The Practical Cyclist

The Practical Cyclist is a bike shop COMING SOON to Northwest  Washington, DC, in Manor Park, near the Metropolitan Branch Trail. 

The goal

We want more people to ride bicycles for fun and transportation in and around Washington, DC. People’s lives get better with bikes. 

What we do

We fix bikes. We're good at it, we've been doing it for forty years.

We stock utilitarian parts and accessories, and some special fancy-pants ‘Alt-Cycling’ items that you don’t find in typical bike shops.

We offer some non traditional service models, a DIY workbench, classes and workshops. We'd prefer that you maintain and fix your own bike, with our help.

We want to be the kind of shop WANT to visit. Maybe the kind where you can hang out, bring your kid, have a chat or a decent coffee.

Bikes for adults

We will sell bikes for adult-size humans. In Washington, DC, selling used bikes requires a 'reseller license,' the same kind of business license required for a pawn shop. This makes sense - no one wants to be selling stolen bikes.

We won't start off selling lots of new bikes for adult-size humans. There are a lot of places to get new bikes, and the industry isn't super-supportive of small operations just getting started. If you want a new bike, we'd be happy to talk to you about it, and help you figure out what you want, and figure out how to get it.

If you already know what you want, we can help you pick out the right bits and build you a beautiful, fun and practical bike.

Bikes for kids

The last fifteen years have been good for kids who ride bikes. There are several well-designed and well-built kids bikes available now, and twenty years ago this was not true at all. Good kids bikes are expensive - but they're light weight and easy to ride. They're also durable - they last through generations of kids and hold their value remarkably well. There's a thriving peer-to-peer market for these bikes, but peer-to-peer sales can be risky, or can feel risky. What can we do to make things better?

1. Offer a kid-friendly environment. In a lot of shops, kids and kids' bikes get short shrift.

2. Sell good quality USED kids' bikes with really good warranty policy and follow-up service. We might make a little money here, probably not a lot, but we might help folks avoid the risks or discomfort involved with peer-to-peer sales.

3. Sell good quality new kids bikes, and offer a generous trade-in policy so that parents can invest with confidence.

While I was writing this, some of my favorite kids bikes got LESS GOOD. Jumped the shark. They got TOO FANCY. Sometimes less is more, and there is value in simplicity. 

Thinking, doing, feeling

We think the DIVERSITY OF BICYCLING EXPERIENCES is the best and most important thing. Also, there's almost alway more than one reasonable way to do something. We try to stay curious.