Bikeshop Candids: Atown Bikes

Did you know that the city of Auburn, in the Sierra foothills east of Sacramento, beat out every other participating city in per capita miles ridden, across a six county region during a May Bike Month competition? That includes beating out the perennially noted bike-friendly city of Davis. For the second straight year. More on that in a future post. 

For now, though, lets consider Atown Bikes. Atown is one of several bike shops in Auburn town, opening up in their current, prominent, location three years ago. The husband / wife team of owners (Duke and Christy Jay) looked around and noticed shops specializing in performance bikes and decided that it might be prudent to focus on a different market, hence you will find Yuba Mundo's and E-bikes on the showroom floor, or arrayed outside the front door. A big fan of Yuba myself, i would love to see them sell a ton of those. Choosing to focus on a market outside the "mainstream" suggests that they foresee continued growth in the everyday, functional side of cycling. This does not mean that they ignore the sporty side of cycling - as a Masi, KHS, and GT dealer, they also carry a range of road and mountain bikes to satisfy the wants of recreational riders and racers.

Duke, like many shop owners, has a long history in cycling, going back to bmx days in Chatsworth, which might explain the many bmx bikes and posters up on the walls of the shop. In fact i thought that market might be a prime focus, but was told, no, not really. The shop also deals in used bikes, both buying and selling them, and there were a number of well maintained ones for sale. 

Auburn is being billed as the endurance capital, with long distance events taking place here throughout the year. Due to the city's location there is indeed great potential to develop into a cycling center - Atown is ready to be part of that growth. When in Auburn, check them out.