St. Elmo Kickstand Bicycles shop moves to storefront
For five years, Jacobo Salazar Jr. has made sure no bicycle gets left behind at his garage shop in St. Elmo.
The 42-year-old owner of Kickstand Bicycles has worked on bikes at his small space at 52nd Street and Virginia Avenue, which many bike mechanics probably would consider a lost cause. Salazar has even helped elderly neighbors repair their walkers from time to time.
“I’ve never turned down a bike,” Salazar said. “There’s nothing on two or four wheels that I won’t touch.”
Thanks to his willingness to take on any project and the community’s support, Salazar is doubling the size of his shop by moving into the heart of St. Elmo — going from the 200-square-foot garage space to more than 400 square feet at 3800 St. Elmo Ave., Suite 129. There will be an open house Saturday from 3 to 8 p.m. with snacks and drinks provided for local supporters to stop and see the new space.
Salazar said he owes all his success to his St. Elmo neighbors, as they were the ones who originally got him off the ground when he started. He said most of his customers live in St. Elmo, North Georgia and on Lookout Mountain, but now he draws clients from the North Shore, Nashville and farther who will drop their bikes off when visiting the area.
“My supporters and regulars have catapulted me to here,” said Salazar, dressed in a Panasonic cycling jersey at his new shop Thursday afternoon — both repaired bikes and bikes in disrepair surrounding him.
“It felt like the best kept secret for awhile,” he added.
The first thing he moved into his new shop was a “ghost bike” that is chained and hanging from the ceiling. A man was struck by a car and killed while riding the bike and it is meant to memorialize him while also bringing awareness to bike safety.
Salazar will be offering many of the same services at the new location just with more space. While he is the only employee at Kickstand Bicycles right now, Salazar said he hopes to get to a place financially in the next few years where he can bring on one or two other mechanics and foster a team. He also hopes to add a touch of music to the shop by offering a rack of records for purchase or something of that sort.
“All I do is work on bikes and listen to music while I’m doing it,” Salazar said about combining his two passions.
For locals wondering, the free air pump station
“My supporters and regulars have catapulted me to here.” – JACOBO SALAZAR JR., OWNER OF KICKSTAND BICYCLES
off 52nd Street will remain for those traveling along the South Chickamauga Creek Greenway trail that passes through St. Elmo and right by the original garage shop’s door. Salazar said he will miss the traffic and conversations he had at his garage as people walked or biked the trail.
Lookout Mountain resident Patrick Kushman found out about Salazar and Kickstand Bicycles from a friend in his cycling community. Unable to let go of his beloved 18-yearold Rockhopper mountain bike, Kushman took it to Salazar to see what he could do.
“I worked hard to buy this bike years ago and it’s sentimental,” Kushman said. “I like the bike. I put a lot of miles on it and wanted to see it last for a few more miles.”
Salazar is in the process of completely rebuilding the bike for Kushman and parts of it were spread across the new shop Thursday.
“I feel like he’s very knowledgable,” Kushman said. “I don’t know of another bike store that would take a bike and do what he’s doing to it. It works against what, in my mind, the mainstream bike stores do.”
Kickstand Bicycles’ new location will be open from noon to 5 p.m. Monday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday and closed Tuesday and Sunday.