Photo by Jay Paul
New and used bikes are suspended from the ceiling inside Lucky’s Bicycles on North Meadow Street. The bike shop had its beginnings in Mechanicsville in January 2013, but re-opened in the city on April 8. “There’s more demand and a larger cycling community around the Fan,” co-owner Klaas Versluys says. A barbershop formerly occupied the 850-square-foot space where Versluys and Fallon Cecil now operate a full-service bicycle store.
The pair, who met in art classes at Virginia Commonwealth University, hand-carved the shop’s name on a salvaged wood sign that hangs out front. As well as those hanging from the ceiling, new bicycles with prices starting at $300 are displayed along a red accent wall inside, while used bikes that start at $150 occupy the shop’s cream-colored interior.
“We want people to feel good about riding bikes,” Versluys says. The 25-year-old, who previously worked as a bicycle mechanic at Basic Cycles in Charlottesville, hopes to corner Richmond’s bike commuter market. “Not everybody needs a racing bike,” he says, adding that Lucky’s sells Los Angeles-based Retrospec Bicycles. “‘The Dutch grocery bike’ is what I like to call them,” he says. “They’re really utilitarian and purpose-driven.”
The neighborhood bike shop also buys used bicycles, and Versluys hopes to offer custom steel bike-frame building in the near future. “I’ve just gotten a torch recently, and I’d like to start moving in that direction,” he says.
