It’s been a long ride for the Kuhn family at Kopp’s Cycle
By: George Frey
More than 12,000 repaired flat tires later, Charles Kuhn is pleasantly surprised and even prouder of the shop and business in which he grew up and now owns.
Mr. Kuhn is the owner of Kopp’s Cycle on Spring Street, which was recently named the oldest bike shop in the country, at 109 years old.
"It really kind of blew me away," he said. "Some guy out West, a bike retailer in Idaho, I think, was doing the research. Then, about three weeks ago, Bicycle Retailer magazine asked me some questions about the shop and they said we were the oldest in the U.S."
Mr. Kuhn said he always just assumed there were older bike shops, mentioning Pop Kugler’s in Somerville and Quigley’s in Manville, though both of those shops have gone out of business.
"It’s cool, I’m so used to being in an old shop," Mr. Kuhn continued. "I open up a drawer and there may be a part in there that’s 100 years old. I’ve been around here my whole life."
Mr. Kuhn’s father bought the store in 1948 from the Kopp family, which founded the store in 1891.
"It’s fun coming into work on most days; it’s always different," he said.
All four of Mr. Kuhn’s siblings worked at the family’s shop on occasion over the years, his sister being the last to leave the business two years ago.
"She decided to leave the bike business, and I bought her out," Mr. Kuhn said. "I lost a business partner, but I gained a sister."
Employees at Mr. Kuhn’s shop say they think it is an honor and privilege to work at the nation’s oldest bike store – and also that it’s a good job.
"I’m really honored to work here," said Kyle Bailey, a mechanic and salesman who has been at the shop for about a year. "It’s something to be really proud of. I’m very lucky."
Mr. Bailey and his colleagues said it’s fun to work there, and that Mr. Kuhn is a great boss.
The store has been at five different locations in Princeton over the years. As far as Mr. Kuhn knows, the shop was on Nassau Street first, moved to Chambers Street and then moved to John Street in 1942. From John Street, the shop moved to Witherspoon Street in 1982 and in 1989, it finally moved to Spring Street.
Mr. Kuhn calls the shop’s current home "the best ever," especially in the way the shop is laid out. There is a big enough showroom now that people can walk freely around the store, he explained.
"I know that for me, Kopp’s is always the name it’s been. Why change it?" Mr. Kuhn added. "Kopp’s sounds better anyway, maybe it’s just that I’m used to it. From a business standpoint, there’s no reason to change it anyway."
The old shop on John Street has been razed, according to Mr. Kuhn, who said that when Princeton University sold Palmer Square to Collins Corp. in the 1980s, Kopp’s was asked to leave. The university had, in a sense, subsidized the store with upkeep projects which included masonry work on the building’s exterior. The university was always interested in having the shop near the campus for the benefit of the students, Mr. Kuhn said.
At the John Street location, the word "shop" was crossed out of the lease and replaced by the word "space," because the shop was located in a barn, he added.
In its early years in Princeton, the store, which has always sold and repaired bikes, also was an outlet for a clothier, sold sporting goods and was a radio repair shop.
"Our best customers go back several generations," Mr. Kuhn explained. "I’m fixing kids’ bikes whose parents’ bikes we used to fix when they were kids, so then you know that you’ve been around for awhile."
The shop hit its greatest heights during the lifetime of Charles’ father, Frederick Kuhn, better known as Fred or Fritz.
Several decades ago, Fred Kuhn saw a great need in the United States for specialized racing bikes and parts from Europe which were basically unavailable in North America up to that time.
Kopp’s literally became the hub of bike racing on this continent, through the late Mr. Kuhn’s importation of specialty bicycles into Princeton. People would travel from around the United States and Canada in the ’60s and ’70s to Princeton to buy the specialty bikes, Mr. Kuhn said.
Through the business and its racing club, the Century Road Club of America – the oldest continuously operated cycling club in the country – the store became the focal point of bicycle racing in North America. With the advanced equipment there and Fred Kuhn as an authority on the sport, he became the coach.
The big years for Fred Kuhn’s coaching were between 1972 and 1974. The Cycling Governing Body, the national oversight committee of the sport at that time, decided which riders would make the national team. Those riders became national team members, and whoever had been their coach in their local clubs would remain their coach on the national team. Since 80 percent of the riders that made the team in those years came from the Century Road Club of America, the late Mr. Kuhn became the national coach. He also was the coach of what was known as the Pan Am Games, which are now known as the Goodwill Games.
Fred Kuhn also went to the 1960 Tokyo and the 1964 Rome Olympics as a coach for the team. He didn’t attend the 1968 Mexico City Olympics, though his influence was still being felt in the cycle coaching world, his son said. Indeed, Mr. Kuhn said, at the 1976 Montreal Olympics, his father was the coach of the Luxembourg cycling team.
Asked what he thought of the years Kopp’s had served Princeton, Mr. Kuhn fell into a pensive moment.
"On the future of the store, I treat my position as more of a caretaker than an owner," he said. "The store will live on. Some family members and some of the guys at the store have expressed interest. They want to keep it going. I want to keep the place fresh and current. The expertise is a direct focus on the target market, and I’m always looking at that stuff. I want to have the most knowledgeable staff that I can muster."
Charles Kuhn was the 1995 recipient of the Fritz Kuhn Medal, awarded by the Cycle Engineers Institute in Britain, a research and speakers association with only about 50 members worldwide. He also was elected an honorary member of the institute in 1994 for maintaining high standards at the shop and in cycling established by his father. The institute has to unanimously agree on the recipient and said at the time it was extraordinary to give the award to the son of the person after whom it was named.