...is home to the Bisbee Bike Brothel, The Best Little Wheelhouse in Arizona.
Bisbee Bicycle Brothel

My brother just completed a coast-to-coast tour (Bubba's Pampered Peddlers) and was impressed with this shop. They had a nice-looking selection of vintage bikes, including a couple of Cinelli, one of which sports Altenburger components.



Browsing their website shows lots of other interesting "historical" stuff...


Waterford 1900

Ephgrave #1 lugs

I was hoping you'd fill us in on the vintage trailer park, the Shady Dell.

The Shady Dell | TRAILERS & RATES

Ha...looks like a pretty cool place!
Don't know how much time my brother spent there, but it appears to be a town that appeals to my future travel plans.

Few cool places in extreme southern AZ, no pun intended. Lol

Bisbee is ... odd. Never been to that bike shop though; may have to check it out.
Lots of not-too-heavily-traveled 2-lane highways down in that SE corner of the state though (I grew up in Sierra Vista. Same general area.). Typically 5-8 degrees cooler than Tucson, which is typically 6-10 degrees cooler than Phoenix. So it'll take you longer to die from dehydration and/or heatstroke.

I lived at Ft Huachuca for awhile myself. Loved the area and Bisbee is quite a different little place. Never saw the bike shoppe there though...

Home of the Electric Brewing Company. One of the best IPAs in the west.

The BBB was closed when I visited about 10 years ago, ironically because there was a bike race going on.

Used to stop in at the Copper Queen hotel for dinner once a year. Grand old place. But that was 35 years ago.

My wife has ways wanted to get down there, pretty artsy type place and they usually showcase it as one of the stops local news do when promoting places to visit. Looks really cool and now I can agree to go. Haha.

The owner of the Bisbee Bike Brothel is a friend of our mutual friend.

Happy it is still there.
I read elsewhere some time ago that it was closing.

I believe it closed and reopened. I know it was closed when we were there in April of 2015 and recently has been reported as open. +1 on the beer and eclecticity of Bisbee.

He did close for awhile, recently reopened.

I have many fond memories of Bisbee from my teenage days, though not of the Bisbee Bike Brothel. Not only is Bisbee a hippee enclave nestled in a canyon with staggering staircases, it is the home to leading local booster and iconoclast comic Doug Stanhope, and also the former home of the Tour of the Future, then dubbed as a sort of National Jr. Stage Race.

It is through the Tour of the Future that I came to know Bisbee. Aspiring teenage racers had to apply for acceptance into the Tour of the Future. I was 15 years old when I first sent in my resume, and 16 by the time the race was held. I remember it was the first time I ever prepared a resume--an application of sorts with cover letter and list of jr. palmares. I was ecstatic when I was given a spot, though certainly less ecstatic then my dad who begrudgingly brought me to the middle of nowhere. Bless him, he agreed to fly out with me and his new wife, rent a car from Phoenix or wherever the nearest airport was, drop me off in Bisbee (not to mention the speeding ticket on the way), and come back to pick me up a week later.

There were about a hundred teenage racers, most of whom, including myself, stayed in a large boarding house adjacent to a church. As I recall it was a catholic boarding school that was vacated during the summer. There were about a dozen or so kids per room on cheap squeaky beds but nobody minded. Most people where there with teammates or fellow racers they knew from the national circuit but I felt pretty much alone. I remember bonding with a guy named Max from Redding, PA, though we lost touch after the race. It was a a coming of age week for me.

There were contingents from the U.S. National team, as well as several international teams. Toward the end of the week, I traded jerseys with fellow jr. racer from Australia. He got one of my Conejo Velo Club jersey and I got his Hutt Cycling club jeresey--a retro red with white paneled and too-short front zipper--which I still wear today.

I remember meeting and racing against several fellow junior racers who went on to have pro careers such as George Hincapie, Bobby Julich, Jonathan Vaughters. This was still when love of the sport was pure and none of them had begun juicing. I'll still think George as approachable and not the least bit conceited, though he was a man amongst boys even as a 16-year-old. And Jonathan Vaughters seemingly always at the back until deciding to make his move, invariably on a climb. He was a great time trialist as well.

The race consisted of several challenging road races, through the desert, past the landscape scar of the old copper mines, and plenty of climbing. There was a challenging uphill individual time trial in a nearby state park which ascended into a pine forest, and a circuit race similar to a crit on the final day which ran through the main drag up the canyon. Overall a well-organized race. Anyone else participate?

The first year I raced as a 16-year old in between my sophomore and junior year in high school. The next year, the summer between my junior and senior year in high school, I had a teammate who was able to join me. Being broke teenagers, rather than pay the extra boarding fee, we hooked up with a local family who offered to host/board some junior racers for the week. The family that hosted us were the most gracious, kind, and generous people I have met in my life. They were also perhaps among the poorest. The floors were literally dirt floors. The two young boys who normally slept on a pull-out couch gave up their bed and slept in their parents bed so that my teammate and I could share their couch. The homemade tortillas and authentic Mexican food enjoyed on their patio as dazzling displays of constellations revealed themselves behind spectacular fading sunsets left us wanting nothing.

One night late in the race, word got round that some groups of jr. racers were going to head across the border into the nearby town of Naco for some excitement. Now a site of drug transport and a pressure point of "fortress America" with metal walls erected in the 90s, back then it was a quiet town with not much more than a booth at the border crossing. We parked on the U.S. side of the border and walked past the empty booth. We passed some bars and contemplated a cerveza or some fireworks, noticed some bullet holes in the plaster walls, but mostly stayed out of trouble. After wandering around for while, my teammate Bryon and I stumbled on the central park where some fellow racers and locals had begun to congregate and loiter as teenagers do. We arrived after a group of jr. racer gringos and Naco youth had already begun engaging in flirtations with the chicas and displays of machismo. Some of the local boys were daring us to touch a lamp post that was known to have a short, causing a jolt of electricity to any foolish enough to touch it. Soon enough some of the Naco tough guys were saying things we didn't understand, but knew the mood changed and we didn't need to speak Spanish to know an insult when we heard it. Next thing we knew some rocks were being flung from the edge of the park. Soon rocks became bottles. Then a crowd and more rocks and bottles falling from the sky, and we realized that we'd better get out of Dodge. We high-tailed it for the border, just a few blocks away, and were glad to be stateside again and heading back to Bisbee.

After that memorable evening in Naco, I recall struggling to finish that last stage in Bisbee--the circuit race/crit through the canyon--being chased by the pack behind me but just avoiding being lapped in order to avoid a DNF for the week-long stage race. After the race, I bought a tie-dyed t-shirt from one of the local shops. The only tie-dyed t-shirt I've ever purchased. It seemed right at the time. I was really into Dylan back then and Bisbee was bursting with counter-culture escapees.

On the drive back home through the high desert, we drove through the most incredible meteor shower. As my teammate was asleep in the passenger seat I kept one eye on the road and another toward the sky, occasionally drifting into the shoulder to marvel at the falling stellar debris, enriched but lucky to have made it home.

Ahhh, Bisbee. Good times.

I lived in Bisbee in 82-83 when I was stationed at Ft. Huachuca. My wife told me that I would enjoy driving the 33 miles each way to work. I rented a house ($150/month, IIRC) with a swamp cooler. It seemed to be where all the college kids who had taken Timothy Leary's advice and tuned in, turned on and dropped out had moved. It was still pretty run down at the time; the last time I was there in 2010 it had become almost like Carmel.

I love southern Arizona. If it weren't for my grandkids I'd probably move there.

83 was when I first enlisted and wound up at Ft Polk. AZ was great with an active art community. My best time doing photography shows was when I lived there.

My friend's daughter, a vegan since being a teen, graduated last year from Texas with a BFA, and promptly moved to Marfa, TX. Now that is a remote and weird locale, with vintage adobe housing selling for north of $150,000.

Does not surprise me. Been meaning to see how Pat is doing.

Sounds like a great shop. I wonder if owner is on here or hangs at CR.

Great story [MENTION=175208]gaucho777[/MENTION] Thanks!
Brent

A few years ago during our vacation on Mt. Desert Island I fell into a conversation with one of the guides from Vermont Bicycle Tours managing a ride. He mentioned that I should check out Bisbee Bike Brothel. It struck me as curious that he'd be singing the praises of a bike shop 2500 miles away even if the shop was C&V-focused. So I found them on the WWW, spent some time browsing their website. Interesting place. I dropped them an email note but never heard back, didn't really expect to.

Agreed. Thanks.

I was at Ken's shop a few weeks back. Here are some pics,

https://www.flickr.com/photos/681231...57664316501063

During our few years living in the Phx area I always wanted to see the Bisbee mine. The most interesting color and forms of turquoise is mined there.

Looks much 'thinner' than it did a few years ago.

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