07/29/2025
One year of our shop in a nutshell - 🥜✨
When City Bikes closed its doors after owner Charlie's passing, Adams Morgan lost a giant - a landmark that had enabled a smooth bike commute + peace of mind for thousands of folks who bike and live in upper NW DC.
A year later, after the last nuts and bolts of the old shop's inventory had emptied out, I got the phone call tipping me off about the space becoming available.. I might have done an actual cartwheel. To help carry on a 30+ year legacy was a actual dream.
On my first walkthrough with Ty (owner of now-neighbor Tiny Vinyl Shop), the shop was in rough shape. Drywall dust, trash, spiders - but so much potential. I had never seen it empty before, and the huge windows, which had been blocked by bikes for so many years, were asking to become a highlight! We had just a month from when we signed the lease until our opening day (and only a few weeks of having a key!). We scrubbed the floor and walls and every inch of grid-wall that had been left behind, built scrappy workbenches, trucked over all of my tools, I strategized + ordered colorful bike gear to fill the shelves, and our neighbors brought a wall-full of plants as shopwarming gifts.
It was breakneck work, squeezed in between a 2-week in-school bike program I had already committed to teaching, and some personal health adventures. I am in *forever-debt* to the mighty crew of friends who came out to help with it all - from inventory to cleaning to moral support to bringing snacks and water, to coming to hang out on opening day!
✨ In this last year, we have served ~3,000 guests, with a crew of typically just 1-3 mechanics/day. We taught 9 group classes on & off-site, facilitated dozens of free or low-cost bike repairs through our community repair fund and partnership with the Mt Pleasant Free Bike Clinic, hosted our fun Bike Zone at two DC Open Streets festivals, played host to community group rides, ice cream socials, friend meet-cutes, and bike basket dogs.
We have been embraced so warmly by the Adams Morgan neighborhood, and we are so grateful to be serving all of you, helping keep you rolling & hopefully bringing some extra sparkle to your bike commutes 💚
