Right-io, we need a couple of silent business partners to back a Melb version & I'll happily do the admin + R&D. 
http://www.carsrcoffins.com/
******************
fueling the bicycle culture - Two coffee shops are keeping gearheads happy with brew, bikes, T-shirts and art shows.
http://www.twincities.com/mld/twincities/sports/outdoors/13945120.htm
You've heard of biker bars, right? How about bike coffee shops?
The bike coffee shop is just like a biker bar, except instead of beer, there are cappuccinos, and instead of Harleys, there are Surlys.
These bicycle culture hangouts are devoted to the philosophy of four wheels bad, two wheels good, and caffeine is better.
The concept got its start in the Twin Cities a few years ago with the opening of the One on One Bicycle Studio in the Minneapolis Warehouse District, where you can sip a cuppa, buy a bike, look at art and scavenge for used parts in a space that formerly housed a massage parlor.
Then a few weeks ago, the Cars-R-Coffins Coffee Bar opened in South Minneapolis. That's enough for us to declare a trend in the making. It's why we pedaled across the river recently to find out how the coffee tastes in a café geared for gearheads.
ONE ON ONE
Here's how Gene Oberpriller describes the history of his location at 117 Washington Ave. N.: First, it was a power-tool service center. Then, it was an Asian sauna and massage parlor. The artists moved in to the apartment spaces in the building. They were followed by the musicians and the film people. Then came the cyclists, like Oberpriller.
Oberpriller, 44, is a former professional BMX, mountain bike and road bike racer, who has lived the bike culture lifestyle. When he wasn't racing, he worked in bike shops or as a bike messenger.
For a while, when he worked as a legal courier in downtown Minneapolis, he lived above the massage parlor. The place morphed into a sort of clubhouse and hangout for other urban cyclists.
He started selling and servicing bikes in a space about the size of a bedroom next to the building's loading dock. He also began to amass a collection of used bikes — an underground bicycle junkyard — in the basement of the building. He officially started operating as a business in 2000.
When the massage parlor moved out, Oberpriller expanded.
By 2003, One on One combined bike sales and service with art. Many cyclists view bikes as art, and lots of artists are cyclists, Oberpriller reasoned. It made sense to him the bike shop could also be a gallery space. The place has been the stage for eight shows so far.
Cyclists also love to drink coffee, Oberpriller realized. In 2004, he added the coffee shop. Now the One on One empire has about 10 employees and about 2,400 feet of retail space, plus another 2,400 feet of basement jammed with about 1,000 used bikes.
It's not your typical bike shop/coffee shop/art gallery/bicycle graveyard/bike industry party venue.
Oberpriller said customers range from bike messengers to downtown commuters to people who wander in from the Sex World shop down the street.
He doesn't sell as many bikes as conventional bike stores, but he says he has created a niche by specializing in stripped-down retro-grouch rides without suspension, derailleurs and lots of gears. Instead, these are urban warrior machines with single-speed, fixed gears, coaster brakes or new-generation internal hubs.
If you don't want to buy new, you can always visit the basement, a sort of a greasy historical museum of cycling, where you can find not only the bike you rode as a kid but also the bike your dad rode as a kid.
Want a bike with wood fenders? A bike with a Pabst Blue Ribbon logo seat? Need parts for your vintage Schwinn? You can find it here.
CARS-R-COFFINS COFFEE BAR
This is what happens to English majors who like to ride bikes.
They create a handmade bike culture zine that inspires a successful T-shirt design that leads to long hours owning their own coffee shop.
Hurl Everstone, 38, grew up in Bismarck, N.D.; raced BMX as a kid; and pretty much never got off the bike as an adult.
He got an English degree at the University of Minnesota, which he put to good use by working at a series of Twin Cities bicycle institutions, including Alternative Bike and Board and Quality Bicycle Products. He also did a stint at Dakota Cyclery in Medora, N.D., home of the Maah Daah Hey Trail, and even worked at Oberpriller's One on One.
"I could make you a cappuccino or build you a wheel," he said.
And write about the experience. Everstone got into bicycling journalism by freelancing for Bike magazine as well as creating his own bike culture fanzine.
Cars-R-Coffins, the zine, got started in 1994 and is published irregularly at the local Kinko's. Everstone says he has produced 14 issues of the hand-stapled publication, with a circulation of about 500.
It was the logo for the magazine that really caught on big. Cars-R-Coffins features a drawing of a coffin with wheels and a 666 license plate. When Everstone put the image on a T-shirt, it became a best-seller in the Quality Bicycle Products catalog.
Next thing you know, Everstone is making a modest living selling shirts, socks, water bottles, patches, stickers and bike bags with the logo.
"I'm not necessarily anti-car. I'm just anti so many cars," said Everstone, who doesn't own an automobile but does have 14 rideable bikes.
Now, the logo is on a coffee shop, which Everstone opened Feb. 4 in a building that was formerly a deli and grocery store.
"Coffee resonates with cyclists," Everstone said. "I don't know any cyclists who don't drink coffee."
Along with caffeinated beverages, Everstone also sells soup, sandwiches and Pop-Tarts. He stocks Dad's root beer, a tribute to his father, who died last year.
The bathroom features an X-ray viewer, where patrons can display images from their bike-related injuries.
"(The rider) shattered his femur during a fall on his bike riding in the winter," Everstone says of the current X-ray of a hip being held together with a bunch of screws.
There's a collection of bicycle-culture zines to browse and vintage bikes for sale hanging on the walls. And, of course, there's Cars-R-Coffins logo merchandise.
So far, Everstone is the only employee. (Hurl, in case you're wondering, is a nickname.) Everstone originally started life as Tom, before a buddy started referring to him as Earl. Then, an H was added to his nickname while he was going to school for a while in Eugene, Ore.
"Even my mom calls me Hurl," Everstone said. "She gets a kick from being the mother of Hurl."
Richard Chin can be reached at [email protected] or 651- 228-5560.
Shop: One on One
Address: 117 Washington Ave. N., Minneapolis.
Hours: Bike shop open 11 a.m.-7 p.m. Monday-Friday, 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Saturday; coffee shop and art gallery open 8 a.m. -7 p.m., Monday-Friday, 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Saturday.
Shop: Cars-R-Coffins Coffee Bar
Address: 3346 Lyndale Ave. S., Minneapolis
Hours: 7 a.m.-7 p.m. Monday-Friday, 8 a.m.-7 p.m. Saturday-Sunday.
http://www.carsrcoffins.com/
******************
fueling the bicycle culture - Two coffee shops are keeping gearheads happy with brew, bikes, T-shirts and art shows.
http://www.twincities.com/mld/twincities/sports/outdoors/13945120.htm
You've heard of biker bars, right? How about bike coffee shops?
The bike coffee shop is just like a biker bar, except instead of beer, there are cappuccinos, and instead of Harleys, there are Surlys.
These bicycle culture hangouts are devoted to the philosophy of four wheels bad, two wheels good, and caffeine is better.
The concept got its start in the Twin Cities a few years ago with the opening of the One on One Bicycle Studio in the Minneapolis Warehouse District, where you can sip a cuppa, buy a bike, look at art and scavenge for used parts in a space that formerly housed a massage parlor.
Then a few weeks ago, the Cars-R-Coffins Coffee Bar opened in South Minneapolis. That's enough for us to declare a trend in the making. It's why we pedaled across the river recently to find out how the coffee tastes in a café geared for gearheads.
ONE ON ONE
Here's how Gene Oberpriller describes the history of his location at 117 Washington Ave. N.: First, it was a power-tool service center. Then, it was an Asian sauna and massage parlor. The artists moved in to the apartment spaces in the building. They were followed by the musicians and the film people. Then came the cyclists, like Oberpriller.
Oberpriller, 44, is a former professional BMX, mountain bike and road bike racer, who has lived the bike culture lifestyle. When he wasn't racing, he worked in bike shops or as a bike messenger.
For a while, when he worked as a legal courier in downtown Minneapolis, he lived above the massage parlor. The place morphed into a sort of clubhouse and hangout for other urban cyclists.
He started selling and servicing bikes in a space about the size of a bedroom next to the building's loading dock. He also began to amass a collection of used bikes — an underground bicycle junkyard — in the basement of the building. He officially started operating as a business in 2000.
When the massage parlor moved out, Oberpriller expanded.
By 2003, One on One combined bike sales and service with art. Many cyclists view bikes as art, and lots of artists are cyclists, Oberpriller reasoned. It made sense to him the bike shop could also be a gallery space. The place has been the stage for eight shows so far.
Cyclists also love to drink coffee, Oberpriller realized. In 2004, he added the coffee shop. Now the One on One empire has about 10 employees and about 2,400 feet of retail space, plus another 2,400 feet of basement jammed with about 1,000 used bikes.
It's not your typical bike shop/coffee shop/art gallery/bicycle graveyard/bike industry party venue.
Oberpriller said customers range from bike messengers to downtown commuters to people who wander in from the Sex World shop down the street.
He doesn't sell as many bikes as conventional bike stores, but he says he has created a niche by specializing in stripped-down retro-grouch rides without suspension, derailleurs and lots of gears. Instead, these are urban warrior machines with single-speed, fixed gears, coaster brakes or new-generation internal hubs.
If you don't want to buy new, you can always visit the basement, a sort of a greasy historical museum of cycling, where you can find not only the bike you rode as a kid but also the bike your dad rode as a kid.
Want a bike with wood fenders? A bike with a Pabst Blue Ribbon logo seat? Need parts for your vintage Schwinn? You can find it here.
CARS-R-COFFINS COFFEE BAR
This is what happens to English majors who like to ride bikes.
They create a handmade bike culture zine that inspires a successful T-shirt design that leads to long hours owning their own coffee shop.
Hurl Everstone, 38, grew up in Bismarck, N.D.; raced BMX as a kid; and pretty much never got off the bike as an adult.
He got an English degree at the University of Minnesota, which he put to good use by working at a series of Twin Cities bicycle institutions, including Alternative Bike and Board and Quality Bicycle Products. He also did a stint at Dakota Cyclery in Medora, N.D., home of the Maah Daah Hey Trail, and even worked at Oberpriller's One on One.
"I could make you a cappuccino or build you a wheel," he said.
And write about the experience. Everstone got into bicycling journalism by freelancing for Bike magazine as well as creating his own bike culture fanzine.
Cars-R-Coffins, the zine, got started in 1994 and is published irregularly at the local Kinko's. Everstone says he has produced 14 issues of the hand-stapled publication, with a circulation of about 500.
It was the logo for the magazine that really caught on big. Cars-R-Coffins features a drawing of a coffin with wheels and a 666 license plate. When Everstone put the image on a T-shirt, it became a best-seller in the Quality Bicycle Products catalog.
Next thing you know, Everstone is making a modest living selling shirts, socks, water bottles, patches, stickers and bike bags with the logo.
"I'm not necessarily anti-car. I'm just anti so many cars," said Everstone, who doesn't own an automobile but does have 14 rideable bikes.
Now, the logo is on a coffee shop, which Everstone opened Feb. 4 in a building that was formerly a deli and grocery store.
"Coffee resonates with cyclists," Everstone said. "I don't know any cyclists who don't drink coffee."
Along with caffeinated beverages, Everstone also sells soup, sandwiches and Pop-Tarts. He stocks Dad's root beer, a tribute to his father, who died last year.
The bathroom features an X-ray viewer, where patrons can display images from their bike-related injuries.
"(The rider) shattered his femur during a fall on his bike riding in the winter," Everstone says of the current X-ray of a hip being held together with a bunch of screws.
There's a collection of bicycle-culture zines to browse and vintage bikes for sale hanging on the walls. And, of course, there's Cars-R-Coffins logo merchandise.
So far, Everstone is the only employee. (Hurl, in case you're wondering, is a nickname.) Everstone originally started life as Tom, before a buddy started referring to him as Earl. Then, an H was added to his nickname while he was going to school for a while in Eugene, Ore.
"Even my mom calls me Hurl," Everstone said. "She gets a kick from being the mother of Hurl."
Richard Chin can be reached at [email protected] or 651- 228-5560.
Shop: One on One
Address: 117 Washington Ave. N., Minneapolis.
Hours: Bike shop open 11 a.m.-7 p.m. Monday-Friday, 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Saturday; coffee shop and art gallery open 8 a.m. -7 p.m., Monday-Friday, 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Saturday.
Shop: Cars-R-Coffins Coffee Bar
Address: 3346 Lyndale Ave. S., Minneapolis
Hours: 7 a.m.-7 p.m. Monday-Friday, 8 a.m.-7 p.m. Saturday-Sunday.
