About usPartner with usSign up to our Newsletter

Chelsea Bicycles

Chelsea Bicycles 1 Bike Shops Chelsea Flower District Tenderloin

Rafael, who owns this shop, is a true legend in the bicycling community. He began fixing bikes in his small town in Mexico in the early 1960’s. His skill brought him much success, and he soon went to work for a larger company, which eventually sent him to study at a prestigious bicycle-making school in Italy. While Rafael appreciated his education, he prefers experience to theory and claims his best education as been on the job, not in school - "and I still learn every day." Rafael eventually immigrated to New York in 1984 and opened up his own shop ten years later. He admits that it would probably be easier to work for a large company, but he loves nothing more than to have his own place where he can make bikes and work with his hands everyday. His passion lies in the creative process, and his is one of the only bike shops in the city to actually design and make the bike frames. He also fixes every kind of frame that exists, and apparently when other bike shops "mess up a job" they send it over to him to "clean it up." At the beginning of our conversation, Rafael confidently proclaimed that everybody knows him, and by the end we really understood why.

Location
Loading
Sign up to Sidestreet Updates
Chelsea Bicycles 1 Bike Shops Chelsea Flower District Tenderloin
Chelsea Bicycles 2 Bike Shops Chelsea Flower District Tenderloin
Chelsea Bicycles 3 Bike Shops Chelsea Flower District Tenderloin
Chelsea Bicycles 4 Bike Shops Chelsea Flower District Tenderloin
Chelsea Bicycles 5 Bike Shops Chelsea Flower District Tenderloin

More places on 26th Street

Lost Gem
Hotel Giraffe Rooftop 1 Bars Rooftop Bars undefined