Decatur Getting a Downtown Bike Shop
Decatur Metro | January 26, 2011 | 7:05 pm
My wife mentioned to me last night that it looked like the old Kaleidoscope space – between Sawicki’s and Cakes & Ale on West Ponce – had finally been leased due to some general renovations and clean-up in the space. Today an anonymous tipster gave us the 411 on who it is!
Bike shop “Tri Your Best” is moving from its current Stone Mountain location to downtown Decatur next month. From the shop’s website…
Tri Your Best will officially be closing it’s doors in Stone Mountain on Thursday, Jan 27th at 2pm. We would like to thank all of our customers for their continued support and can’t wait to see all of you in our new location in Downtown Decatur! We should be up and running over there about the 2nd week of Feb. Stay tuned for further developments. We will keep all of you in the loop!
Not sure if they’ll be sticking with “Tri Your Best” or if they will take on the “Decatur Bikes” name that is their new URL. Lots more info about their existing business over on their website!
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Not to be confused with Bike Decatur, the advocate group.
Hey, good luck to ‘em!
Seems like a good fit for Decatur in terms of theme. Not sure about location which has little parking but I guess that’s ok if one bikes, runs, or swims there.
I’m a little worried about whether Decatur can support 3 running stores (or are we down to two? Did the one in Oakhurst close?) plus Bike South. I love Fleet Feet–great folks and they contribute a lot to the community and CSD cross-country and track teams. But maybe if I were more knowledgeable about triathalon sports I wouldn’t perceive as much overlap.
I wasn’t clear. I think there are 3 running stores in town now–Big Peach (or whatever it’s called), Fleet Feet, and One Step at a Time in Oakhurst (is the latter still open?). Now add Tri Your Best which also overlaps with Bike South. That seems like a lot to me but we are a fit crowd in Decatur!
I do believe that One Step at a Time is still open.
Charles, the owner, was at the State of the City meeting.
Charles was born in the the Oakhurst neighborhood and grew up in Decatur. He’ll be in that store forever! He’s a gem and I wish more people would shop in his store rather than the flashier ones!
Perhaps they can address the parking issue by installing a bike rack, unlike several other new businesses in the city.
Parking is important for a bike shop because if you are taking a bike in for a repair, you may not be able to ride it to the shop.
There is almost always parking available right in front of the store, particularly during the day. It will cost you a couple of quarters.
There’s a small lot behind the building and a good deal of parking on the side street behind Cakes and Ale .
Hmmm, while I admit that downtown Decatur has needed a community bike shop for a long time.
You gotta wonder why an established bike shop would change it’s name and move in one fail swoop???
Cashing in on the Decatur branding I suppose.
I do know that Decatur cannot support three running stores though…
I know for a fact that it’s not just Decatur that supports BIg Peach. Not by a long shot. They have customers from all over the metro, as do many (perhaps most) other Decatur businesses.
Hi Everyone, This is Mark, the General Manager of Tri Your Best, Soon to be Decatur Bikes. We are very excited about coming to Downtown Decatur as you can imagine and I’m thrilled to see so many comments in one day. Just to let everyone know, we aren’t going to be selling running shoes. We figured that Big Peach, Fleet Feet and One Step At A Time have that part of the market pretty well covered. That will let us focus on Bikes and Tri Gear and Accessories which is what we are best at.
Feel free to shoot me a personal message with any questions and thanks for all the early support!
~mark
Is your shop open yet? If so, what are the hours? I have a bike and it needs to be checked; I also need to learn how to change a flat tire!
Oh, hooray! As a biker, I’m thrilled to have a bike shop within easy reach. I love Bike South up at Emory commons, but downtown Decatur is much more convenient for me when I’m biking. On a bike, the Clairmont/N. Decatur intersection to get to Bike South gives me absolute nightmares.
Ageed. When I ride to Bike South I go through the neighborhood roads in Medlock Park. A shop downtown is more convenient for me, but I will stick with Bike South, where I’ve been going for years now.
Sounds like a cool store. From their website, it sounds like they really specialize in the cycling part of the tri – but have other stuff too for the swimming and running. Hubbs just told me this week that he wanted to upgrade bikes this spring – will have to check them out.
Speaking of bikes, what is the safest way to ride with a baby? When I was a kid my dad put me on the back of his bike, but I think I have heard that is a no-no in “modern times”. Those little trailer things for baby make me nervous.
Trailers are probably safest as long as you put a big flag on them so they are clearly visible to cars behind (plus of course use a safe, well-maintained model with reflectors, etc.) But my kids never liked the trailers. They acted like they were abandoned. So I used the child seat on the back of the bicycle. The danger there is getting on and off without tipping over the whole kit and kaboodle. I tipped over a couple of times but the kid was always fine since they were protected by the seat and helmet. And there’s some logistics to getting the harness on first then the helmet. But the kids liked being close and kicking me.
Oh, and until the kids can sit stably on their own, there’s no good officially-recommended options that I know of. You can put a carseat in the trailer and that’s probably safe but it’s not officially recommended by anyone like the Academy of Pediatrics or safety organizations. And they can’t be put on the back of a bike until they can sit well without slumping–age 8 months or so.
I actually like front-mounted bike seats, where the kid is between you and the handlebars. I find less swaying side to side that way, and your kid can see what’s ahead, not just your back. Here’s an example:
http://www.amazon.com/iBert-Safe-T-Front-Mounted-Bicycle/dp/B000H4E7EO/ref=cm_cr_pr_product_top
Thanks. He should be holding his head up and sitting on his own by summer time – and will look into all the options. He will be riding withmy husband as I tend to fall off of bikes…so probably not a good idea to put the babe on my bike.
My daughter LOVED her trailer. If you can live with the cries of “Faster Daddy, pedal faster!” it’s fun for both. It made me nervous to consider having a seat behind me… if I fall, she falls, and gets slung down pretty hard, sitting up so high.
This is GREAT news!!!
This is indeed great news to finally have a bike store WITHIN the Decatur City Limits in a much more walkable/rideable location!
I will be sure to buy a bike from them when they open!
As far as the location, I think it will be fine, although I had always envisioned a bike store somewhere along the PATH trail that runs along the RR tracks.. There is usually plentiful on-street parking in front of the store on Ponce during the business day and if not, no one ever seems to use the on-street parking across the street on Ponce de Leon Place. There is also a dozen or so spaces behind the store dedicated just to the 3-4 stores in that strip.
According to Dave Wilson the owner of Tri Your Best they don’t plan to carry running shoes because we already have two running shoe stores in downtown and one in Oakhurst.
Then will that make them Bi Your Best?
This is outstanding news! A triathlon shop in downtown Decatur is a great addition.
Why has no one asked the most important question: will the new bike shop use plastic bags?
Hi DEM! I’m Mark, The General Manager of Tri Your Best, Soon to be Decatur Bikes. To answer your bag question, Probably not. At the moment we use recycled Kroger bags for our customers. I am thinking about ordering some of those canvas reusable bags with our logo on them and offer a discount to those that bring them in when they shop. I am totally open to suggestions. I definitely don’t like the idea of adding more plastic bags to the mix.
~mark
Mark — it was intended as a joke, playing on the thread yesterday about plastic bags. Sorry — obviously it was a bad one. Best of luck with the store.
It takes all the fun out of it when you have to explain your jokes.
Well well well. What will Mr. Boykin say? Competition is good, I guess. One of the best things about this location is that it is actually on the PATH to Stone Mountain.
Who is Mr. Boykin?
Decatur City Commissioner Boykin owns the “Bike South” store.
IMHO Both are highly regarded.
Agreed. Planning to stay loyal to Bicycle South here. After several years of visiting for all kinds of minor repairs, equipment and tune ups – I feel they have really earned some customer loyalty. I’ve always experienced good solid honest service.
That’s not to say welcome to this other store – I look forward to checking them out for the rest of my extensive triathalon needs!
Hi Everyone, I’m Mark the General Manager of Tri Your Best/Decatur Bikes. We are obviously very excited about coming to Decatur. We are looking to be moved in and open by the second week of Feb.
To answer the running shoe question, Dave is right, We aren’t going to be carrying them. That hole is already filled and we don’t want to step on any toes.. No pun intended.
If anyone has any questions, feel free to call us at 678-691-7212 or email me directly at
~mark
Hello to all! I’m Dave, the owner (well, one of them) of Tri Your Best / Decatur bikes.
I grew up in Decatur. My family used to live where Smith Hardware is now, but moved around the corner to Derrydown Way in 1960, where I lived until 1985, when I graduated from Ga State and went into the Army. We came back to Decatur in 1992 for my wife to go to Emory for her Medical degree, and we even bought a couple of bikes from Bicycle South! I believe I’ve spent about $2500 there myself!
The town looks quite different from the days when I visited my Pediatrician, Dr. Taylor, next door to where Dancing goats is now, or when I took swim lessions back in 1966 -68 or played baseball for the Jacksonville Suns in 1970 down at Glenlake Park. Both my mother and I used to sing in the Decatur Civic Chorus. My father was the President of the Masons in Decatur for many years.
I love what Decatur has done tranforming itself over the last 25 years, and only regret that I was not in a position to have pitched in to help. I hoped we could have helped Tucker and Stone Mountain do something similar, but our location there made it difficult to do much more than simply survive there.
We feel that with the sport of triathlon growing exponentially, Atlanta needs, first and foremost, more options for triathlon gear and advice, and we feel that Decatur gives us the best opportunity to offer that.
We believe heavily in Community, and are trying to tailor our inventory selection to bring Decatur and all of Atlanta things that they cant get other places. Our goal is not to bring strife or to push someone else out of their business, which is why we are dropping our running shoe inventory as we move from our Stone Mountain location.
We hope to blend in to this city and help introduce more of Atlanta to the jewel that you have created, which should help all of us prosper!
We offer a triathlon club, currently 38 members strong, which swims at Mercer University. We will be offering bicycle and fitness clinics, as well as open water swims at Lake Lanier. Please stop by and say hello as we work feverously to complete 252 W. Ponce into our new home!
Welcome, Mike and Dave. Glad to see you are moving your business to Decatur and wish you the best success.
I have raced with Joey for a couple of seasons at Dick Lane Velodrome. He has phenomenal talent. Looking forward to seeing him more often in the store.
TL.
Welcome Mike & Dave! Excited to have you!
Thank you to Tom, OHM, and all . You can see Joey most days scrubbing the floors or painting the walls at 252. Anyone who wants to catch a glimpse of “the World’s tallest bicycle Mechanic”, can do so almost every day.
We are excited that he was victorious at the State Cyclocross Championships last week in Rome. We feel lucky to have him.
We look forward to making the acquaintance of all in the coming days / months.