Inside the World’s Smallest Bike Shop
If you’re driving down Route 66 through Claremont, California, you might spot an irresistible sign next to a jumble of bicycles and feel compelled to stop. The sign, reading “Cash for Bikes,” sits beside roughly 20 bicycles—mostly vintage models refurbished as commuter bikes—arranged outside the storefront because, frankly, there’s no room to navigate the business with all of them inside.
You’ve reached The Velo, better known as “the world’s smallest bike shop”—the snug, 55-square-foot alcove where Dale Mattson works his magic on vintage bikes. Sure, Mattson concedes, there could be others laying claim to small bike shop superlatives, but most of them are just cargo bikes with boxes of tools on the back—none that are fully functioning brick-and-mortar facilities like the Claremont Velo.
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Although he’s a longtime cyclist and natural-born mechanic, Mattson didn’t set out to open a bike shop in such a cozy location. He’d originally planned to open an antique store; after decorating the storefront with beautifully dilapidated Schwinns, however, enough students from the nearby college stopped in to ask if he worked on bikes that he decided the universe was sending him a sign.
The Route 66-adjacent “Cash for Bikes” sign, modeled on ubiquitous “Cash for Gold” ads, was the stroke of genius that got Mattson started. From the moment Mattson put it in front of the shop, people started bringing him old bikes to refurbish and sell—including many he’s not interested in buying. When that happens, Mattson convinces the owners to donate their bikes, which he then fixes up for needy kids.
“Last year we gave away more bikes than we actually sold,” he says.
That’s not to say he doesn’t sell any; in fact, quite the opposite. His specialty is the “around-townie.”
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“It’s an excellent college-kid bike,” Mattson says. “It’s basically a refurbished mountain bike that’s been hybridized, and we throw a basket on it and a skinnier bulletproof tire.”
The Velo doesn’t sell any new gear, and the bulk of Mattson’s business is repairs, since he can only stock about 15 to 20 bikes at a given time. Ninety percent of the time, he says he doesn’t have what a potential customer is looking for—but he knows every other store’s inventory and can make local referrals, which often results in Velo business for repairs and maintenance. The shop’s standard tune-up is called the “tune and shine,” which includes a bath, detail, and a tune-up with same-day service for $45.
Mattson intends to rent the storefront next to the Velo—but to open up a fish and chips restaurant, not to expand the store and potentially surrender his claim to world’s smallest bike shop.
“I don’t want new inventory and to have to order bike boxes from China and just put pedals on them like the other shops are doing,” he says. “We’re a small shop and we’re into vintage road bikes and high-quality parts and that’s what we’re into.”
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