2013 marks the birthday of a brand new bike shop in Arlington, The Old Bike Shop, that specializes in selling…get excited…USED and refurbished bikes!  We rang in the New Year with the owner Larry, his business partner Biz and employee Sway, at their celebratory grand opening on January 3, 2013 (Happy Birthday to them!).  Larry has been collecting bikes for almost 20 years now!  What started out as a fun hobby has become a full fledged profession.  You actually might recognize Larry from the Courthouse Farmer’s Market where every Saturday morning he put dozens of refurbished bikes on display, behind no brick and mortar – all in the open air, to sell at affordable prices to Arlingtonians like you.  When I first moved to Arlington I met Larry at the farmer’s market when I spent many a time perusing his inventory.  Funny enough, at one point I had him do some maintenance on my Mongoose which I had bought off of Craigslist from a girl who had originally bought it from him!  His demeanor is always friendly and helpful (he was patient enough to let me test out a few bike seats before I finally settled on one), and his selection of bikes always impressive.

Now, after 6 years of serving the Arlington community at the Courthouse Farmers Market, he has given his business a home.  His new shop is not far from Courthouse, in fact it’s just down the road in Clarendon located at 2647 N Pershing Drive (at the intersection of Washington Blvd).  The bikes they have for sale are quite extensive ranging from your typical Scwhinn road bike with down tube shifters, to traditional mountain bikes, to unusual cruisers.  They were actually working on a bike that had a frame from 1905 with wooden rims!  Not all of their bikes are for sale though (I’m assuming this is one of them), some are just on display for you to admire.

Even if you’re not interested in purchasing a bike (yet), it is worth a visit to just look around.  Their shop is full of character with vintage posters, antique tools and bicycle parts, old framed photos of women on bicycles, an ancient looking Arlington Bike Map (it’s from 2006, but trust me, it looks really old…), and of course their bright and shining personalities!

And if your bike needs a tune up, or if you want to sell your old bike, they can take care of that too!  So join me in welcoming The Old Bike Shop to Arlington! Yay!

Check out our Facebook page for some photos of their shop…

The men behind the bikes (left to right: Biz, Larry and Sway).

Zanna is the Events and Outreach Coordinator for BikeArlington.  She loves her used bike (a green Mongoose) and rides it to work every single day (well except on weekends, she rides her Mongoose to do other fun things on weekends).