# The little old bike shop that could, and should.



## jayrodrod (Dec 26, 2009)

Hey Ballooner's so I wanted to share a story about a place in San Jose, Ca that has been a continuesly run bicycle shop since 1921. That's pretty rare for us left coasters to have an old bike shop in our area. You East Coaster's and Mid-Westerner's may have had many, and you are in the heart of where most of the best bikes we're ever built. But for us not so much..

So the story is about one man trying to preserve some history, and at the same time hold on to some of the best things of by gone days. If you walk into his shop, you will see all kinds of beautiful old bikes, especially Schwinns. But it is more than that. If you follow "Yelp" you will see how he has helped many people to preserve their bikes, as well as just get them down the road and make it home safe. He is fighting for his existance, from greedy commercial interests who want to take it all away from him.

The shop is in a building dating to the 1870's. Once a stage stop, with a Blacksmith shop that is still there, horse barn, and ancient tree. It was considered mile marker One heading south from San Jose to the other California Missions on the famous "El Camino Real" (The Kings Highway) as it was known. 

The building housed a Bar, with Bordello upstairs, from the time built, until the 1920's and Prohibition, when it was closed down. The original Faber's cycles was down the street, and in 1921 moved to this location. It could be the longest running bicycle shop in the west.

Please read this link and see how it effects you. It made me darn Mad!  If the link fails, then Google Faber's Cyclery, San Jose Ca. Also check "Yelp" to get a video link for people who are trying to help save it.







Hope this link comes through.

JT


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## jayrodrod (Dec 26, 2009)

Here are a few  pics from Faber's Cyclery. Its a place where I could hang out on Saturday for sure.

JT


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## OldRider (Dec 26, 2009)

I love shops like that! But the sad fact is the little Mom & Pop stores are getting killed by giants like WalMart. I hope that shop survives, we need them as much as they need us.


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## partsguy (Dec 26, 2009)

This looks like a great shop and I vote to save. We need more small mom & pop shops in this country. However, the local shop here is over priced and can't fix a thing, same goes for the one in Troy by the railroad tracks. But there many good ones out there and this is one of them and I hope it survives.


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## barracuda (Dec 28, 2009)

I used to live in that shop, in the mid '90s, with the LaRivierre brothers, Alex and Anthony, who own it. A more primal comprehensive knowledge of balloon tire bikes would be hard to find than those two, who could take a glance at a screw or nut or your old bike and tell if it was the proper hardware, then dig out the correct one in a minute.

Let me give you an idea of the historical value of that place: we used to take a shovel and a bucket and dig in the dirt near the tricycle racks. A bucket full of dirt would sometimes yield several hundred beautiful stainless steel spoke nipples. But the coolest thing was that the deeper down you dug, the older the rusty bike parts got, til you were pulling skip-tooth sprockets and cogs out of the ground. They had a huge personal collection of rare pre-wars in various states of original decay, and a collection of salesmen samples of cut-away hubs mounted for display. Ther gigantic and ancient pepper tree in their yard is festooned with Colson tricycles which they hung in the branches as children, and which the branches of the tree has grown around to encompass them within it's grasp. Similarly, there is a tree in the back of the yard that they put a frame around when it was a sapling, only to be completely immersed in the meat of the tree forty years later.

The pictures of the shop posted above show only a small, small portion of the cycle-devoted areas of the place. There was a huge back room, filled with the original spools of wood and steel-clad rims, paper-wrapped Torrington bars, and hardware drawers up to the ceiling, from which hung delicious bikes of every calling. Rare Schwinn advertising posters littered the walls, most of them  crumbling and beatifully faded from age. Beyond that "wheel room" was the frame room, whci used to house a Chinese laundry in the 1880s, but was now hung with a hundred or so old frames; Elgins, Robin Hoods, Colsons, BSA, wood rimmed track bikes - hanging, heaped and leaning from every corner. There was a "sprocket room" with thousands of patterns and pedals. Next came the "hub room", where only select "insiders" and friends were permitted access and where drawers and wood barrells were filled to profusion with every imaginable pre-war hub you could think of. New Departure fixed gears, ND two and three speed set ups, Schwinn script hubs, Musselman, Mattatuck, Morrow, Elgin ribbed, kickbacks, RB-1's, Komets, reversables, Simplex, blackout hubs, early safety hubs I couldn't even name, hundreds and hundreds of them, along with piles of brake arms, hardware for headlamp affixing, bearing races, wheeled toy hardware, on and on - good stuff, much of it NOS. Bring a flashlight. 

Finally, they had a "secret room", a room filled with a super-profusion of old bicycles which was inaccessible from any vantage point on the grounds. It had been sealed off years and years ago, to prevent, I think, the temptation of selling the specimens within to whoever might happen to see one and want it. They called it "the Faber Collection", and I couldn't tell you what all was within, the few glimpses I could see through cracks in the walls were tantalising to say the least. 

They aren't open much these days. Sometimes on a Saturday oir Sunday you can go by there and find Alex fixing bikes or selling old parts, but mostly nowadays he works as a bicycle accident investigator, and expert witness in litigation involving bike safety issues. He owns several patents, including two for schwinn type spring forks which Scwhinn foolishly allowed to lapse when they were bought out. And the Phil Wood shop in San Jose has several of his nicer examples on display, last I heard. 

Anyhow, magical place, that. It deserves better than it's ever gotten form the city and community. But then nothing that magical can last forever, I suppose. Still, I'd hate to see it go. The shop and the family are among my oldest, best remembered friends.


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## partsguy (Dec 28, 2009)

Hey, I looked up the shop and I can't find the issue at hand. Can someone please get me a link? Or a website "yelp" took me to a reveiws site.


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## SJ_BIKER (Apr 9, 2012)

*Faber's Cyclery.....the legend that is*

You will feel the magic once you set foot here.  From the smell of aged wood to the creaking of the wood on the floor, the thumping of the shoes as people walk across a room, the remains of the vintage wall paper plastered on the walls lays still....Old signs and bicycles grace the main shop floor and walls...make no mistake you have been charmed. Taken back to a time that cannot be explained....The old tree next to the building if it could speak, would tell many decades of history....of the people that set foot here...from its saloon days, to the prohibition period, to the simple mom and pop bike shop days.  Its gets ahold of you. Its a living Legend that will soon pass if not saved.  
   Mountain and ten speed bikes in barebones to rider projects are seen first in the common area known as the Yard.  As you venture farther back the bikes get more exotic with names like Silverking, Hawthorne, Streamline art deco types,....from home made relics to balloon tire cycles to safetys and high wheels that once owned the roads like kings now sit and wait to be rescued.  Some are home to generations of daddy long legs, and hold more rust and dust that make most bike people say....i'll clean it and make it shine!...or maybe just wax the rust for that golden glow....yess!  The first floor of the shop is museum like is actually a working bicycle shop of the truest form with parts new and old mixed in a crazy but orderly fashion that only makes sense to a fellow bicycle person.  This place keeps some coming again and again... and will haunt you...before you know you'll find yourself bumping into fellow bike people eventually or old timers who will remember when they came to the shop as youngsters.  Since my first visit in 1993,  I came to know the two brothers that run the shop who are really good guys.  They laugh, tell jokes and are friendly with everyone who step foot into their shop. They have patience with non bike people who use bikes as their primary form of transportation.  You will eventually get to know their passion....they love their bicycles.  In all the times I have visited the place, it never failed, I seemed to find new stuff I hadn't seen before. Lots of people (of all shapes sizes, colors, genders....) locally know about this diamond in the rough.  They continue to this very day to swap stories about it, and will continue to talk about it for years to come (bank on it). Often time comparing notes about a glorious day had and share moments of glory or defeat,  be it an old flame or the bike that got away.  I personally have seen bikes in that shop that would blow your mind. I was amazed to learn the news about several mountain bike pioneers who would venture here for parts before the existance of the now famous mountain bike.  Lowrider heads came here to get solid frames for a cool custom.  And of course ratrodders and bike refurbishers and restorers were seen here many a times and can be seen there even today if the doors open....our common demoninator was a free pass into a brotherhood well known in all our childhoods combined ...... I have seen just about every place in this shop except the basement (there are rumors about whole NOS bikes lined up down there)....makes sense it did use to be a Bicycle shop selling American made bikes when they were built to last.  As mentioned by the previous cabe members,  it used to be many things over the years and lots of old time gear remains here.  Little pieces, clues into how people lived in the past.  If pieced together it would make for a wonderful book.  This is a place i dont take for granted....  Its a place that continues to educates me.... about the bicycle craze, trends, and old times.....About the simple machine that unites us all...a machine used for transportation in its infancy, a toy shortly after... to a high precision machine seen as a serious mode of transportation today with the high price of gasoline.  Long live Fabers and any shop like it in your olde down town.


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## Uniblab (Apr 9, 2012)

Thanks for posting this. When I began reading the thread I notice it was begun back in 2009 but the latest post was today....I was half expecting to read that they had finally shut down, thankfully not! I love old timey places like this, not just for the parts but the ambiance and most importantly, the lifetime of knowledge available.

HERE's a google search with tons of info.


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## SJ_BIKER (Apr 10, 2012)

Uniblab said:


> Thanks for posting this. When I began reading the thread I notice it was begun back in 2009 but the latest post was today....I was half expecting to read that they had finally shut down, thankfully not! I love old timey places like this, not just for the parts but the ambiance and most importantly, the lifetime of knowledge available.
> 
> HERE's a google search with tons of info.




Thanks for adding that link.  I saw some videos in there that i've never seen before..so thank you again.  Last weekend when i drove by it was still open.  YES!  It would be nice to see other old bike shops still alive in video or photographs.  Hint hint..


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## barracuda (Apr 10, 2012)

SJ_BIKER said:


> I have seen just about every place in this shop except the basement (there are rumors about whole NOS bikes lined up down there)




I've been down to the basement. You know what's down there? Rats, and spiders as big as your thumb, living among piles of rotting Carlises. Never thought to bring a shovel with me though...


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## Uniblab (Apr 10, 2012)

Watch out for those brown recluse spiders, their bite can result in necrotizing fasciitis. Not nice. Have known a few people who have had to endure this. YUCK


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## SJ_BIKER (Apr 11, 2012)

barracuda said:


> I've been down to the basement. You know what's down there? Rats, and spiders as big as your thumb, living among piles of rotting Carlises. Never thought to bring a shovel with me though...




Serious?  What else did you see?  How big is it? and what was it like....dont be stingy with the details.  Im sure boooze was hidden down there.  Maybe hidden tunnels?  How did you get to see the basement?


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## SJ_BIKER (Apr 11, 2012)

Uniblab said:


> Watch out for those brown recluse spiders, their bite can result in necrotizing fasciitis. Not nice. Have known a few people who have had to endure this. YUCK




Dang thats no joke.  New species of spiders will be born for sure,,,with all the barn fresh bikes exchanging so many hands and shipped all over the place.  Ive seen some nasty ones in tires and inside seats more than id like to admit.  scurrry gives me the hibbie jibbies just thinking about how many critters have made the journey across the country....recluse spiders are no joke


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## SJ_BIKER (Apr 11, 2012)

*clean your bikes of spiders before you ship them....*

dang recluse spiders


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## barracuda (Apr 11, 2012)

SJ_BIKER said:


> Serious?  What else did you see?  How big is it? and what was it like....dont be stingy with the details.  Im sure boooze was hidden down there.  Maybe hidden tunnels?  How did you get to see the basement?




I've spent time in every room in that place. As I mentioned upthread, I lived there for a while. The entryway to the basement is between the main shop and the door to the yard to the right in the small hallway leaving the building. Alex and Anthony never let people down there - I think a lot of their attitude sometimes has to do with sustaining the "mystique" the place has in spades. But Anthony and I were very close friends, drinking partners and co-dependent drug addicts back in those days, and he let me go down there once when his brother was away, upon my adamant insistence. 

There are no lights or switches, an unfinished dirt floor basement more like a crawlspace but standable, barely. With a flashlight I was able to wade around through the piles of old rubber and some wheels, but it was creepy as hell, because of the obvious traces of rodent infestation, dankness, and thick spider webbing. It was the width of the main building, but I couldn't tell how far back it went. My impression was the it stopped at the boundaries of the house, as you might expect. It was very dark, and I didn't stay long so I may have missed somethings, but there were, as far as I can tell you, no whole bikes, and none would remain NOS down there for long. Dampness and rat teeth would see to that. At best they might be VG.  Besides, the LaRivierres weren't really collectors per se, not of NOS bikes - they ran a business, a somewhat slapdash business of very tight margins that they inherited from their father, and they would sell just about anything they came into contact with that they could, especially items of significant quality for which they had a steady supply of select regulars who had a steady supply of money who usually walked away with the better inventory they came into possession of. They were anything but wealthy. Tune ups and reselling clunkers was their bread and butter. And any booze which came within a block of the business had no chance - none - to last past a 24 hour window without being washed down with Anthony's breakfast. Believe me when I tell you that any stashing of alcohol was impossible on those premises. Anyway, I saw no bicycles down there, and there were far, far more fertile spots for exploration around the grounds and buildings as far as I was concerned.

But I wouldn't want to discourage you. As I said, it was very, very dark, and I was down there for just a short while...


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## Uniblab (Apr 11, 2012)

SJ_BIKER said:


> dang recluse spiders




Thanks for the map but I'm here to tell you that after living several decades in San Fran and out towards the Gold Country that there are in fact plenty of brown recluses to go around (regardless of what that map indicates). About the only spider more common would be a Daddy Long Legs. Funny thing about those is that they supposedly are extremely venomous but lack the ability to pierce the skin when they bite.


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## Rust_Trader (May 6, 2012)

This place rocks, I had the chance to visit yesterday and pick some nice things. Hope this bike shop keeps going.


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## lobsterboyx (Jul 19, 2012)

How do I get in touch with him? Id really like to visit, Im going to be in the bay area for a few days.


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## SJ_BIKER (Jul 19, 2012)

*Here you go ...*

*702 S 1st St
San Jose, CA 95113

(408) 294-1314*


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## SJ_BIKER (Apr 20, 2013)

*After 35 some years....it had closed..good news is...*

After some 35 years....the shop has closed....word has it that a new owner is trying to make it into a museum....


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## fat tire trader (Apr 21, 2013)

I started going to Fabers in the 70s. Here is a scan of their old stationary


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