Boston Raleigh Users Group visit to our shop

Scott has a very informative blog about Raleighs and Sturmey Archer. He recently completed a series of step by step overhaul tutorials of a Raleigh Sports. His blog is definitively worth following.


Here is the series of pictures of our shop he took- Via Bicycle Pilgrimage


and here is his blog. Boston Raleigh Users Group

Fancy Pictures taken at our shop

davis with prewar Raleigh Golden Arrow

Michael Shronk came in and offered to take some pictures to help with his portfolio. This really makes our shop look amazing. Take a look at more photographs HERE of his work. There's even a photograph of me there.

Jacob

fido in her sports bra

Jacob

Old Spokes Home restoration 1914 Peerless

Amazing bike. read about it here and more pictures on Old Spokes Home blog. Little known fact about Sturmey Archer too.
and yes, I know I just mentioned Old Spokes Home a week or so ago.. . .

Old Spokes Home in Velonews

Our friends at Old Spokes Home in Vermont were recently featured in VeloNews. 
What a collection of bike and very well laid out. They have an amazing collection of bikes. Oh, imagine if Via Bicycle was organized like this.. .  .
Photos are here

Free ride on a bike at Hill Cycle Shop

. . . well if you have a time machine, and nine more of these cards. I love this ephemera of old bicycle shops. Here are more posts about Hill Cycle on this Bikeville blog.

Hill Cycle Shop Bell for sale

Bike Shop bells would be an interesting collection to see.This is from Hill Cycle Shop, that was located in Chestnut Hill, in Philadelphia. 

$25

One of the Top bicycle shops in America

Via Bicycle was just listed as one of the top bicycle shops in Bicycle Magazine. We are all pretty happy with that. Maybe we will get a party????? curtis??

Late 1940s Alex Singer

as seen in the showroom of the Alex Singer store in Paris. I inquired about it and was informed it is a late 1940s Singer that had been retrofitted at some time in it's history. Yes, it does have delrin Simplex stem shifters with Huret Allvit derailleurs. The Stronglight crankset appears to be original, as does the riveted large flange Maxicar hubs. I really love the rake on the fork.
it was not for sale.

Cycles Laurent bike shop in Paris

Paris is home to a lot of bicycle shops and Cycles Laurent has been owed by 3 generations of the same family.
they have a lot of cool memorabilia on the walls, but like almost all Parisian bike shops, they sell and service newer bikes.

Shaftdrive with wooden fenders, the handlebars are questionable?
I don't know if I have ever seen a shaftdrive originally set up that way

weird curved seattube frame on the wall almost hidden.

Bike Shop stickers

So I finally started a Tumblr of bike shop stickers that I have been taking pictures of. The initial idea was a Tumblr of just the stickers, but I have expanded it to try and see if the shops are still in business and to include their website.
It is an interesting concept on a couple different levels. First, seeing all the different local shops that have come and gone over the past few decades and really understanding how difficult it is to run a bicycle shop. Second, the distance some bikes travel to get to our shop to be worked on. I once thought Michigan shops were cool, but now we get California. . Belgium. . and England. International. Lastly, the life these bikes live. Some were sold back in the 1970s and have not left the postal zipcode they were first purchased, while others have traveled the country and show it, but are still very functional bikes with a lot of life left in them.

So here is Bicycle Shop Stickers tumblr.

Bicycle Shop frame stickers

(please note the address is our old address, we are now at 606 So. 9th St.)

I have slowly archiving and photographing bike shop frame stickers with the idea of setting up a Tumblr or something, to display the wide variety of shops. We are here in Philadelphia, so most are local shops, but I have so far come across some distant shops as well, including California and United Kingdom.

Via Bicycle open Sundays

The bike shop is now open Sundays for the spring and summer. 10-2pm. It is open for repairs and sales, not rare bike stuff though.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Bikes replacing cars?

Bicycle shop mechanics look forlornly at a newly introduced buggy.

Cool old shop photo- 1912 Detroit

Detroit, Michigan, circa 1912. "Metzger bicycle shop. Detroit City Gas Co."
(originally posted on Shorby.com)
Notice, not a single black tire, all the tires are natural rubber.
Nice mixture of single tube pneumatics, Victrolas, and early motorcycles.

Women and Bicycle shops

Macaela Blei wrote on Frontier Psychiatrist about her experiences as a woman and bicycle shops. and I hope that we are more like shop #2, friendly and supportive. I know I have always tried to promote cycling and help everyone learn how to work on their bikes. Yes, I understand our shop can be daunting, with sensory overload and a lobby full of customers, but we try to help out everyone, from the most advanced racer or collector to 1st time riders.

Frontier Cyclist – ‘Hapless’ Females and Bike Shops