The Broken Spoke - Bicycle Shop and Coffee House
 
Five days of solid rain has seen a bit of a shift at the Broken Spoke. Hot chocolate sales are rising daily and fenders are flying out the door. Bike sales are always trickier in a deluge though. If someone cant test ride a bike, its hard for them to get excited about the start of a new hobby. However all the staff continue to cycle in and we've suited up sufficiently in our winter gear to keep going right through the year. Here's our take so far.
I've got a relatively short journey to make by bike so i don't need anything too waterproof. Windproof however is essential as i set off at 7:00 am. Keeping me snug beneath the layers are merino wool base layers. Merino wool has really come into fashion in the last few year and understandably so. Its of fantastic quality, warm, breathable and durable. Its been around in skiing circles for a while now where the high price point is a not such a big factor but i'm pleased to see it's being marketed at commuter cyclists and not the really high end of cycling. We have socks, tights and long sleeve shirts at the store and i've been rocking a combination of the three this week.
We're also getting into winter glove territory. Todd is insisting on the lobster gloves (he has a sizable commute). These gloves keep your fingers in pairs where the contact between them aids to warm the glove up. Its a strange position to get used to (think vulcan salute for all you trekkies) but it warms you quickly and effectively. As for me i'm busting out the 3 in 1s. A removable fleece glove inside a waterproof shell. You can wear one, the other or both. Or give part of them to a companion who has forgot theirs. no names need mentioning.
All the best for those who continue to ride, we'll help you out any way we can
Mike
  
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3 months in 09/14/2009
 
We're a day away from our three month anniversary at the Broken Spoke and things are ticking along nicely. Summer is holding on for September it seems and lots of people have been buying themselves bikes for the start of school. Tomiko has been making lots of posters and i've been updating the website. I have plans for a website of epic proportions, i added the Latte hall of Fame last night and i aim to load up a page a week for the next year so keep checking back in to see what has changed. And send you commenst if you have ideas as to what shoul dbe on the site.
Inside the shop we're about to get our big winter order in. A plethora of warm, waterproof, winter clothes will fill the place up nicely and we have fenders, lots and lots of fenders.
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Post Title. 07/29/2009
 
Well our Grand Summer Event went off with fanfare and aplomb. The morning saw our biggest influx of people and then the oppressive heat began to show. However we fought on and raised a copious amount of cash for our charities and promoted the store and the community way plan to anyone who would listen. And some who would not. All in all a good weekend was had and after the coffee tasting we had we are left with 5 different world quality coffees in the store. So come down to the coffee tasting this Saturday for an extra large coffee tasting 2:00pm.

And we're closing on Sunday and Monday for the long weekend. Tomiko and I haven't had a day off together since this venture started and my folks are in town as well. looking forward to it.
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Post Title. 07/23/2009
 

Well we've got two days left before our big event. Not sure how big our big event will be but there will certainly be a lot of events to distract everyone. We had the local TV station down at the store on Wednesday and we've had articles in both the local newspapers. Our call out for classic cruiser bikes has led to an inundation of fantastic bicycles, including a beautiful old school tandem and a Tour de France stage winner (alledgedly, perhaps).   

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Feature coffees

This week we have the Datrra Bruzzi from Brazil, a rainforest alliance, esalq certified, utz kapeh organic coffee.
In essence a coffee so good you feel like your healing the world just by brewing it. Now certifications in coffee are a wonderfully complex and infuriating thing. Not all certified coffees are quite what they claim while some uncertified coffees are a paradigm of healthy global trading. Needless to say we are terribly proud of all our coffees and the journey they have taken to get to our cups and we're more than willing to chat about the ethics of coffee purchasing at our store

The second coffee we have is the intensly different Misty Valley. This is a very special coffee from the yirga cheffe region in Ethiopia. It is left to ferment naturally inside the coffee cherry so it takes on a sharp, almost fruity flavour. We serve it fresh from a french press and its like no other coffee you've ever tried.
 

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Finally Opened 06/24/2009
 

Well, May rattled along with construction still underway and June threatened to bypass us also before a few late night sessions with friends and family allowed us to finally open our doors on an other wise gloriously non descript Monday in the middle of the month. The 15th to be exact, mark it in your diaries, send us a card next year if we make it.
And what was opening day like? we'd done little in the way of advertising but we were armed with a tent, some balloons, the best coffee expert on the island (officially, he won a really big contest and everything) and lots of friends and family who wanted to test our bikes and our coffee. We let them test the lot and some even volunteered to test our debit and credit card machine which was very accomodating of them. We sold a bike which i believe bodes well for the future, to a very nice lady by the name of Margret who thought she would never ride again. She bought one of our upright comfort bikes in a lovely cream hue. Needless to say, the day was toasted and with that the Broken Spoke was officially up and running. Hope to see you here soon

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First Post! 05/28/2009
 
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