Bike shop puts new spin on riding in Riverdale

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By Adam Wisnieski
awisnieski@riverdalepress.com

The mean streets of Riverdale are getting a little friendlier for bicyclists.

The Bronx section of the East Coast Greenway, with signs and painted bike lanes from Bronx Park to Van Cortlandt Park and down Tibbett Avenue, was completed in April. Potential routes for the Hudson River Valley Greenway that would connect Riverdale to Manhattan are being mulled over by the New York Metropolitan Transportation Council, which will decide on a proposed route by September. And on July 1, Ian Jacob opened a bike store and repair shop on the corner of 242nd Street and Broadway.

Mr. Jacob, 36, was born in Riverdale and one of his hangouts growing up was Sid’s Bikes in Marble Hill. The shop closed in 2005 after 30 years of business, leaving none of its kind in Riverdale, Kingsbridge or Marble Hill.

For 10 years Mr. Jacob fixed bikes as the service manager at Sid’s Bikes in Manhattan, cycling there from his house on Corlear Avenue. Recently, he decided to set up shop in his own backyard.

“I love it. This is what I was made to do. I’ve been in bike shops all my life,” he said.

Riverdale riders, including Nina Habib Spencer who takes her two children to school on a seat strapped to the back of her 1969 Hercules, are thrilled. When Ms. Habib Spencer has needed repairs in the past, she has had to strap her bike to her car. Now she can ride it down a hill to United Spokes.

The new shop is not only a savior for some; it may be a sign of the times in Riverdale. Mr. Jacob said he chose the location because it’s across the street from Van Cortlandt Park and the Bronx stretch of the East Coast Greenway, and just down the hill from the all the routes being considered for the Hudson River Valley Greenway. Since he started doing business, he said that stand-up road bikes, perfect for cruising on such paths, have been his biggest sellers.

Since 2000, bike commuters have been on the rise in New York City. The Department of Transportation reports an increase of 32 percent between 2007 and 2008 and 26 percent between 2008 and 2009. And though there are likely more riders than ever in the Riverdale/Kingsbridge area, the neighborhood just got its first bike shop in years and efforts to improve access to safe routes are only beginning to coalesce.

On a recent morning Anina Carter and her husband knocked on the front door of United Spokes and asked Mr. Jacob to open early so they could buy her a bike. Then, they cruised away for a long ride down to South Street Seaport.

But since the Hudson River Valley Greenway stops in Westchester and starts up again in Inwood, they said they would have to ride to the Broadway Bridge and walk up a staircase at Dyckman Street to avoid competing with cars.

The Hudson River Valley Greenway was started in 1991 with the goal of creating a Greenway along the Hudson between Battery Park, at the bottom of Manhattan and Waterford, Saratoga County, about 10 miles north of Albany. In April, the NYCMTC released a 198-page study detailing potential Greenway routes through the Bronx. The organization will make a decision on the route by September and then look for funding before beginning construction.

“It would be tremendous and what an amazing ride to create a tour through New York without ever having to enter into traffic,” said actor Matthew Modine, who sits on the board of the Van Cortland Conservancy, of the Greenway expansion.

Mr. Modine founded Bicycle for a Day and believes greater access to safer bike routes will help combat health problems like obesity. For his part, Mr. Modine has been raising money for the Conservancy with the goal of extending Vannie’s bike paths and making them safer to ride for people of all ages. The park already has trails and pathways for biking but “It could be friendlier,” Mr. Modine said.

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