A shop visit at The Bicycle Stand in Long Beach, a low key treasure of vintage bikes.
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[Music] is the bike shop or is it a bike Museum or a little bit of both today we are here in Long Beach California to do a shop visit over at the bicycle stand let’s go check it out so we’re here with Evan from the bicycle stand what is this magical place is it like a bike shop or a bike Museum uh that’s a good question we ask ourselves that a lot these days this is a a place that we created to sort of capture some of these um sort of the obviously the Vintage Spirit of cycling um we do vintage we do new uh we do restoration we do sales we do General Repair here a little bit of everything and without one of those quotients we probably wouldn’t be here so it has to be a little bit of everything um I think most of us have some sort of affinity towards older stuff but um you know all myself and my guys that work here ride everything from you know modern track bike road bikes gravel bikes to Classic steel you know and um you know there’s there’s never too many bikes right yeah they I’ve been wandering around um and there’s just so much eye candy from like classic road bikes to ’90s mountain bikes want to walk us through and just point out some interesting bikes yeah absolutely you know this room right here represents kind of uh our sort of like more civilian offering so bikes that are ready to live a second life um whether uh you’re looking for like you know sort of a a fun Runabout hybrid you know that’s kind of like ready to go gravel ready to go ATB ATB right exactly and like really this is kind of what we try to get most people on 700 C little bit bigger tires maybe an upright bar just like a fun like slamming hybrid for lack of a better ter uh the Vintage stuff is cool but when you come in here we want you to specifically be asking for a vintage road bike otherwise we’re probably not going to recommend it because like generally speaking like that is a very like you either want that or you don’t pretty aggressive a lot of weight over the front end you know people uh love the silhouette but when you put them on it for the first time if they’re not used to it you know they find out really quickly how much that asss of their body and their you know their body positioning so to speak and then yeah the the mountain bikes you know not to say um not to say we started with this but this is something that’s obviously kind of like had uh sort of a Resurgence uh recently and like they’re super fun um it kind of gives us that Blast from the Past sort of you know childhood feeling if you grew up in the90s you know um so we offer those um to be bought tweaked and built up in you know sort of whatever way um you might be interested in whether can you tell me about this one yeah so that’s a this is actually a Carlton like a pre- Carlton so you know Carlton was its own brand you know I believe all the way into the early 60s there’s probably people out there in the com that could tell me this bike predates uh Raleigh ownership um so this bike has um these Chrome lugs um it was made in the Carlton Factory which later produced the higher-end roles like the pros and the um and uh Internationals and such this pin striping and lug lining is all original this bike was like preserved super clean in someone’s garage for 750 bucks for the cost of a new you know City bike you can have something that you know sort of the real thing it just keeps getting better and better so hey there everybody if you guys have been enjoying this video please consider supporting the channel by joining us on patreon at to we are able to do the shop visits do the travel make these videos without any sponsors if that’s too much commitment consider picking up some stickers from the store uh let’s get back into that video everything’s pretty much for sale um you know if uh a lot of these bikes are here um that are untouched unrestored because some of the bik bikes are more desirable that way um some of the bikes in the in the brick room we have gone through and kind of like changed out you know done a tuneup or like a light refurbishing we try to keep them as original as possible wait for the right client to come in and then refurbish based on refurbish based on out their needs um you know so like some of these bikes they’re all for sale but we pretty much haven’t touched them because we figure the client’s going to come in and say oh dude I’ve been looking for that purple de Roos in a 57 that’s the one but I want to do with full super record and tubular tires or whatever or change put clinchers on it or whatever so we’ll we’ll build it to them tell me about the track bikes on the wall so these uh you know Pursuit bikes these are we work with a couple different collectors and we try to have like a rotating Gallery um one of the things as I grow older and I have less time to ride and you know ride competitively one of the things that comes to light is the fact that like I think a lot of us are just drawn to some of these bicycles based on sort of a design right and and the fact that they’re um they tactile works of art they’re like pieces of of art that people have put so much time and effort into you and then not only can you put them up on the wall and look at them um if you feel brave enough you can you can you know bring them down stand over them you know take them out for a spin and kind of like wake yourself up a little bit and like there’s very few things in the world that um offer that Dynamic of a of a visual involvement and then that sort of tactile involvement and that’s part of the reason this shop exists is like trying to figure out like aesthetically geometry quality symmetry like who’s doing what our myself our staff we created this place to try to quantify those things right and to take note of like how those things came to be and who was involved in what what Manner do you reach out to collectors or are they finding you to have bikes on EX they find us luckily so um like the guy that um uh has these bikes these two bikes on display runs uh an Instagram page um called vintage space I highly recommend everybody go and check that out beautiful bikes on his on his Instagram but you know he’s the first one to come to us and say hey aside from just photographing these bikes and putting them online they’re generally under blankets in a spare bedroom right like no one’s getting any like positive energy out of these things in that way he’s like I would love to like have these on the wall like one or two at a time and and rotate these things out so to share these you know sort of works of art with other people and um and I think that like right there is is something that is a great part of our community yeah right um you know just the fact that uh people are reaching out to us and saying hey how can I share my passion with other people I don’t need anything back out of it you know what else we got um well we got a a couple funky aggressive track bikes on the wall um some frame sets you know we got our um Yan ol team Telecom versus uh Lance Armstrong um you know we have some 1930s sort of French uh this is an English hin that we’re going to one day restore um you know various just different Generations uh we tried to get our hands on and um and bring it to the shop to a understand it m figure out how it rides like figure out when you know certain things were introduced like this bike has you know 650b wheel size right so it’s like it’s from like you know the the early 50s so like when did low Trail come into play when did 650b come into play how does it ride on a steel bike with steel handlebars with steel seat post and steel stem like a lot of this stuff is um uniquely different and I think again that’s part of the reason why we exist is a lot of our customers are looking for something that’s like uniquely different in its riding experience you go to different Generations the wheelbase changes the head tube angle changes the fork changes um you know wheel size changes you know obviously Drive Line changes um all those things are eye opening right they’re not just like the slight difference it’s like oh wow like right love it or hate it it’s noticeably different right generally speaking it it just adds depth to our experience when a customer comes in and says hey I have this bike I I do want to ride it how should I build it or what can I do to make it more ridable we say oh you know what we had this 1930s bike similar and you know we found that blah blah blah blah um you know they trust us so do you guys have a like a Armory of a vintage parts to to work with older bikes or how do you source source parts for the various qu standards totally totally so um you know aside from just selling stuff like there’s bikes that are hung from the rafter and this is kind of like our I call it our farm um basically what this is is these are bikes that could be for sale and we’ve deemed them sort of good parts bikes and so we hang them in the RFS so we wind up pulling these bikes down um taking parts off we’re not super big on like take buying bikes taking them apart selling the stuff individually we could probably make a lot more money that way but like that’s kind of like not the goal here right the goal here is to complete bikes and to bring them back together so a lot of these bikes exist um so certain parts can be taken off and people’s ideas and and builds can be put back together I wish it was more organized but you know generally speaking we have like drawers of you know used components right so when people come in and say oh do you have uh stermy Archer three-speed stuff and we say okay yeah we have some ster Archer 3speed stuff what’s the most like esoteric part that you guys have oh um let’s go back out here yeah esoteric you know like the Karima New Old Stock break pads you know the look Ergo stem you know and this is stuff that like if I put it up on eBay it would sell pretty quickly yeah but it’s just like I don’t know but then you’ll never see it again you know and it’s it’s gone and you know um you know it’s it’s it’s just fun you know we try to keep a good you know we have a good with the Vel Drome um coming by it’s like we have a good like amount of guys coming in that have older track bikes or are looking to pass on their their track stuff and it’s it’s just super cool just kind of keeps the process going you know so a lot of bikes come to us from eBay and they need you know pedals or bottom brackets or derailers and you know stems older Saddles um crank sets you know and they’re all they’re all kind of in there um half the time we have what they want the other half the time we missed the mark and we have to order off eBay anyway um on the Vintage stuff tell me about this bike um so that bike is a bike that uh walked in our front door um it was stripped in the manner that you see it um guy came in um said hey I have a couple bikes you want to take a look at them sure yeah and um you know he brought us a mai Grand Criterium and an Alex singer you know uh uh Touring bike and um it was already stripped um the cool thing about this particular bike is that they’re not investment cast lugs they’re all handmade lugs you know the lugs were uh were fillet braced oversized and then you know and then the the they were created um instead of cast um and you can see that because the guy stripped the paint off of it so when you go up to that bike closely you can see all that handiwork and that finesse um with uh the files and just the the quality and craftsmanship that that particular bike um has and holds and and I don’t think I’ll ever change it just because it’s like kind of a such a fun showpiece in terms of like why this bike is different from say um like this GEOS or you know um this uh Tre is you know most of those I believe are investment cost lug this particular bike led me to start collecting Alex singers like try to find them right and um you know uh gold how’s that uh hunt B yeah here check it out you know this is uh it’s it’s you know it’s rare that you come across something like that but it’s like you know to find a Renee Ur that’s yeah basically been cast aside um you know now the question is do we restore it right do we repaint it do we or do we leave it original and you know and resell it like do we keep it and put it on the wall like right um so what what was the story uh behind how you acquired this one uh same deal guy comes in and says hey you know like I’m I I’m working on an estate sale this is chaff this is something I couldn’t sell right interesting and you go wait a minute no come on are you kidding me I’ll take yeah you know the Rarity and stuff like that is something that you know that’s that’s part of the excitement about like the the part of the cycling that we’re involved in is that there there are Easter eggs out there um you know there’s you know you don’t find those Easter eggs at in every bike shop and you know I think that’s um really uh key to kind of like any new bike shop you really want to kind of like find something that’s different about yourself and really run with that right this bike is something that we painted and it’s actually getting it’s a sort of that Chrome Chromo and so that bike is actually getting all these parts that were all super high polished um so everything went out and gets um ultra high polished we’re actually going to wind up doing some um some color inlays there um so that bike is going to get you know the full treatment there um all the the pantag graphing and stuff this bian here um that’s not like a a bian AOA bike that’s a legitimate 1959 bian that’s been restored um that was kind of a pet project between uh Joe Bell and our shop he painted that frame and that bike actually wound up go wound up going to the Marone museum for a bian Sales Event um and it was presented in front of like Ferraris and all sorts of fun cool stuff and all the bian big wigs and stuff were there and saw and it was that was super cool this hin you know late 50s hins with the uh stury Archer 3-speed and the the spindly cranks and the the super or Nate lugs and um you know sort of slack look at that head to someone came in and you know had a vintage bike and said hey you know what I want to put samam access on it does a little part of you it happens absolutely you die inside just a little bit uh if it’s I would die inside right right um if it’s well thought out yeah and it’s sort of well engineered um and it maybe gives someone an advantage that might be struggling otherwise yeah sure like okay go for it um if if you’ve thought it through and you’ve determined that that usage is is defined as a need then more power to you you know we’re not here to tell you what’s right or what’s wrong I think that’s something after 10 years of doing this we get so many rigid um outlines on the Vintage stuff and on the steel stuff um uh in terms of just like okay here’s this catalog picture of the Schwin Paramount and I bought this frame on eBay and it’s the one that I imagine imagined in the in the bike shop when I was five you know when I was 10 years old build it up exactly to my mind you know like and like it’s so fun like that colner that rain this funky purple colner over there you know the customer was just like cart blanch right just do whatever you want you know it doesn’t have to adhere to any Paradigm it doesn’t have to be period correct in fact I don’t want it to be period correct I want it to be weird and I own so many perfectly correct bikes I want something that’s flashy and funky and you know and like oh my gosh it’s like a such a nice dip in a cool pool you know like it feels so good to have someone come in and just be like I’m tired of the norm let’s do something cool so in that case I’ll you Wireless you know one by you know skinny Tu guys more power to you if you guys are in Long Beach and you want to check out and buy some cool vintage bikes or even some new bikes definitely stop by the bicycle stand and thank you EV for the tour yeah my pleasure all right yeah thanks for stopping by super fun to uh see you guys back in the neighborhood yeah as always everybody keep the Supple side down
24 Comments
He mentioned the old bike with 750 B wheels. Ive worked on/restored some very old bikes. Several times, my neighborhood bike shop has called me up to refurbish older roadbikes or provide vintage parts for their custmers. Ive learned a lot in 15 yrs. Id encourage anyone watching this channel to familiarize themselves with wheel size standards. I wont go into any detail, but its fascinating, and makes you the expert on wheels in nearly every discussion.
Up here in Canada, it seems a lot of 1970's/80's roadbikes were sold with 27" wheels, just a touch larger than 700. Just enough difference to make brake reach an issue, and tire selection is very limited. Twenty seven inch were usually found on lower priced bikes, but not always. Schwinn used some weirdo wheel sizes too. While restoring a 60's Schwinn traveller, I realized new tires were gonna be tough to find. Customer got his bike back about a year later. Ive also had shop owners give me 1950s/60's bikes for free, cuz they figgered they couldnt get tires. I happened to know that modern 700 × 35mm would mount perfectly, because I knew wheel standards. Another fun adventure can be installing modern road tires on vintage rims. I have one wheelset, 700c Gentleman rims, 36 spoke on tall flange Campagnolo record hubs. Lovely wheelset, I used on a few of my builds, close to 50 yrs old I figger. I always dread mounting new tires on em. Ive broken so many levers, haha. Anyway, great video. I was drooling.
Duuude i had this dick power track fr
I WILL VISIT THIS BIKE SHOP. I own a Modern Day 2021 Grave Bike and I paid about $1,200. It is ok, but it has nothing in my Baby, my 1984 Raleigh Sportiff I rebuilt from the ground up on behalf of my late Pops who passed away from Covid-19 Monday, December 27, 2021. When he introduced me to vintage bicycles as a kid, I took them for granted, but I kept it in my heart when he told my Vintage Bikes are reliable and the way to go long term. He told me to just take care of them.
When I go to this shop, I am definitely buying “Vintage” as soon as I walk in!
super place respect!
I went to a really cool similar type shop in Philly, can't remember the name of it but man it was huge and had a ton of vintage stuff all over the place.
The asking price were pretty close to the original prices back in the day. Cool
This guy knows what he’s talking about very much so badass solid showroom
Strange ? I got no video ?
My entire life I've dedicated my self to the art of bicycles, and this shop and the owner by far is the best I've seen… He is so relaxed and so friendly yet flooded with knowledge. First chance I have going back to LA, I will be there to meet the owner and see this incredible shop. Sincerely Mr. onZa
Evan and his team are outstanding. I’m a Buffalo Soldier living history representative and me and my group ride replica early 1900’s Iron Rider bicycles. Evan did all of the work on our bikes. Look for us in the 2024 Rose parade.
$850 for a 58cm eddy mercx???!!!!! That’d be over $1500 here in Seattle easily
Beautiful shop gotta go! I’ll take metro with my bike and ride rest of the way once I get to LB
Fun video!!
What a great little shop. The world needs more of this passion and less of walmart.
Where do I get the pedal wall hangers? And… these bikes are gorgeous.
you know.
I got my first road bike there! My favorite LB shop! Side note: I own a bike shop in East TN now. They are one of the inspirations of getting into this business!
Such a cool bike shop! I love finding gems like this one.
HOLY FUCKING SHIT SPOKE TEMPLE
Amazing bike shop, great video and interview, thank you.
I grew up in Nottingham England, my first job just down the road from the former Raleigh Factory, Carltons were made in Worksop North Nottinghamshire. I think Raleigh and Carlton stopped making bikes in England in the early 1980s. I can remember dreaming of owning a Carlton Criterion or Corsair as a teenager. Great to see a Carlton In the US being appreciated. Great shop, thanks for the vid.
You need to check out Mt Airy Bicycle in Mt Airy, MD AND visit their warehouses. Thousand of bikes and tens of thousands of parts.
Wow, this is a rad looking bike shop. The staff also seem like they're just down to help the bike community out any way they can.
Fab shop! With a philosophy I subscribe to as well, what a joy to watch and listen! Thank you for posting this esp as I’ve two vintage bikes on the daily use w one just entering tear down for a resto mod. Inspiring video indeed.