This is a very painful loss. VC made our Velocirque shows possible, was the start/end of many group rides, provided the recovery beverage after many a hard cold day in the hills, showed bike races on the big screen, fixed old and new bikes no matter how arcane the problem was. If you needed the special wrench for a Mavic headset, Sky would loan it to you free. Many friendships were made here.

VC was struggling with the city's zoning/code demands which steadily choked off the available revenue streams. If you ever wondered by VC didn't do eats in-house or serve cappuccinos, or why they stopped showing bike races and holding comedy nights in the basement theatre, that was the city issues.

Sky had a big vision that combined an LBS with a social venue, a coffeeshop, and a bar, and the large space was sized and built for that. When half of those revenue streams were closed down or blocked, the remaining revenue just couldn't support the space. If the bar's existence was threatened, there indeed would have been no point in continuing the fight. The fact that VC is closing so abruptly suggests to me that Sky's hand may have been forced. You normally wouldn't shut down a business in the middle of its high season.

There's more to it of course. If this or that had been done one way or the other, VC might have been able to hang on longer, but it might not have changed the end result.

Well, I'll be at the farewell party, and hopefully will stay in touch with Sky and Melodee, have them to my house for more holiday parties and hear how he'll bounce back. A few years ago, I bought the display piece that I most coveted (the NOS Look Bernard Hinault frameset than hangs in my living room, waiting patiently for its turn to be built up), but I know some other cool bikes on the wall and ceiling were for sale - the Merz, etc - so if you want to help Sky get his next thing going and pick up a memento of the best bikeshop most of us have ever hung out at, here's your chance.

Do you have pics of Velocirques past or simply of hanging out at VC? Why not post them in this thread, we'll preserve the shop's memory.