Repainted, restocked and rebuilt, the Somerville workshop that spurred a cycling revolution twenty years ago quietly whirred into life again this month with the launch of Union Square’s Open Bicycle.
The boutique retail and repair shop is built on the ashes of legendary bike manufacturer Merlin Metalworks in a basement on the corner of Washington and Hawkins streets. Merlin reached cult status after popularizing super-light titanium bicycle frames in 1987 — an innovation that would retool the bike industry in the years that followed.
Two decades later, Open Bicycle co-owners Zack Teachout, 26, and Joshua Kampa, 29, believe that Boston’s resurgent cycling scene is ready for a transformation of its own. The entrepreneurs say they’ve designed their shop to be an inclusive meeting place for the fractured pockets of cyclists in the city, in the hopes that Boston can flourish into a two-wheeled hub on par with bike-centric cities like Portland and New York.
“Two people — maybe you have something in common, maybe you don’t, but if you both ride bikes, you can be fast friends,” said Kampa. “Maybe you’ve got this crusty messenger kid and this 45-year-old, upwardly mobile Cambridge resident … These two guys would pass each other on the street and maybe scowl at each other a little bit anywhere else, but if they’re in a bike shop or they’re standing there with their rides, side-by-side, they’ll start talking bikes and the next thing you know, they’re cracking jokes.”
Inside the shop, a living room opens into the full service repair space, and trim rows of bike paraphernalia are hung deliberately against the walls. Instead of trolling through shelves of retail products, Teachout says, customers can strike up a conversation or flip through a magazine while their bikes are being tuned up, and a fridge stocked with brews waits at the ready to welcome novice cyclists and veteran riders alike.
Open focuses on “utilitarian and aesthetically pleasing” road machines for the urban commuter, which translates into fixed-gear, single-speed and classic town bikes, along with custom frame-building, restoration and representation for local bike crafters Geekhouse and Icarus. And while they’re not the only bike shop on the block (there are, in fact, quite a few), Open does offer a service unique to the Boston bike market. If you’ve got the time, the Open crew says they’ll scour the biking back channels to build a custom bike that complements your personal style.
“We want the bike to be a personal extension of the rider,” explains Kampa. “Where are you going to ride? What are you going to do? Show us a picture of your apartment. What kind of furniture do you like?”
A smattering of specialty parts, accessories and bike apparel also dots the walls, including hand-sewn biker’s caps and trade publications from the four corners of the cycling world. In keeping with the store’s ethos, the repair counter is open to use for DIY fixes, and the adjoining Chorus Gallery is aimed at engaging a multi-disciplinary crowd of “artists, designers and makers” with cycling culture.
It Ain’t That Serious. from open bicycle on Vimeo.
Biking “engagement” has, conspicuously, been scaled back as a goal for the city this year, and a grassroots community of cyclists like the one Teachout and Kampa hope to foster will be critical to building the political clout to reshape Boston’s cycling identity. A program to build new bike lanes has already been cut back by 20 percent this year, and the goal of “indirectly engaging 1 million people with cycling,” was downgraded to roping in 2,500 more participants at bike events. Mayor Menino also remains aloof on how the city plans to roll out a successful bike share program in less than a year.
Teachout and Kampa say, however, that the time is ripe for Bostonians to redefine their relationship with cycling. Bike advocates have spent years wrestling minor victories away from the Big Dig, but the realities of energy consumption have permeated the public consciousness, and bikes are inherently poised to thrive when the economy goes south.
Teachout says the pair were also fortunate to have met “the right people,” while they were planning the business venture over the last year. Investors Matthew Curtis and Chris Lutes, who put up the financial backing for the multi-function cycling project, also debuted their fifth restaurant, Tory Row, in Harvard Square this month.