Urban Menace bikes

By George I think they got it!

2012-02-10T15:30:00.000-08:00

I was getting a haircut the other day, chatting with the hair stylist and mentioned I own a bike shop. She said "oh, my son is looking for a trick bike, how much are they?" I said "a good one is around $500". She says "oh, I was looking for something around $200 do you have anything in that price range?". I said "nope, the cheapest is $385". She said okay and kinda dropped it. But then after a little discussion about the skatepark the city is building down the street,she starts to tell me about the department store bikes he has broken lately and they cost $300 each and have no warranty or anything. Well I said for the $600 you spent you could've got a good BMX with a lifetime warranty on the frame. It clicked, and she got it, buying one good bike costs less in the end.

The same day, some dude that looks like one of the standard ruffian's that roams the area comes in. He does a lap of the store and heads straight to a pretty expensive bike. He asks to see it, rides it a little around the store and says yeah, I'll take it. So cool, but while I am doing up the bill, buddy starts telling me his story (everybody has a story). He wanted that bike since it came out and he was about to order one online. But figured before he hit the confirm button he would do a little local search and found my little shop. Checked my price for the bike and it was cheaper than ordering from the US would be. How can this be you ask? Buddy figured out that the shipping, duty and taxes added to the US price it would put it over my price and he would be without a warranty (Any bike shipped over a border automatically loses its warranty). He is a big guy and doesn't plan on babying the bike and wanted a warranty. I was very impressed and said I wish more people thought their purchases through, not only would they get the warranties and service they deserve but they would be helping a small business stay open for a little while longer.

Full time baby!

2012-01-13T13:44:00.000-08:00

I REMEMBERED MY PASSWORD!!!

I've been trying to update this, allot has happened since August and I finally remembered my log in stuff.

So, the racing was as fun as ever and there is even an Urban Menace race team now! The team consists of Austin, Erin, Ethan, Ray and me. I had jerseys made by Artrageous in POCO pretty much at the end of the year but we'll look slick this year. And just recently added a bunch of park/street riders to the team that will be ripping it up at a skatepark near you.

We have some new bike lines available and are even an exclusive dealer for COLONY bmx bikes... complete bikes anyway. We also now have Kross bikes in stock, made in Europe with all Shimano & Suntour components. And have a whole bunch of SE racing products in stock... my first real race bike was a SE racing "P.K. RIPPER". :)

And last but certainly not least. If you have tried to call or come down and noticed the very limited hours it was because I was also working full time. Well, no more! I quit that job and I am here from 12 - 7pm most days. I also answer email, messages and whatnot starting at 7:30 am and usually until 11pm. I'm not stalking, just a little bit of a workaholic. ;)

BMX RACING!!!

2011-08-14T11:50:00.000-07:00

So at some point between the snake (which is now back in the wild thanks to the Burnaby Wildlife Rescue) and now, I started BMX racing!

It wasn't a whim or a feeble ploy at getting some business, I have actually been planning on getting back on the track. I say get back to the track because I raced for pretty much all of the 80's. The shiny chrome and pastel colors are gone and the track looks like it wants to do you some serious bodily harm but it is still as fun as ever. I now race the 40 & over cruiser class, yes that's right 40 & over and there is usually riders in the 45 & over class too!

The store is slowly transforming to a one stop BMX shop but I will still fix anything that comes through the door. I am a Red Seal certified Commercial Transport mechanic so it's kind of an oath that I pledge to repair whatever people bring me. ;)

Just a note: Urban Menace bikes is proud to be the only bike shop to carry made in Canada Yess BMX frames, chain tensioners and the only place to get a complete Yess BMX!

There's a snake in the shop!

2011-06-04T10:30:00.001-07:00

One of my more "colorful" regular customers was in the shop earlier this week and left behind a box which formerly contained chocolate covered almonds.
I was closing up and picked up the box off of the floor and it felt like something was in there. I opened it up and expected some chocolatey treats but in the box was a snake! Yes a snake. I closed it up quickly and put the little box into a bigger box then put them in the sink for some reason. Thinking he would come back the next day, I rushed to the shop to check on the snake and it was gone!
So I had a snake roaming freely about the bike shop for the better part of the week. Then yesterday after my "I'm coming home" phone call, I turned around and there is the snake. He reared up and was trying to pick a fight. I quickly retrieved its former home from the sink, threw it on the floor and somehow coaxed it into the box. I then taped up (made sure it could still breath) the almond box so it couldn't escape again, then put that box in an even bigger box (about three feet high... it's not getting out of there) and locked it in the washroom.... after turning the heater on so it will stay warm. So once again the shop is safe and snake free (almost).

Oscar the grouch in human form!

2011-04-21T19:52:00.000-07:00

I thought I was getting surly, I'm not even close to someone that came in to the shop the other day. Apparently his spawn races BMX bikes.... Yay .... and has a $1000 serious race machine with a stretched chain. Mr. G was not at all impressed by having to spend $10 on his spawns bike and after taking every chain out of it's box and closely examining each link of every chain (all the while mumbling to himself) decided $10 was far too much money for a chain for a $1000 race bike and marched out with the spawn behind. They jumped into a beemer and sped off. All I could think was, poor kid. The look of terror in the spawns eyes when asked a question was heart breaking. If I ever have another spawn it will get any chain it wants.

What the ????

2011-04-16T22:53:00.000-07:00

Started out with a bang and it has dropped to the point of why bother. Quickly becoming one of the hoards of surly bike shop owners which I was striving to not become. It has gotten to the point where I had to get a full time job to support the bike shop. And have people making smarmy comments about my hours, such as, "oh, it must be nice to only have to work 2 hours a day" to which I reply " I've been up since 5:30 and have already put in a 9 hour day at my first job, but thank you for supporting small business" Most of the public are not aware but most of us independent bike shop owners do work another job, some even live inside their shops after hours. Why you ask? Because we are bike people, we live, eat and sleep bikes. So please do some research before coming into an actual bike shop and know what it is you are looking for, chances are we already put in a full day somewhere else and could snap at any moment. Thank you for your support.

Urban Menace

2011-01-31T10:50:00.000-08:00

The little shop in the French neighborhood is plugging along. Lots of support from the community, mostly well wishes and whatnot. I've mostly had inquiries aboot mountain bikes and skateboards in my new neighborhood. So you have to give the people what they want to stay afloat yes? I'll be featuring mountain bikes from Asama and other more comfortable bikes for the ladies, all of which will be under $1000. The mountain bikes are hardtails with front suspension and disc brakes on the front and rear and are in the $700 range. The comfort bikes have suspension seatposts, front suspension, adjustable stems, lots of gears and are in the $300 range.

The big news is I was just approved for an account with Centre Distribution, which is a local skateboard distributor!!! The shop will start out with Santa Cruz skateboards and see where that takes us. And since there will be more than bikes now, I will slowly be fazing out bikes in the name of the store.

Moved in at Maillardville!

2010-12-24T16:01:00.000-08:00

Got into the new store a few days late and had to do some renovations. But after a week straight of working like a squirrel on espresso we got it done. The new store is open and is looking all swanky and stuff. We still have some decorating to do and get a sign and a giant sticker for the counter made but close enough... open for bidness. The shop is bigger and we now have a bigger show room and repair area. The show room is big enough to ride bikes around.... which the wife and I have done. The repair area is so big, I have no idea where to put anything. We'll be closed for Christmas but will be open on Boxing day and will have some sort of sale. So come on down to 930 Brunette Avenue in Coquitlam, check out the new digs and buy something to help an independently owned and operated bike shop.

Coquitlam, here I come!

2010-12-12T01:17:00.000-08:00

Signed the lease and closed up the Richmond store today. Sad but yay new adventure! Also sold a bike on closing day to a person from Langley. Whom was very excited to hear about the move to Coquitlam. Got some pertinent intel from the Landlord for insurance and everything is good to go! There are already talks of holding bike shows in the parking lot!

I remembered my login stuffs!

2010-12-06T12:23:00.000-08:00

Yay! I finally remembered my log in stuff and can update this quickly... I have to go measure something. But anyway, A little after the last blog I had my business plan approved by small business BC and my bank and started looking for a location to open my very own bike shop! After tons of research, the most logical by the numbers anyway, was a location in Richmond. It has the population, trails, bike lanes, improving biking infrastructure, lack of other bike shops, I could go on and on. Plus I had found a unit that was in the middle of an outdoor mall with tons of foot traffic, tons of parking, close to the highway, skytrain, bus stops, Vancouver, every amenity I could think of was in close proximity. So it should have been a home run right off the bat. But, apparently very few people in Richmond buy bikes and fewer people actually like going to Richmond if they are from other areas.... sorry to hurt your feelings Richmond. So after four and half months in Richmond, I am moving my shop to Coquitlam. Very central location, close to Ikea, lots of parking, close to the highway, bus stop is steps away from the door and skytrain is 950 meters away. So come one, come all to the new shop in Coquitlam, the address is 930 Brunette Avenue and is in the historic village of Maillardville right across from Woody's. The opening date is tentatively set for Dec.15th but check back here before coming down. And due to overwhelming requests I will get some mountain bikes in. Thank you for your support.

2010-04-20T13:30:00.000-07:00

Caramel aka Butterscotch is done and ready for a new home. It's been ready for a while, just not to anxious to sell it. It's sooooooo pretty. It's been on CL a couple of times and had some offers but nothing serious. I'm asking $700 for it, it cost $680 to build unless I count my time and I don't want to think about it.

There is other stuff going on. Got my new T-shirts made by Monster Press in Langley. I'm happy with them. And, I started up my very own BMX racing team! It's so cool being able to help out the little guys become obsessed with bikes. I've also been shopping for a new frame builder. I've looked far and wide and still nothing set in stone. Check out the website for the official ad for Caramel and go to the "about us" page and check out my racers!

Caramel

2010-02-05T14:03:00.000-08:00

Caramel, or as some people say it, caramel. Caramel should have been done by now but my wheel guy forgot to ship the wheels. How do you forget to ship wheels? They are big wheels, 26 inches in diameter. Plus they are bright white...some people's children. Anyway, Caramel is almost done, just waiting for wheels. It has some sweet stuff too, Profile racing stem, Haro Bars & grips, Premium Products cranks and seat and it will also have Intense Micro Knobbies. I have three more frames that need the full tilt boogie and after that there will be no more.... of those anyway.

Has anyone ever seen a bike shop in a mall in Canada? I was curious about the whole bike shop in a mall thing and did a google search. Apparently not a rare thing in the good ole USA but I have never seen one here. It would make more sense to me to have a bike shop in a mall in Canada instead of Florida. I mean with all the vast frozen tundra and the roaming gangs of polar bears it would make sense to have all of our shopping in malls. Hmmmm, I might have to look into that. I may or may not have big news soon, depending on who is reading this. So stay tuned. Aloha.

Too is good

2010-01-29T16:39:00.000-08:00

So number 1 is gone, then about one hour later I get about five emails for that bike. Figures doesn't it? So I brought two more frames to my powder guy and they turned out nice. One is gun metal gray and the other is supposed to be bronze but we call it caramel, mmmmm caramel. I finished building up the gun gray bike and was writing the ad and typed in Big Boy and I cringed. I was planning on them being the Big Boy bikes but I never really liked the name. Reminds me of "big boy pants" or "big boy potty", you know that annoying saying mothers tell there boys when they're attempting to boost the ego of their spawn. Anyway, I couldn't do it, I couldn't name another bike Big Boy so I decided to do what I had originally was planning on doing, naming them all differently. The gun gray bike is being named Too and the caramel bike isn't finished yet so it doesn't have a name but caramel is in the running. Here's a picture of Too, it cost me about $700 to build so I figure I'll ask $700 for it, sounds fair. It has some sweet parts on it, which happen to be quite expensive. Like the Redline flight cranks, Profile racing stem, Animal pedals and grips, Shadow conspiracy sprocket, and of course the 26" Intense Micro knobbies. Enjoy!

Yay!

2010-01-15T16:37:00.000-08:00

After months of negotiations and hard nosed dealings, number 1 is sold. Well not that bad but I was given an offer I couldn't refuse. The first ever complete bike went to a nice guy that REALLY wanted it and I now have a new cruiser.:)

So, now that #1 is gone, #2 and #3 are now in for powder. One will be gun metal gray and the other will be bronze, looks more orangie though. Both will have chrome forks and the gun gray bike will have black wheels and the bronze will have white. All the parts for the gun gray are in stock, they include Redline flight cranks, Profile stem, Animal grips, Shadow conspiracy sprocket, Intense tires.... oh yeah this one is going to be trick and expensive. I'm trying to get a bunch of white parts for the bronze bike, mostly premium products parts, it's going to be equally as sick, if not sicker. So stay tuned for bike building fun! I also wanted to mention, Urban Menace bikes is now listed in the companies section of BMX Museum (bmxmuseum.com). Check it out if you haven't. Aloha!

ok

2010-01-08T14:39:00.000-08:00

So I was doing a mock up on the next bike. Had wheels, handle bars, seat & post and even a seat post clamp. Sat down to get the feel. For some reason the front wheel is way off to left field... eek. Grabbed another fork, same thing... double eek. Started measuring like a mad man, had levels out, rulers, you name it. Nothing wrong with the frame but the fork was way off. Walked around in circles for a while, huffing and puffing to calm down a little. Started doing the math to get forks in from Cali and fell out of my chair due to "brown's" shipping charges, the only way the place in Cali ships. Got back up, looked around for a while and found some out of Florida that don't ship "brown". YAY! Ordered enough sets for the remaining frames and settled down. The only thing is the new forks are chrome. So the rest of the bikes will have chrome forks like my white bike. The only one to have color matching forks will be the black #1 bike... I might have to keep it now. I also have a place in Canada that will build frames for me now, but I have to order 50... triple eek. But a Canadian bike company with a frame made in Canada..... priceless. Also looked into getting a frame chromed... fell out of my chair again, but did manage to find some really cool looking powder coating. Oh yeah, if you were just at the website and are thinking about buying the BB. You will get a genuine UM bikes certificate of authenticity signed and laminated by me if you buy the #1. I figure if PD can do it so can I. Aloha!

ooops

2009-12-30T19:16:00.000-08:00

I guess I haven't been on here for a little while. Little grape had just sold and the BB was still being built. Since then, BB is done, has done a tour de bike shops, had lots of good feedback. Found, fixed and sold an old ladies Baycrest to a funky little english girl that had just landed here and needed some wheels. The chrome 24" BMX was back for some add-on's, lights, front brake, butt friendly seat and smaller pedals for my little Australian friend. AND the business plan was submitted, revised and has now passed the scrutiny of small business BC!!! I have also started to make my own t-shirts on my kitchen table with the latest version of the logo. See big purple thing.... they are by no means professional looking and don't look like they will last too long but people sure do notice purple & green!

Grape is gone

2009-10-20T11:00:00.000-07:00

Alas my little grape is gone. It was a little bit of a "do" but the end result was what I wanted and more! The story is, this dude emails me in the morning and wants me to call him about grape. I finished off my coffee and gave him a ring. A meeting was planned and off were we.... me and grape. I got to said meeting area, went to Tim's and got more coffee, hung out at the parking lot for a bit and gave him a call after 20 or so. Dude said his ride is a late and asked if I could go to his place, a little of the hmmmmm at first but planned a second meeting close to his place and an added forty for my travels. So I arrived at said meeting place the second and saw a dude sitting close to the entrance but called dude anyway, it was him and it was all good. Got some props from some BMX kids about grape and dude was even happier. A sale was made with no haggling and extra cash for delivery.... I wish every sale was like this. Had no trouble getting home and had a story for the wife. It's cool when it all comes together like this sale, nice bike, nice dude, nice day but it would be nicer to have a store.

I am working on probably the last bike for 2009. It will be a Big Boy BMX. If you have checked out the site you may have seen my BB that I built for testing, it is white and chrome. It rides real nice and is lighter than I thought it would be, so I decided to build one for the public. It has been powder coated black and will have a 70's BMX vibe to it. I am still waiting for parts but they should be here soon.

Grape is back

2009-10-18T09:39:00.000-07:00

I pulled Grape from the CL listings for a while. I was getting some rude emails and stunningly bad offers. But I have just re-listed due to buying snow tires yesterday. Why snow tires you ask? Where I live they don't plow and I was stuck in my drive way for weeks last year and when I did get out I was stuck every 10 feet after that. But not this year! Not only did I get snow flake rated tires but they are studded too! But I now have to make money so my groovy 70's bike is back up for sale. :(

It's Grrrrrape?

2009-10-07T18:43:00.000-07:00

The latest bike for sale is an old Simpsons Sears cantilever frame bike with 24" wheels, ape hangers, banana seat and a 5 speed with a stick shift! Both my wife and I thought it wouldn't last one hour and someone would be here throwing money at me. But it's the total opposite, I've had two people want it. One tried a little to see it but it didn't work out. The other person's A.D.D. must have kicked in and he never got back to me. That's two people out of the 1258 people that have looked at it... yes I keep a counter. I know it's October, not exactly the bike buying time of year but this bike is awesome. I got it in trade for a BMX bike from the original owner. It needed allot of help, the gears didn't work, the shifter looked like it had never worked, the brake was an ornament, the bars were bent and it was dirty. I fixed the shifter, got the gears working and cleaned and lubed all of the drive train. I replaced the bent bars, straightened and tensioned the wheels, installed good brakes on the front and back with new levers,cables and pads. Cleaned the whole thing and found some grips that match the sidewalls. The total cost was around $300 but it is fall and I'm trying to build some equity for hopefully some big news soon. So I am currently asking $200 but after writing this I think I'll raise the price....HAHA.

UM bikes

2009-09-13T18:22:00.000-07:00

First post for Urban Menace: going riding see ya later.