Sad face — Missing Link is closing
 

https://www.berkeleyside.org/2022/11...osing-berkeley

:cry:

I visited the place today and bought a few things. It is of course sad but the crew there are muddling through.
The several vintage (collectible) display bikes that they were trying to sell via "silent auctions" are not getting enough bids to continue that method (so I heard while in person) so if anyone is interested in one (or more) then best to go there in person and make them an offer.
:(

EDIT: I should add this from their website--

The shop is slated to close permanently at the end of December 2022. Come visit us before then! Everything is on sale!

Open 11am-6pm Mon-Sat. Closed Sundays.

so don't try them today (11/27) they be closed. But do go and help them by buying something you need and they need to get sold. I got good deals on assorted used shop tools and a new rim.

This is a total bummer. I started shopping there as a freshman at Cal the first year they were open on campus. They have been my go to LBS ever since. This, combined with the sad closing of Bicycle Odyssey in the same year is a major blow to SF Bay Area bike culture and parts availability. The Trek, Specialized and Giant chain stores that pass as bike shops these days have almost nothing I want to buy and mechanics who know nothing about older bikes. You take your bike into those shops and more often than not will be greeted with "you need a new bike".

Man, I hate it; I mean, absolutely hate it when a classic LBS closes permanently.

One of my local shops here in SE Wisconsin has on top of a glass case, displaying classic Campagnolo components, a laminated, printed list of bike shops that closed during the last 10-15 years. They’re dying, man!

Honestly, it makes me sick when I think about all the bike shops closing. I mean, these guys have little or no health insurance, liability is through the roof, and online retail has eroded brick and mortar stores like a cancer. That isn’t including big box stores either.

I mean, when one goes to a local bike shop sometimes, you can tell if it was an old Trek dealership, or a Schwinn dealership, or Raleigh, Masi, Bianchi and others. Also, honestly, older bike shops were treasure chests of knowledge and componentry.

BMX saved some of them during the 80’s, and fixed bike riding in the early 2000s, but now? E-bikes and gravel bikes? I’m sorry, man, I’m just worried.

JM

This.

Just.

Sucks.

Like Davester, I first visited Missing Link at its original Lower Sproul Plaza location. My visits there ebbed and flowed over the years, largely depending on where I lived (hard to shop there when you live in Boston), but it was always there and always dependable, especially now that I live less than a mile away.

Velo Sport, Bicycle Odyssey, Cupertino Cyclery gone. Livermore Cyclery turning into a Trek store. Talbot's not being the Talbot's of old for a long time now. Witt's in Hayward gone with the Witts themselves. Now Missing Link closing its doors. The C&V-friendly (and knowledgeable) shops are getting scarcer and scarcer. It may be inevitable, but I don't have to like it.

That is a real shame. We have two C&V friendly shops in my area that I know of , maybe more if you count the co-ops. I’m keeping my fingers crossed. The last time I was in Open Air Bikes in Ventura , the place was busy and they had cloth bar tape and Velox rim liner in stock….now that’s a good day! I will pay more to get it in the bike shop rather than the internet .

.
...I think you'll find that a lot of bike co-ops with limited cash reserves and somewhat unique leases on their space rental have gone away during the pandemic.
I don't have access to the financials for the one here any more, but when I left we had a huge cash reserve. And the bicycle donations stream here still seems strong.

Davis was looking pretty shaky, the last time I was out there a year or so ago.

SoMa has some kind of unique space rental arrangement, as part of the original development of the housing space there. I hope that helps them.

Wow. The missing link was my go to bike shop when I first got into cycling in the 80s. Sad to see it go. I recall going there when I did my first wheel rebuild. I was apprehensive about it (this was way before the internet), but I remember the staff person at the link saying “ you can do it!” Hopefully I can make it down there before it closes just to bring back some old memories.