Usually it needs a shop or good meeting place for a scene to grow and flourish. Compared to some other big European cities Paris has very modest track bike scene. At least for now. But that might change soon as some guys have opened their workshop called Cyclope in 11th district – the city’s only shop dedicated to repairing, building and selling fixed gear bikes.
Cities like Berlin, London and even Milan are still in another league though. But Berlin has had Keirin Cafe for a while now, London has Brick Lane Bikes and relatively new hipster hangout 14Bikeco as well as quite amazing vintage store Tour de Ville. I’ve been to all of these shops and the guys who run it are all pretty awesome and these places really work for people to get together. And definitely not only to buy bike parts, but for more to talk about bikes and ride together.
So, I recently visited Paris for the first time and looked up their only bike shop of it’s kind. Cyclope had opened it’s doors quite recently. It’s a nice little underground place that’s not easy to find unless you have clear directions. It’s located down an alley, through a gate and down a series of steps inside the dark basement of a building in a residential courtyard. But if one does find it, he will love the bikes inside. They have a good selection of vintage frames and parts mixed in with some nice built-up completes and new accessiories. The guys speak a bit of English too and are welding frames and bikes with flying sparks just over the counter. Nice stuff.
Few cities remain capable of sustaining a profitable fixie-specific shop. So, with practically non-existent scene here, I don’t see a track specific shop opening any time soon in Tallinn. But with the current uprise of the general cycling culture even in our bike-unfriendly town, a combination of good single-speed, track and dutch city bicycle store could fit here quite well. Hopefully someone notices and grabs the opportunity.
