Clever Cycles FTW
Mar. 29th, 2010 04:33 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
darkemeralds posting in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png){kind=small}
bicyclesThis is so cool! After a comment conversation with fellow Portland bike-rider and cycle-chic blogger extraordinaire Portlandize about finding the right bike shop for my needs, I decided to go have a look at Clever Cycles today.
It's like a different world! It was so, so awesome! The shop has a narrow storefront on a busy central thoroughfare (Hawthorne), and it's like the TARDIS. You go in the door and it's HUGE inside!
Guy immediately says, "Hi. How can I help you today?" Ding! One point to Clever Cycles. (Mind you, there was nobody else in the store at 3:00 on Monday afternoon, but still.)
I say, "Six months ago I bought a bike that turns out not to be all the bike I need. I commute to work and do grocery shopping and errands, and I've been hearing that this place is the place for me." I add that I like the Dutch style bikes I've seen online, but I'm concerned that the women's or step-through configuration isn't available in a large, sturdy frame size that will suit my large, sturdy self.
No uncomfortable looking-away at that. Ding! Another point to Clever Cycles.
So the guy says, "Let's have a look at your bike." He looks out the window to where Clyde is parked and says, "Oh, that's a great configuration. I see just what you're doing there," (ding!) then walks me back to the Dutch Workcycles, which I've never seen in person before and which are splendidly utilitarian.
We discuss the bike's many fine characteristics, which include an enclosed gear hub and chain case, all-steel construction, and a generator hub that runs the built-in headlight and taillight by pedal-power. The step-through configuration is available in the large frame size. The whole thing is designed to carry real-world cargo, like kids and groceries. It will carry me.
We discuss the bike's drawbacks. ("It only comes in black.")
The Clever Cycles guy then shows me a similarly configured bike for half the price of the Workcycle, a Breezer.
"What's the difference?" query I.
"It's made in China, it's aluminum instead of steel, it has plastic fenders..." the CCG says, and reels off a few other facts, enough for me to determine that the Dutch bike will last longer and do better out in the rain than the Breezer, but he also makes it clear that a lot of the difference lies in the cost of European versus Chinese labor. (Ding! Ding! Ding! Just the facts, let me make an informed choice.)
I spot a chartreuse Gazelle brand bike that I like the looks of, and CCG says that it, too, is built in the Netherlands, and has many of the features of the Workcycle while offering a slightly lower price and a more fun look.
"We rent the Workcycles, if you'd like to try one out for a day," CCG says. Ding!
So, since Clyde's going to the shop on Friday and not coming out till Saturday, I signed up. I'll report back on what it's like to ride a Dutch Workcycle around Portland.
And in conclusion: finding the right bike shop for my particular style of bike-riding has been an important facet of my bike life that I didn't get right till today.
I am buying my next bike from Clever Cycles and telling everyone about them because it's a wonderful place, well suited to my needs, with nice people who not only understand the kind of bike-riding I do, but actually sell the kind of bike I need, and will not make fun of it later when I bring it in for service--which it will hardly ever need.
It's like a different world! It was so, so awesome! The shop has a narrow storefront on a busy central thoroughfare (Hawthorne), and it's like the TARDIS. You go in the door and it's HUGE inside!
Guy immediately says, "Hi. How can I help you today?" Ding! One point to Clever Cycles. (Mind you, there was nobody else in the store at 3:00 on Monday afternoon, but still.)
I say, "Six months ago I bought a bike that turns out not to be all the bike I need. I commute to work and do grocery shopping and errands, and I've been hearing that this place is the place for me." I add that I like the Dutch style bikes I've seen online, but I'm concerned that the women's or step-through configuration isn't available in a large, sturdy frame size that will suit my large, sturdy self.
No uncomfortable looking-away at that. Ding! Another point to Clever Cycles.
So the guy says, "Let's have a look at your bike." He looks out the window to where Clyde is parked and says, "Oh, that's a great configuration. I see just what you're doing there," (ding!) then walks me back to the Dutch Workcycles, which I've never seen in person before and which are splendidly utilitarian.
We discuss the bike's many fine characteristics, which include an enclosed gear hub and chain case, all-steel construction, and a generator hub that runs the built-in headlight and taillight by pedal-power. The step-through configuration is available in the large frame size. The whole thing is designed to carry real-world cargo, like kids and groceries. It will carry me.
We discuss the bike's drawbacks. ("It only comes in black.")
The Clever Cycles guy then shows me a similarly configured bike for half the price of the Workcycle, a Breezer.
"What's the difference?" query I.
"It's made in China, it's aluminum instead of steel, it has plastic fenders..." the CCG says, and reels off a few other facts, enough for me to determine that the Dutch bike will last longer and do better out in the rain than the Breezer, but he also makes it clear that a lot of the difference lies in the cost of European versus Chinese labor. (Ding! Ding! Ding! Just the facts, let me make an informed choice.)
I spot a chartreuse Gazelle brand bike that I like the looks of, and CCG says that it, too, is built in the Netherlands, and has many of the features of the Workcycle while offering a slightly lower price and a more fun look.
"We rent the Workcycles, if you'd like to try one out for a day," CCG says. Ding!
So, since Clyde's going to the shop on Friday and not coming out till Saturday, I signed up. I'll report back on what it's like to ride a Dutch Workcycle around Portland.
And in conclusion: finding the right bike shop for my particular style of bike-riding has been an important facet of my bike life that I didn't get right till today.
I am buying my next bike from Clever Cycles and telling everyone about them because it's a wonderful place, well suited to my needs, with nice people who not only understand the kind of bike-riding I do, but actually sell the kind of bike I need, and will not make fun of it later when I bring it in for service--which it will hardly ever need.
no subject
Date: 2010-03-30 02:29 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-03-30 02:36 am (UTC)They all come fully equipped with fenders, lights, guards, kickstands--all the stuff that I had to pay extra for on my American style bike.