Fixed Up at Dream Cycle

Well it took a while, but I've finally jumped on the fixed-gear bandwagon. My first foray into fixieland happened about six years ago when I was a courier in Toronto. After much prodding by my associates, I agreed to borrow a back wheel from a very generous soul and give it a try. However, the streets were awash with snow and slush and, running on a very short fuse at the time, I was in no mood to relearn how to ride a bike. I returned the wheel at the end of the week and put my 7-speed back on, resolving to try again at some later date. As it turns out, much later indeed.

Fast forward to last week. I was happily cruising along on that same road bike, which had by then been converted to a single-speed, when my freehub started dying on me. Has that ever happened to you? If it has, you know that the results can range from mildly annoying to catastrophic. The last time that happened I was shooting a hole across a busy street and came within about one foot of being broadsided and obliterated by a delivery van. It wasn't a complete failure this time though, so I just swore a couple of times and started thinking about a new back wheel. In particular, the kind of back wheel that requires very little maintenance and will never have a freehub failure. Yes, yes, the very trendy and oh-so-Vancouver-hipster-as-of-late fixed gear rear.

Which brings me to Dream Cycle, a newish bike shop on Commercial Drive. I first noticed the place about a month ago (although I think they've been open since early in the spring) but never had a reason to go in until now. And I'm glad I did, because they have a small selection of used bikes, and a fairly complete inventory of frames, forks, components, and accessories from Surly, IRO, Shimano, and Mavic, among others. The very best part was that there just happened to be one newly-built fixed rear hanging on the wall ready to go... IRO track hub... CXP22 rim... perfect. I can thank Vancouver's recent fixed-gear fever for the fact that a bike shop owner would spend his free time building such a back wheel just on the assumption that someone would wander in looking for one. My how things have changed. And to complete the picture... Ed Tsui, the mechanic, is super friendly and knows his bikes. Did I mention that if you buy the parts from them, they don't charge labour on the wheel build? That's a nice touch for sure. So if you're looking for a bike shop in the northern sector of Commercial Drive, give Dream Cycle a try. As of right now, I don't think that they have a website, but if you want to reach them, they're at 1010 Commercial Drive and their phone number is 604-253-3737.

Photo courtesy of jake.hall