Super Cool?

Super?

Cool?


Er...not quite...No pictures even. Nothing with the occupying space on my SD card.


This is sort of an enigmatic shop. Not much to feel too good about, but nothing to really slap you in the face with wowee-goodness. Sort of the mindless blank stare of the cycling world. Almost like a little, independent Bikes Direct. Paint Color is critical to marketing though...and we'll get to that in a bit.


The outside is so innocuous looking that I drove right by and had to loop back through the residential area behind the place and take another shot at finding it. Simple plain brown building with some spindly bike displays out front. Inside, place is screaming orange in color,no doubt to try to play on the whole Florida school colors thing...but the shade is more nuclear waste orange than UofF orange. Racks are loaded with Fujis and Jamis and stuff, but not a drool generator in sight. Bike parts were slim pickings. The lone employee was a very pleasant and knowledgeable guy, who talked to me about his time in Gainesville and local trails and such. He was a real asset to the shop. The shop needed more assets.


There was a cool old Mazda pick-up truck in the parking lot, one of the old SE-5 sport trim trucks from the late 80's. That was the highlight...


On to the scoring...


-
Staff!


- 4 Engaged Embryos. The dude was cool. Friendly, could talk and work on repairs at the same time. Seemed like a down to earth guy with regards to trail talk and such. If he doesn't own the place, he should. Either that or the owner needs to get the guy more involved in the shop.

-
Bikes!

- 2 Crispy Kids. DULL. Stocked, but DULL. Jamis was the excitement. Some of the new Bikes Direct type stuff was there too, which makes me question if there in fact is some tie-in between the shop and the discount giant. Fujis and SE Racings and stuff like that. Stick to Jamis if you go to bike shop at this bike shop. That's like saying "Stick to Hyundai."

-
Stuff!


- 2 Crispy Kids. Tubes, tools and the bare minimum. I think I saw a Power Bar, but that may have been the guys lunch. I'd need a Malt Liquor to wash down the PB if I worked there, something to soften up that hideous orange color. Some shops are really open for business in spite of themselves.
-
Merchandising!

- 2 Crispy Kids. ORANGE! Stuff was sprinkled about the ORANGE shop, like you would expect a shop to be stocked. Nothing out of the ordinary, but nothing to write home about either. Deductions for ORANGE.
-
Fuzzy Feeling!

- 1 Lowley Smoker. If I had to work there, I'd kill myself and then come back to life and punch the paint retailer, responsible for vending out that nasty hue of orange to the public, in the side of the head. Then I'd punch myself in the side of the head. Then I'd kill myself and come back to life and do it all over again. The orange is that bad. Paint the shop. Fast. Number One Priority! In this instance, "Fuzzy Feeling" can only mean the homicidal eye twitch that makes you do things to others that you don't talk about at parties. Paint Paint Paint. Do it.
-
Overall...

- 2 Crispy Kids.




Super Cool Bike Shop
3460 West University Ave