A new bike shop-cafe-workshop-cycling destination is coming to Dublin in the next few weeks. And its crowdfunding drive has already been a huge hit. Dublin Loves Bikes has for the past 18 months been building its own bikes - including electric cargo bikes like this one. And now it plans to offer boutique European brands it believes you won't find elsewhere.
A new bike shop in Dublin that doesn’t exist yet has enjoyed a hugely successful crowd funding campaign.
Dublin Loves Bikes, which currently exists as a niche wholesaler, was looking to raise €15,000 to bring to life its plans to launch a bike shop cum cyclists‘ destination.
And having just completed its online fundraising effort at the end of last week, the men behind the project have confirmed to stickybottle they raised slightly in excess of the target sum; €15,540 to be precise.
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The new shop will do all the things a traditional bike shop does; carry out repairs and sell bikes and components.
But it will also have a cafe in-store in the hopes it can become a meeting place for riders.
There are a number of stores like it in the UK. And in Ireland the ChainReactionCycles store on Boucher Rd, Belfast, also has a cafe.
One of the company's own brand bikes, made in Dublin from imported parts. It says it wants to offer customers a service and products unique in a busy and competitive market.
“Luckily for us we reached the goal with the funding so that’s brilliant and we are very grateful,” said one of the men behind the project Joe Dobias.
“It’s really going to help to do it properly. We had 52 backers in the end.”
The project is currently operating from two locations including Dobias’s apartment, which is being used as the office.
It also has a warehouse on the Whiteheather Industrial Estate, Dolphin's Barn, Dublin 8.
It houses the stock and bikes – including electric cargo bikes - the company sells to shops. Its workshop is also at the Dolphin’s Barn premises.
Dublin Loves Bikes likes funky machines and is hoping to carry that vibe into its new premises; with the hunt for the right spot now nearing an end.
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Dublin Loves Bikes has already been making its own brand of city bikes, fixies and cargo bikes for the last 18 months, as well as selling smaller boutique European brands of bikes.
These include Csepel, Early Rider bespoke bikes for kids, Riese & Müller and Eg Riders Vintage Bikes, among others.
Dobias, who is from Slovakia, said the money raised will be used to secure a new property – including deposit and the first three months rent – and to renovate it to the specification aimed for.
“We want to include a cafe and do what you might call a lounge for cyclists; we will see how that goes and we’ll build on that.
The company's logo in the badge it fits to the front of all of the bikes it makes itself.
“We’ve worked as wholesalers for the last year and what we’re learned is that everybody is selling the same thing. So to be special you really need to do something else.
“What we’re going to do is to find European brands. So we already have some contacts in Hungary, Slovakia, Germany, the UK.
“At the moment, we’re one Hungarian fella, two Slovakians and a Romanian; so it’s a good mix!
"We are speaking to two Irish guys who might be working with us on a business level, so it will be a real mix of nationalities.
Slovakian Dobias and Thomas Csezli from Hungary are the driving forces behind the project.
Look Mum no Hands! has been hugely successful in London. The new Dublin store will seek to emulate the British outfit by creating a destination for cyclists rather than simply a bike shop (Photo courtesy Look Mum no Hands! Same photo on homepage)
“We’ll try to sell; not Trek, not Giant, not Specialized. We’ll try and have something that people find interesting when they start looking.
“We were looking at a unit in Crumlin and a few other places, so we will tie down the location now very quickly. And wherever we end up, we are hoping to be open by early March.”
With the group behind the business having begun trading in July, 2014, they have retained their day jobs until now. But in a bid to get the project properly up and going, that is about to come to an end.
Says Dobias: “We started wholesaling and then (retailing) online. But I think now it’s time to open a shop. And be unique.”
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