By Mary Murphy, UW News Lab/Special to CHS 

Velo Bike Shop has closed after serving the Seattle bike community for 55 years. Ten years ago, it left Capitol Hill. The shop’s lease was up, and after serving the bike community for decades, owner Lloyd Tamura is retiring.

“Seattle had this huge bicycle renaissance in the ‘70s in the ‘80s, and Velo became a real institution on Capitol Hill,” Tom Fucoloro, founder of the Seattle Bike Blog, told CHS about the bittersweet milestone. “They will forever have a very solid place in bike history.”

Founded in 1968, Velo started its journey at an abandoned gas station in Madison Park, renting bikes for people to ride around the University of Washington, Lake Washington Boulevard, and the Arboretum.

The store became so popular that after some time, Velo was able to open up multiple locations in Capitol Hill, the University District, downtown, West Seattle, and later South Lake Union.

---

Happy Bike Everywhere Day: Friday May 19th is Bike Everywhere Day with events and stations lined up to greet riders across the city. Seattle Bike Blog has the 2023 BED map here.

---

In the ’90s, Lloyd took over the family store, and Velo Bikes consolidated into one location: its well-known storefront in Capitol Hill at 11th and Pine where it was open for 27 years.

Velo later made the move to the South Lake Union neighborhood in 2013, for reasons concerning their building’s lease and the growing property rental rates in Capitol Hill.

During the time of Velo’s move to South Lake Union in 2013, Seattle created a mass increase of biking infrastructure downtown. At the same time, companies like Amazon, Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center, and Google were booming in the South Lake Union neighborhood.

Velo Bike’s journey tells a broader story about the evolution of Capitol Hill and Seattle’s ever-changing biking culture.

“As more tech workers came into the city, traffic was getting worse, so biking became a more attractive option as that area got more crowded,” said Valerie Chevalier, Velo’s long-time store manager.

Seattle had not always been an ideal location for bikers with its hilly landscape and infamous rainy streets, according to, Fucoloro.

“People who were willing to assert their space in traffic and mix with cars, that’s only ever going to be a small percent of the population who are even willing to try that,” Fucoloro said. “Now we have actual bike lanes so that you can get through downtown. That just opens it up to so many more people who just wouldn’t have considered it otherwise.”

At a similar time that the bike lanes were added, bike shares and e-bikes also came into the picture of Seattle’s biking culture. These initially seemed like something that could take away the business from small bike shops.

It actually did the opposite for Velo.

Non-frequent bikers would come into Velo to buy a bike, and explain to Chevalier that they tried an electric bike and were reminded of how fun biking was.

“I do think it’s been good for just the bike community in general,” Chevalier said. “It’s an entry into something that they wouldn’t otherwise normally do.”

Not only was Velo Bike Shop receiving an influx of new customers through e-bikes, and new downtown bike infrastructure, but their old customers were slowly following them down to South Lake Union.

“I remember it feeling like a loss to the Capitol Hill community, but years later, customers from the old shop would finally wander in,” Chevalier said. “I think 10 years ago the Capitol Hill community was such a pocket that the idea of going all the way downtown to the shop seemed out of the way. Now, the Capitol Hill community is so intertwined with the downtown area, people go back and forth all the time.”

After its departure from Capitol Hill, other bike shops nearby such as The Bikery and 20/20 Cycle have been able to support the customers that previously went to Velo.

Velo Bike Shop was a key part of the community, Chevalier said.

“A bike shop is a place for everyone,” Chevalier said. “You get to see people from all walks of life. You get people from the homeless population where that is their main source of transportation. We are all sad the shop is closing, and it’s been such a joy to serve the Seattle biking community.”

Velo pedals off just as Capitol Hill’s bike infrastructure is getting some major investment. Work is currently underway to install new protected bike lanes on Melrose as part of the $4.3 million Melrose Promenade project. And over the next year of so, work will take place to overhaul Pine and Pike below Bellevue into a new one-way layout with upgraded protected bike lanes headed up and down the Hill.

In addition to the smaller, more specialty shops like 20/20, the Capitol Hill area these days is served by a different flavor of bike businesses.

The Peloton Cafe has expanded into a combined cafe, bar, and bike shop in its space on E Jefferson while Good Weather Bicycles and its Tailwind Cafe provide a similar two wheel-friendly mix in Chophouse Row. On E Union, Metier takes a slightly different spin with a road cycle approach to the bike shop + cafe + bike gym + training center concept. There is also the big brand Rapha Seattle clubhouse that debuted on E Pine in 2017.

But Fucoloro will remember Velo acting as a “plan B” in his daily life, he said.

“Their shop has really bailed me out,” Fucoloro said. “I’ve picked my kid up in a cargo bike from Pike Place Market Preschool and there were multiple times where my chain broke. I could just walk it to Velo and they were always happy to do whatever they can to get you back rolling. That’s what you want from a good neighborhood bike shop.”

The University of Washington News Lab gives advanced journalism students an opportunity to build a dynamic clip portfolio by reporting for any of 70 client news outlets in the greater Seattle area. CHS is proud to work with young journalists and feature their work. You can learn more here.

PLEASE HELP KEEP CHS PAYWALL-FREE!
Subscribe to CHS to help us pay writers and photographers to cover the neighborhood. CHS is a pay what you can community news site with no required sign-in or paywall. Become a subscriber to help us cover the neighborhood for as little as $5 a month.