finally getting to a place where we can be debt-free.

Our stock of bikes is rapidly being depleted. I have ordered a few more, and they should arrive on Tuesday. I have also placed another Uvex helmet order, a Diadora shoe order, and an LAS helmet order. A little early perhaps, but we will also have Fall/Winter clothing arriving soon.

CBC will be carrying Magura forks. The first one will be arriving on Monday. We are also carrying Vaude products. If you aren't familiar with Vaude, they are similar to Arkel and Ortlieb. They are based in Germany, and make very high quality bags, panniers, and outerwear.


One item I'm very excited about is named "Eva's Office". It's a pannier for women that has an integrated laptop sleeve. Perfect for taking books and laptop to class or to work.

We will also be stocking Vaude Women's "Drop" jackets. Expect them to arrive on Tuesday. These are very high quality rain jackets. Forget the steamy rain jacket saunas that sell for $20 and are worth about half of that... this is a true quality cycling jacket with excellent craftmanship, quality, performance, and style.

We have restocked our Sock Guy sock display, as well as added a second one. No matter what oddities you like, we likely have a sock for you.

Are you into cyclocross? Come in and check out our affordable Origin-8 framesets and custom builds! Or, order the gorgeous 2011 Raleigh 'cross bike. Need a cyclocross crankset? We have a shiny new SRAM one here calling your name.

Touring? We do that too. Racks, Panniers, bar-end shifters, Brooks saddles. Touring bikes from Raleigh, Gunnar, and Co-Motion. Wheelbuilding is available, too.

Country bikes are what I recommend for those who don't want to race, but do want to ride on the road; and don't want to have to worry if the road turns into gravel. These are usually custom builds, although the new 2011 Raleigh Port Townsend seems to fit the bill perfectly at $850. Other options are available from Rawland, Gunnar, and Scott.

For city bikes, we have added Torker to our selection of bikes. CBC will be stocking select Torker models, and can order any that we don't stock with order fulfillment taking 2-3 days.

I've rambled enough for today. I plan on having the grill outside tomorrow, so feel free to stop by for a burger and to check out the new Raleigh catalog.

Mid-summer Morning Musings

I apologize for the alliteration...

Yesterday was a very busy day. I like busy days. Sitting and watching the clock is never any fun; even less so when you aren't getting paid to do so. The few times that I was able to look at the clock yesterday showed 3-4 hour jumps since the previous look. My day started at 4am, for that is when I woke up. That is also the time I started working on the store.

I'm rearranging the space I have, you see. Primarily, I am running out of room for products. An additional concern is visibility. Both for customers, and for me. Hiding places are too convenient for those who want liberate bike parts from the oppressive control of the bike shop. Sadly, this has already happened.

So, I'm opening up sight lines and arranging items a little more logically.

Repair-wise, everything that came in yesterday went out yesterday. A tune-up, a chain replacement and grip installation, a flat repair, and a new tire installation. Ergo, if you need work done on your bike, the schedule is open.

Most days, business dies off around 6pm. Not yesterday. That's when it picked up. The store was already having a pretty good day, but from 6pm until 8:30pm when I finally closed, it was really hopping.

After closing, I worked on hanging more gridwall and assembling display fixtures. I finally fell into bed around 11:30pm. These 19.5 hour days are hell, but there's still a lot to do here to make it the best bike shop it can be. I'll never settle for just good enough.

Appreciation = Happiness

A couple of bikes left the store yesterday. I always like seeing people buy the bike they really want. I remember what it was like.... dreaming about it, reading everything you could find about it, staring at it at the shop, etc.

A married couple put a couple of bikes in layaway a week or two ago. The woman was excited about riding, but needed something better than her hybrid. Luckily, I had a road bike in the store in her size. So she put it in layaway. Meanwhile, her husband was eyeballing the bike in the window that was a couple of models up from that one.

Not long afterwards, he came in and made a payment on her bike and asked if he could put the other one in layaway too. So he did. Thursday, they came in and he paid off her bike. She rode it twice that night, and almost went out for a third ride. I sent her an email the next morning, and she replied with exclamations about how much she loved the bike. Later that day, her husband came in and paid his off as well.

They're both in love with their bikes, and that always makes me happy.

Late yesterday, a family came in looking at bikes. They had WalMart bikes that were falling apart (after 2 days of ownership) and had had an unpleasant experience at another bike shop. They were walking/riding at the time to go watch the parade, so didn't have any money on them. They asked if I could hold one of the bikes until they could go to their car and get some money after the parade. Sure, I said. Right before closing time, they came back. They ended up just buying the bike that the woman fell in love with (Raleigh Circa 1.0) and put the other bike (ditto) and a pair of Axiom Dutch Shopping panniers in layaway.

The woman loved her bike so much (and the deal I gave her) that she gave me a hug before she left.

That's what makes owning a bike shop worth the time and money.