look171

Didn't Pedal Pusher became Bike Nashbar? I remember those good old days. I still have an old Bikeology book in boxes of cycling stuff somewhere.

unworthy1

Answer: volleyball...and there was a catalog called Spike Nashbar, I played VB but never ordered anything from them)

Mike Mills

Honestly, I do not remember the name of the business. The catalog looks about right but it's definitely the wrong color. I suppose catalog color could change year-to-year. Also, the Lickton name just does not click with me.

This was new and interesting to me. I went to the Lickbike web site and got their street address. I entered it into Google maps and got their location. I zoomed in and in, ... and in. Then I went to Street View and could see a photograph of the "store front". It isn't actually a store, it's a three story brick building with retail on the ground floor and either offices or apartments above. It sort of looked as if they are really just a mail-order only business, not a bike shop. It also looked as if the entrance was around the back of the building. I feel as if I've been there but never left my home.

Pars 

Lickton's is an actual bike shop. I took my RRA in there once and they checked the alignment and realigned the derailleur hanger for free. Nice people at the time.

I also remember the Cyclology Handbook (1st post), as well as Wheel Goods (or Cycle Goods) from Minneapolis. I bought my first real bike (Raleigh International) from them. I don't consider the Sports Tourer I bought prior to be a real bike however . In retrospect I should have upgraded that to a Paramount, or canceled it.

Esteban32696

I remember back further than that. I was lucky. I rode my bike to our local Western Auto, & they had every bike part you could imagine, IN stock there. The only local place I could get all New Departure parts.

jacksbike

I am pretty sure that they were also selling volleyball merchandise mail order, also, if bad memory serves correctly. Yes, once Nashbar, er Warehouse came into being, we bike shop people were looked upon as overcharging. My father struggled for years to make a decent living in the bike business.

jacksbike

I am pretty sure that they were also selling volleyball merchandise , mail order.

jacksbike

I am pretty sure that they were selling volleyball merchandise, mail order.

jonwvara 

Was it the Cyclo-Pedia catalog? Belonged to an ex-racer named Gene Porteus, as I recall. I never had the catalog, but I remember that Eugene Sloane, who wrote The Complete Book of Bicycling, recommended them profusely. But then, I think he was from Chicago, too, and was kind of a shill--I think his day job was working in public relations.
Cyclo-Pedia sold French-made Louison-Bobet bicycles. I remember really wanting one instead of my Raleigh Record with its 22 1/2 inch frame--I was about 6-3 then so it was not a great fit, but that was the only size they made, and the guy at the Firestone store wasn't about to tell me it was too small (assuming he even knew) and lose the sale.

JonK

I have this catalogue. I will be putting it on ebay today.

Road Fan

I knew Turin and some others well, but not Stiller's or Ochsner's.

Road Fan

BikEcology?

Road Fan

Lickton's Cycles? Now lickbike.com.

dbakl

Not Cyclopedia?

Mike Mills

I love when old threads get resurrected. :-)

That certainly is the type of catalog of which I was thinking. It says they were in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Perhaps another year they used the yellow cover I remember.

009jim

I got a new wheel delivered when I was a youngster. It came on Cobb & Co.

Wogster

It's possible that Lickton's store and mail order businesses are/were run out of different buildings, up until maybe 10 years ago, retail space was expensive and warehouse space, much cheaper, so it would make sense to have a small store downtown and a big warehouse on the outskirts, you keep most of your stock at the warehouse, when you start the mail-order business, it's run out of the warehouse, which is also used to stock the store. Now in many cases it's cheaper to skip the warehouse, your supplier can get stock to you in 1-2 days via courier, since the distributor doesn't care if they send your stock to your store or somewhere else, your internet business simply orders stuff from the distributor, shipped directly to the customer. This is very common in the computer business, where you can order a genuine company X cable for your computer and a genuine Y accessory for your phone, two different companies and when you get the boxes, they have the same return address.

big chainring 

Licktons was a very inovative store/ mail order business. I believe Licktons was started as a hardware store back in the early 1900's. The grandsons turned it into a bike shop.

In the 70's I would go to Licktons and it was different from any other bike shop. You entered and took a number, if their were people ahead of you. They had display cases with every part they sold, and everypart had a number assigned to it. When your number was called you went to the counter to talk to one of the Lickton brothers. You told them the item number and they would go fetch it from the storeroom in back.

It was quite the operation and I have vivid memories of that place. The mailorder side of the business I was unaware of until many years later. The draw of course was Licktons prices were better than anyone elses.

HigherGround

Even though you posted this a while ago, here's my two cents... That may be a common shop name, but there was a Pedal Pushers bike shop in Horsham, PA, that had a pretty decent mail order catalog. (I lived about 10 miles from the shop at the time, so I never used their mail order services.)

big chainring 

Al Stiller was a 6 day bike racer in the 50's. He had a Schwinn store on the northwest side of Chicago, at Peterson and Cicero. It was a small neighborhood Schwinn shop. But mixed in with the Schwinns he had Peugoet PX-10's, Coppi, and other exotic eurobikes.

He imported his own line of clothing labeled Campatello. He had all the racing gear that you needed. And it was one of the few places to buy "Team Race" shorts. These were shorts with reinforced fabric and a pocket on the left butt cheek for a jamming tool.

He had fantastic black and white photos on the walls from his racing days, as well as huge trophies adorning the store. He was a big supporter of racing at the Northbrook track, and once you got to know him he never forgot you. I would run into him for years after my racing days were over and he recognized me.

Oschner was an importer located right down the street on Peterson. They had all the Campy gear, Mondia, and Tigra bikes. Later they put their name on frames from Austria/Switzerland.. Stiller retired in the late 80's maybe early 90's. Oschner is now into exotic cars in Lake Forest, IL. I dont know if they do the bike stuff anymore.

Old Yeller

We are both correct. There were two Pedal Pushers, one in Jacksonville FL and one in Horsham PA. The one in PA was called Pedal Pusher Ski & Sport. The one in FL was just called Pedal Pushers.