By John Tredrea, Special Writer
The first week of December brought a spiffy looking business to Hopewell Borough at 53 East Broad St.: Sourland Cycles, which caters to the growing bicycle business in this neck of the woods.
"It’s a full service community bike store," said Michael Gray, one of the owners. "We have the best selection of road bikes in New Jersey and a full line of accessories and repair services."
Enabling the shop to have such a spacious feel is that there’s a barn out back that can be used for storage.
"We wanted to have a nice-looking retail space, and I think we’ve achieved that," Mr. Gray said.
The coming of Sourland Cycles meant giving the borough’s main street a lift, preserving a historic building, and adding a new business.
"We’re really pleased with how the shop came out," said Russ White, Mr. Gray’s partner. "This was a vacant 100-year-old, two-story house before we came in."
The shop’s mechanic is Tom Cooper. Also on the staff is Insuk Davovav.
"We have a lot of floor space devoted to women’s bikes," Mr. Gray said. "We have a great partner for that — Liv, an affiliate of Giant that makes women’s bikes."
Giant is the biggest bike manufacture in the world, turning out half a million cycles a year. In addition to selling Giant, including Liv, Sourland Cycles also sells bikes by BMC, Linus and Pedego.
"Pedego makes electric bikes. They’re out of California, and we’re the only dealer in New Jersey that sells them," Mr. Gray said. "You don’t have to pedal them all the time. They have five levels of electrically powered assist. They can help you on hills and help you go faster. They’re tremendous for seniors and commuters. It’s a fun ride."
Children’s bikes can also be purchased and maintained there.
"The community has been very supportive. We sold about 20 kids bikes the first three days we were open," Mr.Gray said.
Balance bikes, which the shop sells, don’t have training wheels. The bikes are close enough to the ground to allow youngsters to keep them balanced by putting their feet on the ground.
The shop has a full line of accessories.
"We’re going to have a vending machine in the front of the store, with accessories inside, for people to use when the store is closed," Mr. Gray said.
Already ready is a changing room where customers can try on gear.
Mr. Gray, who was project manager for the Lawrence-Hopewell Trail (LHT) for four years, said the shop plans to host speakers, including some from the League of American Cyclists, on topics close to cyclists’s hearts, such as how to change a flat. Yoga classes are also planned, he said.
"We want this to be a community meeting place, a social place, that’s also a full-service bicycle shop," he said.
The shop also has a close connection with the Bike Exchange, an organization that so far has raised half a million dollars for the Boys and Girls Clubs of Trenton. They’ve done that by accepting donated bikes, repairing them with all-volunteer labor, then selling them.
"We sell kids bikes for about $10 and adult bikes for $100 to $150," said Russ White, a veteran of the Bike Exchange. "Anyone who wants to donate a bike to Bike Exchange can drop it off here at Sourland Cycles."
